PRINCIPALS BLOG Dear Parents and Friends, Special Guest James Merlino will be attending our assembly tomorrow to talk to us and present our 2017 student leaders with their badges. Help kids change their perspective when things go wrong I read a recent article by Michael Grose who stated that parents can help ‘catastrophisers’ learn to change their perspective when things go wrong. He went on to explain that if your child is a serial catastrophiser, always seeing the worst case in a negative situation, try to change their thinking so they learn to keep things in perspective. Ask them the following questions to challenge your child’s catastrophic thinking: ‘What’s the most likely scenario?’ Sometimes it’s useful to introduce a dose of old-fashioned rational thinking for those kids who always assume the worst will happen to them. ‘Yep, you could break your leg if you go skiing. But the odds are that you won’t.’ ‘You may be right, but does it really matter?’ One way to help hard-core catastrophisers is to admit that they could be right, but then ask them to imagine that the worst possible scenario actually happens. Then challenge them to understand that even the worst possible scenario is not so bad after all. This is the type of reality check many kids need. ‘Where does this fit on the disaster meter?’ Catastrophisers tie themselves in a knot about relatively insignificant things. Okay, making a fool out of themselves when they give a talk at school may not be insignificant to kids, but there are plenty of worse things that could happen. Help them get some perspective by giving their worry a score out of ten on how important the issue really is. ‘Is that helpful thinking?’ Sometimes kids’ thinking is so out of whack with reality that they become anxious about minor things. Thinking things such as, ‘Everyone must like me,’ ‘I must never make a mistake’ and ‘Bad things always happen to THURSDAY 2 nd March 2017 FERNY CREEK PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DATES TO REMEMBER Term 1 2017 3 rd March – Scholastic Book Club Orders due in 3 rd March – Billy Cart Derby 9 th March – Grade 3-6 Athletic Sports 13 th March – Labour Day Public Holiday 14 th March – Grade 5/6 Camp to Lorne 18 th March – Bush Dance 20 th March – Grade 3/4 Camp to Portsea 31 st March – Easter Parade & Raffle 31 st March – Last Day of Term 1 Term 2 17 th April – Easter Monday 18 th April – Pupil Free Day 19 th April – First day back for Term 2 “Together we make a Difference!”
Transcript
PRINCIPALS BLOG
Dear Parents and Friends,
Special Guest James Merlino will be attending our assembly tomorrow to talk to us and present our 2017 student leaders with their badges.
Help kids change their perspective when things go wrong I read a recent article by Michael Grose who stated that parents can help ‘catastrophisers’ learn to change their perspective when things go wrong. He went on to explain that if your child is a serial catastrophiser, always seeing the worst case in a negative situation, try to change their thinking so they learn to keep things in perspective. Ask them the following questions to challenge your child’s catastrophic thinking:
‘What’s the most likely scenario?’ Sometimes it’s useful to introduce a dose of old-fashioned rational thinking for those kids who always assume the worst will happen to them. ‘Yep, you could break your leg if you go skiing. But the odds are that you won’t.’
‘You may be right, but does it really matter?’ One way to help hard-core catastrophisers is to admit that they could be right, but then ask them to imagine that the worst possible scenario actually happens. Then challenge them to understand that even the worst possible scenario is not so bad after all. This is the type of reality check many kids need.
‘Where does this fit on the disaster meter?’ Catastrophisers tie themselves in a knot about relatively insignificant things. Okay, making a fool out of themselves when they give a talk at school may not be insignificant to kids, but there are plenty of worse things that could happen. Help them get some perspective by giving their worry a score out of ten on how important the issue really is.
‘Is that helpful thinking?’ Sometimes kids’ thinking is so out of whack with reality that they become anxious about minor things. Thinking things such as, ‘Everyone must like me,’ ‘I must never make a mistake’ and ‘Bad things always happen to
THURSDAY 2nd March 2017
FERNY CREEK PRIMARY SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER
DATES TO REMEMBER
Term 1 2017
3rd March – Scholastic Book Club Orders
due in
3rd March – Billy Cart Derby
9th March – Grade 3-6 Athletic Sports
13th March – Labour Day Public Holiday
14th March – Grade 5/6 Camp to Lorne
18th March – Bush Dance
20th March – Grade 3/4 Camp to Portsea
31st March – Easter Parade & Raffle
31st March – Last Day of Term 1
Term 2
17th April – Easter Monday
18th April – Pupil Free Day
19th April – First day back for Term 2
“Together we make a Difference!”
me’ are extreme and need to be replaced by more moderate, realistic thoughts, such as, ‘It would be nice if everyone liked me but not everyone will. It’s important to have some good friends.’
