Year 9 Pastoral Guardian

I warmly welcome you to this edition of Parent Corner.  My thoughts and prayers extend to each and every one of you during this lockdown.  I hope that good health is on your side and your family is coping well.

This term we were excited to welcome Lucy Hilmer to our Year 9 cohort.  We hope that you and your family will enjoy being part of our community.

Disappointingly, camp was cancelled this week; however, we are very fortunate to reschedule it to 5 to 8 October.  Thank you for all your time and efforts to organise everythig;, it will not go to waste, and I look forward to attending camp the first week back after the September holidays.  All the information you received - and you provided -will remain intact.  I will contact you closer to the date as a friendly reminder.

You would have recently received Guides to Learning from Home for Parents and Students.  They contain all the information you need, plus advice to help support you and your daughter.  I highly recommend that you read this together and refer to it when creating rules and boundaries in your home during this time.

I have a son in Prep and, while his workload is not to the extent of our Year 9s, I can already sense his need to be with his wonderful friends, adoring teacher, and his beautiful school community.  The importance of routine, physical activity, and time outside has never been greater, so I simply want to say this to you: “do what you can”, be kind to yourself and, most importantly, prioritise health and wellbeing in your household.

I have spoken to a number of Year 9s, and here are their comments on what makes lockdown challenging:

1. Constant distractions.
2. Missing friends.
3. Not going on camp.
4. Not having face-to-face engagement with friends and teachers.
5. Not having immediate help in class when you need it – trying to work it out on your own.
6. Despite the teachers offering constant support and avenues for communication, it is hard to do this; we have had to become instant independent learners.
7. Being on your own working through tasks.
8. Food from La Cucina (credit to the amazing team in La Cucina).

Fortunately, this year I can offer you advice based on my wisdom last year and from the admiration I hold for every parent experiencing Learning from Home.  Here are my top tips in response to the Year 9 comments.  I have divided this into two sections: Learning and Wellbeing.  Make sure you continue to read to the end, as I asked some Year 9 students for one tip they can offer to parents/guardians.

Learning

Tip 1 – To be an effective independent learner students need to be prepared.  Stick to the school day schedule, start the day with a healthy breakfast, make time for lunch, drink water and, when it is break time, go outside and away from the laptop.

Tip 2 – You are not the teacher, you are not meant to know everything; however, it is important for you to be someone they can bounce ideas back and forth with and ask questions.  If you do not have the answers, recommend your child emails their teacher.

Tip 3 – To reduce constant distractions, create a work zone/study space that is organised, tidy, inspiring, and free from mobile phone and other electrical devices.  Removing the phone during the day could be a rule to put in place.

Tip 4 – Supporting the independent learner also requires students to have all resources and equipment ready for each lesson (organisation).  Teachers have organised all tasks, activities, and content via Teams/Moodle.  Encourage your child to communicate with their teachers; they should not sit in silence pondering what to do.  Provide them with positive reinforcement that they are doing extremely well and, if they feel overwhelmed and demotivated, allow them to have some timeout (5 minutes), allow this to happen, reset and try again.

Tip5 – Face-to-face engagement can be achieved.  Students have the opportunity to create study groups together via Teams or Zoom.  This could be an effective strategy to increase confidence and motivation when completing set tasks.

Wellbeing

Tip 1 – Physical Wellbeing: Ensure students go outside each day: preferably before roll call, during the breaks, and at the end of the day.  Be active in a variety of ways: walk, run, design a mini circuit as a family, bike ride, play basketball, yoga, Pilates, etc.  Every little bit of movement counts.

Tip 2 – Emotional Wellbeing: There is so much research to suggest that a couple of minutes of deep breathing and daily mediation (Smiling Mind) can reset the nervous system and regulate emotions.  Another great strategy is to fill the house with music -dance and sing like no-one is watching.

Tip 3 – Cognitive Wellbeing:  Being in front of a screen can take its tol;, do something that is not school- and screen-related, such as painting, reading, photography, or creating a vision board from old magazines.

Tip 4 – Social Wellbeing:  It is very important that your child connects with people every day: friends, neighbours, and family members.  Engage in conversations, laugh, and share stories.  Prioritise people!

Tip 5 – Seek help early if you suspect your child is not coping.  Send me an email or contact one of the counsellors.

Yesterday morning, I asked some Year 9 students to offer their tip for parents.  Here is what they said:

My tip for parents would be to make sure that you enjoy the breaks that you have with your children and to help them as much as you c an. Make sure to spend some quality time together as a family, especially when everyone is on their breaks from school or work.  This will ensure a positive mindset.

A tip for the parents is to find out when break times are scheduled and prepare a healthy lunch together.

My tip for parents is have chill-out times together - go for a walk, lie on the grass in the backyard, play music.

A tip for parents is: we are still young at heart; we are kids.  As soon as the COVID chapter passes, we will go back to normal, and we will not be staying at home as much.  This is precious time together.  Let’s be kids together, it might be fun to eat ice cream for breakfast or watch one more re-run of a favourite TV show.

My tip for parents is to know that we appreciate all you do.

A tip for parents is to be part of our learning, ask what we did in our lessons and what we learnt.  Sometimes this helps me to understand even more.

A tip for all parents is to continue to be the loving and supportive parents you always are.

Take care.

Tamara Richardson