Kia ora Waitetuna whaanau, it has been a very settled week of learning in our second week of term two. Science is in full swing with many different aspects of physics, chemistry and living world being explored across the school. We have also welcomed Lewis into the Junior room. Happy school days Lewis.
Wellbeing continues to be an important focus in schools and the Ministry of Education is now developing a new Wellbeing aspect of the New Zealand Curriculum. I have been part of an online conference that was looking into student wellbeing. I watched some interesting webinars which gave some excellent, straightforward tools. One of those tools was with the acronym - C.O.P.E
C - be a CURIOUS detective - look at the situation as a problem you can solve, a way of looking differently at this issue that is troubling you.
O - Observe your thoughts and feelings - know these and think what might your ‘inner coping skills’ coach say to help you look at the situation differently.
P - Positive outcome - visualise new ways to solve the problem or to see the problem differently.
E - Explorer - be an explorer as there are lots of other thoughts and feelings you can consider and challenge yourself to explore.
These strategies and others that are similar, for example - discussing how to keep the problem small and talking through keeping a problem in the past are important. Another strategy is also reminding children they are not fortune tellers - they can not know what will happen in the future. If children get anxious or worried about what other people maybe thinking then explaining to children they are not mind readers - they can’t know what other
people are thinking so they shouldn’t worry about it, as worrying about what others think is wasted energy. These are all ways to support and grow resilience and they can not be underestimated when supporting children to understand how to manage a variety of many different situations and particularly now with a world with Covid.
Developing resilience means that children are able to understand their feelings and put them into words, to talk about things that are frightening or distressing, and to adapt well to adversity or stress. This involves a range of critical abilities such as regulating and expressing emotion appropriately, controlling impulses, analysing problems and developing a positive outlook on their own ability to solve problems and handle stress. You can
help children to build resilience by:
Helping children to organise their feelings by accepting, naming and discussing their feelings. Accept and affirm all emotions as natural rather than seeking to change them.
Promptly reassuring, comforting and supporting children in a calm and considered way when they are experiencing heightened emotion. Use your tone of voice, gesture and facial expression to empathise with children and slowly adjust to guide them back into a calm, regulated state.
Modelling and teaching calming and focusing strategies, such as taking deep breaths.
Offering opportunities for well-developed make-believe play. Play helps children develop self-control and flexibility of thinking that help them to cope with difficult situations.
Demonstrating positivity by guiding children to identify the positive parts of a situation.
Each week the Senior Leaders meet with me and we discuss a wide range of topics. Getting student voice in all aspects of our school is important to us. The Seniors were discussing some of the successes this term already and linked them to our school values.
So here are our school values in action over the last week according to the Year 7 and 8 school leaders - Gratitude - appreciating our mums, the visitors, people coming to share their ideas, the resources we have, the teacher aides, saying thank you to our teachers, showing appreciation to Richard, thanking Jennie and Amberlee for what they do, thanking our parents.
Self control - listen carefully to what other people are saying.
Confidence - setting ourselves goals.
Determination - working towards our goals, trying hard with learning new Kapa Haka songs.
Friendship - helping each other out, doing favours for our friends and others.
Respect - being respectful of visitors - welcoming them, showing sportsmanship.
Creativity - solving problems - thinking of lots of different solutions whenever we have a problem.
Waitetuna Way this week goes to - Harper and Charlie for being creative in your learning and with your friends socially and in play.
Remember there is a Staff only day on Monday. Staff will be working with Lisa Rapana and we are hoping our Kaumatua can join us too on Monday. We are excited about our learning with Ngaa Uri o Maahanga. We will keep you posted.
Kapahaka has started up again. Great start. Ngaa mihi nui to our tutors - Maahanga Enoka's whanau.
Dates for Term 2
Assemblies are 14 May (week 2), 28 May (week 4), 11 June (week 6), 25 June (week 8).
Staff Only Day - 17 May
Kids Lit Quiz - 19 May
Science Roadshow - Senior Room - 20 May - a notice has been sent home about this.
Junior Football Tournament - Year 1-4 - 21 May - a notice has been sent home about this.
Pink Shirt Day - 21 May
Te Uku Wind Farm 10 year anniversary - Senior room to attend - 3 June
BOT Meetings - 18 May and 15 June - 5.30pm
National Young Leaders Day - Year 7 and 8 students - 16 June
Waikato Museum trip - whole school - 17 June
Tough Guy/Gal challenge - 24 June
Staff Only Day - 28 June
Ki-o-rahi tournament - 2 July
All the best to our Kids Lit Quiz team for next Wednesday.
Defibrillator training - a reminder that we have a defibrillator on site. Staff watched this short clip to ensure we know how to use it. Click on the link if you want to review
Ngaa mihi nui,
Amanda and staff
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