Healthy Harold and the Life Education Van will be visiting St John’s between Wednesday 23 – 25 June, 2021.

Life Education’s mission is to empower young people to make safe choices. Life Education provides the information, understanding, skills and strategies that young people require to make safe decisions about their own health and well being.

Yellow Day is our way of assisting the Life Education Program. Life Education has no Federal or State government assistance and therefore has to raise funds to keep this important program going.  We will help again this year by holding our annual Yellow Day on Thursday 24 June, 2021.

Your children will be able to come to school in free dress – but they must have majority yellow item of clothing. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation and we will place these coins in a long line to see how long a neck we can make for Harold. Let’s hope for a very long neck this year!

Parents are asked that children: Do not wear singlet tops or midriff tops, open toe shoes, thongs or fancy shoes with heels.

Please wear shirts with sleeves, joggers – can be school or other and a wide-brimmed hat.

Please note: If students arrive in inappropriate dress, parents will be contacted to either provide suitable items or to take their child/ren home.  Remember come dressed in something yellow!

St John’s is excited to take part in the Wonder Bread Recycling Program.

Thank you to those students and families who have been collecting bread bags and bread tags and bringing them into school. We still have a long way to go however we thank you in advance for your continued support in helping to turn bread bags and bread tags into school play equipment. The program is accepting all branded and non branded bread bags and wraps packaging. (Bags and wrap packaging does not need to be Wonder brand)

Due to popular demand, the program has been extended and now finishes on Friday 16 July, 2021 so please keep collecting during the school holidays!

As part of the upcoming Year 6 Educational Canberra Trip, the students are fundraising throughout the year to assist with their trip.

Year 6 are involved in the following events:

Bunnings Warehouse BBQ – Sunday 20 June, 8am – 2pm

Come along and enjoy a sausage sandwich or two!

School Disco – Friday 25 June, 5:30 – 7:30pm

Market stalls (including basketball, ping pong and bowling just to name a few)  as well as the Snack Bar will be run by the Year 6 students on the night.

Senior Athletics Carnival Reminder – Thursday 17 and Friday 18 June, 2021

Just a reminder that the Senior Athletics Carnival will take place tomorrow and Friday (Thursday 17 June and Friday 18 June) at the Bundaberg Athletics Grounds, Enid Ethel Drive, Kensington.

To ensure that the buses leave on time each day, we are asking that students arrive at school no later than 8:15am.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Mr Nathan Higgins

PE TEACHER

Community Sunday Worship Service Reminder – Sunday 20 June, 2021

We invite you and your family to join with us for our Community Sunday Worship Service with the St John’s Lutheran Church congregation on Sunday 20 June commencing at 10.00 am.

We would love you to come along and be part of this special time together. Worshipping with others is a great way to praise God, nurture our faith in Him and encourage one another.

Our P&F are kindly providing a BBQ lunch following the service. Please join us under the mango tree.

Second Hand Book Sale – Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 June, 2021

Mrs Anderson will be holding a Second Hand Book Sale in the Hall during Morning Tea & Lunch playtimes next Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 June.

At a bargain price of 2 books for 50c – make sure you come along and check out all the books!

Monies raised will go towards the Year 6 Educational Canberra Trip.

Mrs Billie-Jean Anderson

TEACHER LIBRARIAN

Readers Cup Competition

The Readers Cup is a statewide competition for young readers. Teams of four to five students together read a set of books, and then compete with other teams to answer quiz questions from the books. Winners from regional competitions then compete in a state final. Readers Cup competitions challenge students to read widely, work collaboratively in a team and continue developing a love of reading. It allows readers to compete at a regional and state level similar to sporting competitions and to meet other students with an equal passion for books.

St John’s had two Year 6 teams enter this year’s competition held at Xavier Catholic College in Hervey Bay on Tuesday 8 June. The team competed against 40 teams form the Wide Bay Region. Team One was represented by Halo, Brayth, Aliyah, Riikka and Connor and Team Two was represented by Sophia, Savannah, Cooper, Mia and Peyton. Both teams did a fantastic job and enjoyed the experience. Team One finished 6^th and Team Two, 13^th.

