Welcome to the end of Week 9, and our second week of Well being Wednesday!  I hope yesterday gave families again opportunity to enjoy a day away from screens and promote learning in a more informal setting.  This initiative also aligns with our IB philosophy of developing creativity, independence and balanced students. An IB learner is encouraged to balance different aspects of their lives-intellectual,  physical and emotional- to achieve well-being for themselves and others. 

A wonderful creation!:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucqsx1mhodhbpyf/IMG_8630.MOV?dl=0

Some Masked dancing!:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/it7x9abkgjvlu9h/20210908_145134.mp4?dl=0

A great interview!:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1di4ma5l0atjez6GjwGSjdBf_HIMJWa1r/view

A super Master Chef in action! :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9cjAndoL0 

And now some fabulous photos of yesterday's activities! 

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the end of week 9 and a special day nationally- Are You Ok? Day. This day is particularly pertinent during lock down.  Please see below for more details about this day, published by Katie Smith, and some activities you may wish to participate in, to commemorate this national day of action.

I continue to be incredibly impressed and proud of the learning happening across our ELC and school currently.  Please enjoy below some photos of remote learning in Week 9!

Everyday resilience lessons for kids

by Michael Grose

Muscles needs to be exercised daily if they’re to remain strong, flexible and do their jobs. Resilience is no different. If it’s not exercised regularly our resilience will waste away.

Resilience is developed through regular daily use. Here are some simple ways you can encourage a child or young person of any age to flex their resilience muscles every day.

Wait until mealtime

Discourage them from random snacking when they are hungry. Encourage them to wait until mealtime. By tolerating minor discomforts such as hunger, thirst or even some worries, kids get the practice needed to help them manage bigger future hurdles that may come their way. You can build your child’s tolerance of discomfort by encouraging them to delaying immediate gratification even just for a few moments.

Do more than expected

Great sportspeople routinely train more than others and push through mental and physical boundaries. Encourage your child to push through boundaries and do more than expected in small ways. Perhaps they don’t just clean their bedroom but tidy the living room as well. They may aim to shoot 10 goals in a row at basketball practice but keep going until they reach fifteen. Going past the finish line is wonderful resilience practice. What else can you do that would encourage your child to do more than expected on a regular basis?

Save pocket money

Did you know that when you encourage your child to save some of their pocket money rather than spend it immediately you are teaching them to delay gratification, an acknowledged resilience attribute? Asking a child to set aside some pocket money for saving, some for charity and some for spending will help develop a balanced use of pocket money.  It helps if a child can develop their own savings goal, and parental suggestions can assist. The delay of an immediate reward to achieve a greater or later reward needs to be practised if it’s to become part a child’s pattern of behaviour.

Make the bed

Resilience comes from doing things that we don’t feel like doing and making a bed is one thing few people enjoy. The daily habit of making a bed (to the best of a child’s or teen’s ability) is a brilliant discipline to develop, which has the bonus of setting kids up well for a productive day at school. What other simple habits that fit into the “don’t-like-to-do” basket that benefits either your child or others in the family?

Help when you don’t feel like it

It’s easy to help at home when they’ve had a good day at school, or the weather is fine. It’s much more difficult to step up and help set the table, put out the rubbish or hear a sibling read when they’ve had a bad day at school, or the weather is stinking hot. The seemingly small act of sticking to commitments even though they help develop discipline and conscientiousness that contributes to a sense of resilience

Smile when you don’t feel happy

Feelings may be difficult to manage, but behaviour is a choice. Encourage kids to choose happy, or at least act happy by smiling rather than putting on a grumpy face. The brilliant thing about this strategy is that smiling changes their mood so that they begin to experience pleasant emotions.

It’s the small, everyday behaviours we encourage in kids that have the greatest impact on their behaviour, wellbeing, and resilience.

A HUGE congratulations again to Isabelle Males, who competed on Tuesday night in the semi- final of Rostrum. It would have been very challenging to present a speech in front of a camera on Zoom, without hearing the audience's responses or reactions.  We are incredibly proud of Isabelle and how well she spoke and represented our school.  A special thank you also to Lisa Binutti-Wilson who organised our school Rostrum participation this year.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend for Father;s day last week, despite the consistent rainfall.  Below is the link to our school video clip tribute for Father's Day, in case any of you missed the message last Friday.  A special thank you to Emily Capper who word tirelessly to put this together for our community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3FXgNGcSLU

I hope you are able to enjoy this beautiful spring weather this weekend with your families.  Please do not hesitate to reach out for anything at all and continue to stay safe. 

Warmest wishes,

Philippa 

Youth Ministry in Remote Learning

It was so wonderful to have Grace connect with our Youth Ministry team today for our first Youth Ministry in Remote Learning. Grace was able to share prayer, scripture and discuss how students are feeling during lockdown. If you are in 5/6 and you would like to join us please let Miss Capper know!

School Holidays

The ELC will be open for the School Holidays between 20 September - 1 October 2021. In the event of the current lockdown being extended the ELC will remain open for the holiday period for families of essential workers or ELC children who need it.

The holiday program is open to current ELC, Kinder and Year One children. To book please click here.

Spring has Sprung

The ELC is is blossoming more than children. The bulbs and plants are looking gorgeous.Because so many of us are at home I have some photos for your enjoyment.

R U OK? DAY takes place today,  Thursday, 9 September. R U OK? Day is a national day of action where Australians are reminded that every day is the day to ask, “are you okay?” if someone they know is struggling. Whilst working in lockdown, checking in on one another’s wellbeing is more important than ever. Starting a  meaningful conversation may assist in changing the lives of your colleagues, friends or family members. 

It's so important that we look after ourselves and each other. 

Hello All,

Yesterday was International Literacy Day 2021…

“Literacy is not just about educating, it is a unique and powerful tool to eradicate poverty and a strong means for social and human progress.”

International Literacy Day, designated by UNESCO in 1967, is an annual awareness day which marks the importance of literacy to all countries and cultures. It takes place annually on the 8th September aiming to raise awareness and concern for literacy problems that exist within our own local communities as well as globally.

Who is UNESCO?

UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The organisation seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, the Sciences, and Culture.

They transcend political agendas and were established after World War II ended in 1945 in the pursuit of peace and global cooperation in the fields of Education, Science, and Culture. Their work spans many other areas beyond literacy, but they see this as essential for peace and prosperity.

Why do we need International Literacy Day?

Over 775 million adults struggle with basic literacy, and two-thirds of this figure are women. Celebrating International Literacy Day (ILD) is a brilliant way to raise awareness of the value of literacy and to encourage children and adults alike to develop their literacy skills.

This year, in particular, it's even more important to discuss literacy, as thousands of schools were closed globally and many adult literacy courses and classes also had to be suspended during the COVID-19 crisis.

It's unclear what the impact of this year will have on literacy in the long term, but one thing is clear - it's more important than ever to put the spotlight on literacy skills and encourage children and adults alike to develop them.

Twinkl (2021,September,8) International Literacy Day 2021 retrieved from https://www.twinkl.com.au/event/international-literacy-day-2021

Below is a short YouTube clip that celebrates children from all over the world reading in their Mother Tongue. It is a gorgeous clip that will make some children at HT smile - they LOVE discussing, reading and talking in their Mother Tongue. The power of reading is incredible, and we are so very blessed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6d0eK0T4Y

Happy Days.