Annual Bush Dance Our Big Bush Dance is on again on Saturday 18th March. See the advertisement later in this week’s newsletter.
Billy Cart Derby As mentioned last week our Billy Cart Derby is on TOMORROW! We still need people to volunteer to help on the night! The food and drinks rosters will be at the office. All day Friday. Please volunteer some of your time to help us. We need a couple of parents to manage the selling of the rides. I need some Mums and Dads to be marshals (see below). Please, please let Jill know if you can assist in these areas. It is a fun night, a traditional night, and it would be a shame not to hold our 38th Annual Billy Cart Derby.
Track Marshals As usual for every Billy Cart Derby we need Dads and Mums to volunteer as track marshals. There can be no racing if we do not have the full complement of marshals on the track. Last year’s event was very successful as we had a full board of volunteers. I am again asking all families to consider, for the safety of the event, to take a half hour stint as a marshal. Your role is to either start the billy carts off or gather them at the bottom and keep the program flowing smoothly. Again please see Jill at the office or return the form that went home last week.
Minimum Absence = Maximum Learning Opportunity Some absences are impossible to avoid. Genuine illness, bereavement, etc. are examples of the acceptable reasons for a child being absent. However, every time a child is late for school or absent from school the child‘s learning progress is disrupted. Most teaching is sequential—what is taught and learned today is the foundation that enables the children to understand and master what is taught tomorrow. It is usually harder for a child to catch up on work missed, than to master it when it is being taught in class. To avoid disadvantaging your student, parents should minimise absences by:
Arranging doctor and dentist appointments out of school hours where possible
Develop in your child the habit of being on time to school each day by making sure they get there on time - no excuses
Ensuring that personal shopping trips for your child occur out of school hours
Not allowing children to remain at home for minor / frivolous reasons
Arrange for birthday celebrations, etc., to occur out of school hours
Please remember to provide a written explanation of any absences to your child’s teacher when they return to school. There is also an absence form on our new Tiqbiz.
School Uniform It is very pleasing to see our children in school uniform. Our school mantra ‘together we make a difference’ is all about teamwork and achieving together. I would like to thank all parents for making the effort to ensure our compulsory uniform policy is followed. Jewellery (except studs and sleepers) is not permitted.
Foyer Traffic We are being vigilant with this and not allowing students to use the school foyer as a walk through to the classrooms. Please remember that children can only come into the foyer before school to deliver something to the office or to put their lunch order in the box. After school is the same (minus the lunch order). Please encourage your children to exit the building by the appropriate doors and use the pathway to exit the school. Can we also ensure that once students are dismissed for the day they do not return into the buildings unaccompanied? If your child needs the toilet the main school toilets are open as our Out of Hours Program uses them until about 6pm.
After School Monitoring of Students Many children are still crossing the road and playing under the trees (one or two even climbing them) until their parents arrive. Please instruct them to wait behind the school fence until you arrive. They may then cross the road. This area is not under supervision and to have students playing so close to a car park is fraught with danger!
Jim Asimakopoulos: Citizen of the Year Next week is another very special assembly. Jim sponsors our Citizen of the Year Award. This is to go to a current Year 6 student who is not a School Captain and has shown over their years at the school, especially their Year 5 year, a fantastic attitude to their classmates, their teachers and their school. We will also hear from Kaitlin, our recipient last year. I’m sure it will be a thrill for our new Year 6 students to hear from Kaitlin again. Please note that this assembly will be at 10.30am, not 9.10am. We will be having our NORMAL 9am assembly as well on this day.
1. NEVER let your children have their devices in their bedrooms, especially at
night. 2. Have children use devices in ‘family’ areas where the device can be seen. 3. Try ‘spot checks’! Check your children’s devices on a regular basis. Know
what apps they have – are they age specific? Most are!
How much is too much? This is a good question and varies from person to person with different impacts. It’s
important to be aware of how your time online may be affecting your friendships, your
family and your schoolwork, especially if it’s keeping you up at night. If any of these
areas of your life are becoming problematic then it is likely that you need to cut back in
the amount of time you spend online.
Why is it a problem? Spending excessive amounts of time online can have significant impacts on your health,
family and social life and on your academic performance at school.
How do I know if I have a problem? The following indicators may be signs that you spend too much time on the device:
ongoing headaches, eye strain and sleep disturbance
online activities interfering with your health and wellbeing, schoolwork and
relationships
constantly talking about particular online programs, such as a gaming site
withdrawal from your ‘real world’ friends and activities
attributing more importance to your online activities and contacts than anything