Congratulations to all students who competed!

Mr Aaron Bakker

YEAR 6 TEACHER

Prep Blue News

As part of our Inquiry Unit this term, Prep Blue have been learning about caring for God’s world and the needs of living things. We investigated the needs of animals during our excursion to Splitter’s Farm earlier this term and have been taking good care of our pet fish Bluey.

To learn more about the needs of plants we have planted bean seeds, sunflower seeds and created grassy heads. Students drew and wrote about the steps needed to plant a sunflower seed and then created a poster on the iPad using the Pic Collage app.

Each morning upon arrival at school, students have been watering their plants to help them to grow. We have recorded the growth of our bean seeds in our Bean Diary. The Preps have been carefully monitoring the growth of their bean seed and drawing and writing about the progress. It has been very exciting to watch our seeds grow into plants. Students will soon take their seedlings home to be planted in pots or the garden so they can keep growing.

Mrs Peta Burt

PREP BLUE TEACHER

School Disco Reminder

Don’t forget our School Disco is being held next Friday 25 June in the Hall from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. We hope you can join us for a fun night of music and dancing!

The BBQ Order Form was emailed home yesterday to all families.

Year 6 Fundraiser – Chic Pies Collection Reminder

Orders will be available for collection from 2pm on Friday 25, 2021 from the Hall.

Student Awards

Learning and Teaching Staff with Dr Justin Coulson

Dr Justin Coulson is a four-time best-selling author, sought-after keynote speaker (in person and virtual), podcast co-host with his wife Kylie, founder and CEO of Happy Families and father to six daughters. His focus in life is improving wellness at work, home and schools, and helping equip people with the relationship skills they need to flourish in life.

Our Learning and Teaching staff were invited along to Shalom College to take part in Professional Learning with Dr Coulson which focused on: The emotionally intelligent teacher. This session covered more than what I can include in this article but the big message from Justin was: “Emotions don’t vanish by being banished”.

To feel emotionally safe children need:

• A sense of competence
• A sense of understanding and acknowledgement of feelings

We also learnt about the top three for us as adults to remember whilst we deal with children:

1. Stay soft
2. Be humble…. we probably don’t know what is actually going on
3. (4 magic words) How can I help?

A strategy we practised was using our 5 senses to self-regulate throughout the day. Stop, and try to focus on the following:

• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can feel
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

I know that some of our parent community, along with Mr Mallett, were also able to make it along to take part in the parent session later in the evening. If you would like to chat about this or provide any feedback, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Jocelyn Bakker

DIRECTOR OF LEARNING AND TEACHING

Anxiety and Resilience in Children

Last night I, along with a number of our staff and parents, had the privilege of hearing Dr. Justin Coulson speak. Below, I share with you some insights from his presentation and published materials.

After a successful radio career Justin returned to school in his late 20’s where he earned his psychology degree from the University of Queensland and his PhD in psychology from the University of Wollongong.

Since then he has written multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly book chapters, as well as several books and ebooks about parenting, including the 21 Days to a Happier Family (Harper Collins, 2016) and 9 Ways to a Resilient Child (Harper Collins, 2017).

Justin is also a highly sought-after international speaker delivering keynote speeches and workshops to boost wellbeing and improve relationships for parents, teachers, students and employees and students.

Justin has worked with The Commonwealth Bank, American Express, the Office of the Children’s E-safety Commissioner, The Federal Government’s Department of Social Services, Life Education, and hundreds, of schools.

Justin is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Positive Psychology in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. He is a consultant to the Federal Government’s Office of the Children’s e-Safety Commissioner and has acted (and continues to act) in an advisory capacity to well-known organisations including Beyond Blue, the Raising Children Network, Life Education, Intel Security, and the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.

In addition, Justin is consistently sought after by the media for his expertise. He writes a weekly advice column for Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, appears regularly on The Project, the TODAY Show, Studio 10, Mornings and several radio stations around the nation. He is also the parenting expert at kidspot.com.au, Australia’s number one parenting website.

