Principal News

Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Community members,

Thank you to Mr Samuel Hannant for taking charge whilst I was on leave in Week 1 this term.  The school musical was a big hit for our school community and a wonderful showcase of our talented learners. Congratulations Year 5 and 6 learners, Mrs McVeigh and Mrs Spalding for two nights of amazing entertainment. Outstanding effort from all involved.   I welcome our new families to our school and  hope and pray that you are settling into our school community and it is a rewarding journey for all.

In spite of the unprecedented challenges and disruptions of COVID-19 over the past two years, there have been some very positive experiences here at the school. One being that we have proven to ourselves to be a very resilient community. As educators and parents, there are a number of strategies we can use to build our children’s resilience.

Build a strong emotional connection - Spend one-on-one time with your child. Children develop coping skills within the context of caring relationships. When they know they have the unconditional support of a parent, family member, or even a teacher, they feel empowered to seek guidance and make attempts to work through difficult situations.

Promote healthy risk taking - In a world where playgrounds are made “safe” with bouncy floor materials and netting around trampolines, it is important to encourage your child to take healthy risks.  A healthy risk is not wearing a helmet and racing against my siblings on motorbikes in the cultivation paddock unbeknownst to my parents and falling off. Rather, a healthy risk is something that pushes our learners to go outside of their comfort zone. It results in very little harm if they’re unsuccessful. Examples include trying a new sport, participating in the school musical, or striking up a conversation with a shy peer. SSPS encourages our learners to embrace risks, knowing this teaches them to learn to push themselves.

Resist the urge to fix it and ask questions instead - When your child comes to you to solve their problems, the natural response is to lecture or explain. A better strategy is to ask questions. By bouncing the problem back to your child with questions, you’re helping them to think through the issue and come up with solutions.

Label emotions - When stress kicks in, emotions run hot. Teach your child that all feelings are important and that labelling their feelings can help them make sense of what they are experiencing. Tell them it’s okay to feel anxious, sad, jealous, etc. and reassure them that bad feelings usually pass.

Embrace mistakes (theirs and yours) - Failure avoiders lack resilience. In fact, failure avoiders tend to be highly anxious people. When parents focus on end results, children get caught up in the pass/fail cycle. They either succeed or they don’t. This causes risk avoidance. Embracing mistakes (our own included) helps promote a growth mindset and gives your child the message that mistakes help them learn. It can be helpful to talk about a mistake you made and how you recovered from it.

Promote the bright side (every experience has one) - Optimism and resilience go hand in hand. Some children may appear more naturally optimistic than others, but optimism can be nurtured. If you have a mini pessimist on your hands, acknowledge the feelings that lead to pessimistic thinking and teach your child to reframe their thoughts to find the positive.

Model resiliency - The best way to teach resilience is to model it. We all encounter stressful situations so using coping and calming strategies such as deep breathing can be an effective way to work through stress. Always label your emotions and talk through your problem-solving process.

As we continue to navigate this changing world, we can use our experiences to develop strong, resilient young children.

Year 5 Leadership Day

It is always a blessing to spend time with the students of SSPS.  Last Friday, our Year 5 learners took time out of their normal classes to begin their leadership journey for 2022.  Together they participated in Mass celebrated by Fr Richard Leonard (past student of St Saviour’s Primary School),  various leadership activities and listened to our guest speaker: Dr Pat Coughlin (Executive Director of TCSO).  There was so much energy, insight and joy witnessed throughout the day.

Over the coming weeks students are invited to nominate for the various appointed leadership positions by submitting an application to the school leadership.

The school is mindful that for every student who is successful in this process, there are many who miss out at this stage. All leaders are called to lead in different ways: by modelling the way for the younger students, being a school leader, by being a sports captain, by engaging in our community service programs and many other ways. 

Positions of leadership will be announced at the Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday, November 24, commencing at 9am.

STEM SHOWCASE

WOW! Creative thinking, collaboration of ideas and determination to solve the problems were certainly evident throughout the classes at the recent showcase afternoon.  A remarkable display of design thinking was seen in each classroom with  students eager to share their learning with their teachers, friends and parents.  Another great example of our learners striving in learning and life.

STEM: Build Your Own Playground Project

As you know we challenged the children to submit their ultimate playground design and ideas.  Each year level selected and chose a finalist and I had the pleasure alongside two of our dads: Mr Darvall and Mr Somerfield of selecting the top three designs. 

Our Year Level finalists were:

Prep - Amelia 

Year 1 - Eli

Year 2 - Zayne and Madeline 

Year 3 - Rose

Year 4- McKenna

Year 5 - Kyara

Year 6 -Lydia

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the project and to the above finalists. All three judges were super impressed with our learners' research and creative thinking that helped build their design.  The designs were outstanding in their imagination and creativity, viability and catering for the needs of both our young and older children's play needs.

First Prize was awarded to Rose in Year 3.  An incredible design showcasing some very creative slides of all sizes, a great mix of structured and unstructured play opportunities.  Mr Darval said, "I could spend a whole day playing in that playground!"  

Second Prize was awarded to Lydia in Year 6. Lydia's design was unique in that she created a wellness/meditative space for children which included landscaping and greenery.  The car ride was also inspirational and we all felt as judges that the children would enjoy the car ride on tracks. 

Third Prize was awarded to Amelia in Prep.  Amelia's design included a water slide (what child wouldn't wish for a water slide in their playground!) and a number of risk-taking climbing frames for children to play and explore.  Amelia had drawn her plan and also built a 3D version of the playground. 

All of the designs are on display in the hallway leading up to school administration for viewing.

Thanks everyone for your participation in our 'Build Your Own Playground Project'. Congratulations to Rose, Lydia and Amelia as our 2021 designers. 

Building Update

Construction of the general learning areas (four classrooms) has begun and each day along with the inquisitive children, I look and see the progress as the classrooms take shape.  Building is progressing well. Thank you to parents for your patience around the school as parking is limited and, I am not going to lie, hectic during construction. 

Reminder that there is to be no parking in the Prep carpark.

A term of pain will be worth it in the end!

School administration, learning support and the Year 1W classroom will be moving out of the current area by the end of Week 6.  School administration will operate from the school library from Week 7 onwards till the beginning of next year.  Over the next few weeks the packing up of administration will take place and construction will commence.  From Week 6 of this term the library will close for use and Year 1W will move back down to the bottom level of the building.  Learning support will continue across year levels in classrooms.  

Thank you for your patience during our building construction.   

With every best wish for the week and term ahead.

Regards

Madonna Sleba