The past fortnight has been a hugely challenging one as we have struggled to replace teachers who have been sick, on leave or have had children unwell at home and have needed to stay home to care for them.  Whilst all are important they do come with challenges when we seek to ensure that the students and their learning are still catered for.  However, I’m sure many of you who run businesses have times when getting staff is a heavy weight on the shoulders of leaders.  

That said, our staff continue to be incredibly committed to the students and on numerous occasions I have needed to convince staff that they actually shouldn’t be at school because they are so unwell.

In addition, whilst it may not be the case in your family, but in many, including mine, mothers tend to be the ones who do the heavy lifting when it comes to running family life.  Our primary schools are predominantly staffed by female teachers and I so often see the tension and challenge this creates for them as they try to be faithful to both the roles of teacher and mum.  This is why I look at our teachers with the greatest admiration as they go about their daily work, which is so demanding and complex yet so life-giving.

I suppose, what I'm really reflecting on, is how complex being a parent is. This also leads into the other observation I have had in the past week. For some of our students I have noticed their friendship issues getting in the way of their happiness.  In some cases it has actually been created by them and it can be challenging to assist them in coming to terms with this. For others, they have been on the receiving end which can also be even more of a challenge to help them make sense of what has happened. Thank goodness we have Mrs Debrincat, who through her work supports the children to understand why things sometimes don’t go well with their friends. This aspect of school life can be so time consuming and most primary schools do not have a dedicated person whose main responsibility is to support student wellbeing.

Research into children’s friendships shows that children who are able to form friendships at school are far happier and also learn better. More significantly, a positive beginning to friendships has long term implications for social and academic success.

Parents often become concerned about an apparent lack of friends that a child has compared to a sibling or friend. One research project indicated that children on average have only two significant friendships at any one time. Generally, when I reflect on my own journey with my children, we did little more than teach our children the appropriate social behaviours such as manners and sharing and provided them with social situations that enabled them to practise and maintain their friendships.

The following four strategies were simple but helpful in supporting my children to create the skills needed to build positive friendships:

• Give them some good conversation starters. Make sure that they don’t just talk about themselves but focus on the interests of others.
• Play games with your children and make sure they learn to be gracious winners and losers.
• Have one friend at a time over to your home so that they form friendships one at a time.
• Show your children how to resolve conflict with others by compromising rather than refusing to give some ground.

Hopefully, as you struggle with this very emotive and challenging part of parenting, the above strategies might work for you and your child like they did for me with my children as they navigated the complexities of friendships at school.

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal

Semester 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews & Academic Reports

Kindergarten - Year 6  parent/teacher interviews have been scheduled from Wednesday, 16 June 2021 - Thursday 24 June 2021.

Semester 1 Parent / Teacher interview bookings are now available via the COMPASS parent portal.  Bookings will remain open until 3:30pm Friday, 11 June 2021.

 
Year 1 - Year 6 Semester 1 Academic Reports will be available via the COMPASS portal Tuesday, 15 June from 3:30 p.m.

Kindergarten students do not receive a Semester 1 report, however parents will be able to discuss their child's engagement and effort in Semester 1.

Truth Love & Faith Awards

The Semester 1 Truth Love & Faith awards will be presented on Thursday, 24 June 2021. Due to COVID restrictions only recipients parents are invited to attend.

Year 6 Students Only

The school currently has a few Year 6 Sports shirts available in the following sizes;

• 1 x Size 10
• 3 x Size 12
• 1 X Size Small

These are available at a discounted cost. If you would like an extra Year 6 T-Shirt, please send an envelope into the school office with your child's name, class and size, including payment of $10. It will be a first come basis.

Winter Sport Uniform Supply Update

The school has been in contact with LOWES in regards to our winter trackpants and Track jacket, they have confirmed that stocks are on the water and due to arrive around mid-June. This entire order will go from the docks direct to the Narellan store to avoid any further delays for our parents. In the meantime, the school has preloved track pants and jackets for sale from the clothing pool. 

In 2017, St Paul’s introduced the Classroom Correction Sequence. The classroom correction sequence is a consistent approach of how we correct and encourage positive behaviour at St Paul’s Camden.

The moving of the peg signals to the student to correct their behaviour. The role of the teacher is to provide some additional support. 

This correction sequence is explicitly taught at the beginning of the year and throughout the year.

Rewarding Student Behaviour

At St Paul’s students are regularly rewarded for displaying positive behaviours. Your child may be rewarded in a few different ways. Student rewards should be easy to deliver on the spot. Your child’s teacher works together with their grade partners to design various rewards in addition to the School-wide award System (blue awards) that encourage positive behaviour. 

Rewarding does not always need to be tangible. As parents, we sometimes like to reward our children with an item. However, rewarding our children can be as simple as sitting and spending time with your child, doing something that they enjoy.

Parents Can:

• Reward child behaviour through praise - e.g. “I like the way you set the table.”
• Aim to comment on your children’s behaviours using  a ratio of 5:1 -  5 positive comments to 1 negative - this could be as simple as: “I like the way you brushed your teeth and got ready for school. I like the way you put your plate on the sink after dinner. I like the way you made your bed and put your clothes away.”
• Since you have done all these things today, tonight when I get home from work - let’s sit down together and colour in… play a game…
• Try to avoid rewarding with material items. 

At St Paul’s, the teachers are  also encouraged to reward children with experiences or opportunities, rather than material items. 

Types of awards at St Paul's:

• Descriptive, encouraging and meaningful feedback: E.g. I really liked the way that….
• Stamps/stickers - in class books
• Blue Awards - 
• Gold Awards - After 5 blue awards are given to the class teacher.
• Principal Awards
• Mackillop Awards
• Whole Class Awards - where students work together to earn a whole class reward.. 
• Playground tokens - given on the playground for displaying positive behaviours.
• Truth Love and Faith Awards - awarded in Term 2 and 4.