Justin and his wife Kylie have their six daughters (yes six!) and live in Queensland. Together they have successfully taught their children to sleep in their own beds, wear clothing even when it’s hot, use the bathroom, and eat at least some of the food on their plate most of the time.

In education, we hear the resilience word all the time. We hear it from parents who want to raise resilient children. We hear it from teachers who are growing and educating children. We hear it from universities who want students who are confident, competent and resilient. We hear it from the world which needs courageous and resilient adults to create change and overcome challenges.

But what is resilience and how can we actually do something about growing this in our young people?

Resilience is the ability to cope with life’s inevitable challenges. As we know—now in the age of COVID, even more so—life is full of hard stuff. Yet humans are actually created to do hard things. Think about a 9-month-old baby attempting to walk—that is hard. Think about triathlons, marathons and Olympics—they are hard. Think about people surviving in famine-ravished countries—that is hard. Think about Christ, the trials he endured and the ultimate sacrifice he made to bring the promise of eternal life to humanity—that was a level of hard beyond our comprehension.

Our children are going to face tough times during their lives; our job as educators and parents is to equip them with the belief that they can triumph over challenges; to help them recognise that it is through adversity that we become stronger, wiser and kinder.

Justin Coulson through his website Happy Families, provides some practical tips on how to grow your child’s resilience:

FOUR WAYS TO A RESILIENT CHILD

1. A strong parent-child relationship
   The single most important factor contributing to having resilient children is a stable, committed relationship with a supportive parent or caregiver. The more you spend time with your children, the more loved and supported they will feel and the more resilience they will build.
2. Develop their strengths
   One of the best things for promoting resilience is having the belief that we are competent and able to face challenges. We can help our children develop these skills by helping them find their strengths. Sometimes our children’s strengths aren’t immediately obvious. We might need to cast a wide net, spending time (and maybe even money) to find the passion that really lights them up.
3. Develop autonomy
   Controlling our children makes them anxious. Constantly, making decisions for our children or ‘fixing’ things undermines their decision-making skills, their confidence and their resilience.
4. Teach hope
   Hope is having a goal, the belief that you can create a route to that goal and the belief that you can navigate that pathway to reach that goal. Teaching your child to be hope-ful gives them resilience. When hopeful people experience failure, they develop new pathways to pursue and alternative routes to their goals. Hope-less people just give up. We can teach our children to be hope-ful. Help them find a goal and develop the plans and routes to achieve that goal. When they get stuck, teach them to tap into their resourcefulness and initiative by brainstorming new ideas and seeking new skills.

Below are some additional helpful ways of supporting children’s emotional development:

1. Helping your child develop emotionally

Children’s abilities for recognising, understanding and managing their emotions are influenced by the ways the adults who care for them acknowledge and respond to their feelings. When children learn to manage their emotions they are also better able to manage their behaviour.

2. Listen and validate the child’s emotional experience

Listen to what children say and acknowledge their feelings. This helps children to identify emotions and understand how they work.

3. View emotions as an opportunity for connecting and teaching

Children’s emotional reactions provide ‘teachable’ moments for helping them understand emotions and learn effective ways to manage them. You might say, “I can see you’re really frustrated about having to wait for what you want. Why don’t we read a story while we’re waiting?”

4. Encourage problem-solving to manage emotions

Help children develop their skills for managing emotions by helping them to think of different ways they could respond. You might say, “What would help you feel brave?” or “How else could you look at this?”

5. Set limits in a supportive way

Set limits on inappropriate behaviour so that children understand that having feelings is okay but acting inappropriately is not. You might say, “I know you’re upset that your friend couldn’t make it over, but that does not make it okay to yell a me.”

For more information and tips about childhood development you could visit www.kidsmatter.edu.au

Cited – St Peters Lutheran College; Dr Justin Coulson; KidsMatter

Grace and Peace,

Chris Mallett

PRINCIPAL