Dear Parents and Carers,

I am feeling so proud of our students as I write this following the Oral Language Showcase, which students from Years 3-6 at St Bernard’s participated in at St Patrick’s in Katanning. Our students were awesome participants in the poetry, prose and choral speaking categories and represented themselves, their teachers and their school with pride. Special congratulations to our winning students: Elizabeth Mathwin for the Year 6 poetry recital, Sofia Tunui for the Year 6 prose reading, and Joshua Sanders, Ruben Stansbury, Travis Goodall, and Sofia and Elizabeth who won the overall choral speaking category. Well done! It was a fantastic effort and special thanks must go to Drama Teacher, Jayne Thorn, and classroom teachers Melanie Thomas, Sandra Gianoli and Esther Kerr for assisting our students. Many thanks, also, to the staff at St Patrick’s for organising and hosting this event in the absence of our usual Kojonup Speech and Drama Festival. I hope our students all came away with a sense of achievement, as well as an understanding of something they can work on to improve for next time – as Ms Bearcroft from St Patrick’s said, there is always something we can do to improve!

Growth Mindset

Striving for and working towards improvement is a key element in developing and maintaining a Growth Mindset. If you are not familiar with this thinking – and the science that lies behind it – I encourage you to investigate the work of Carol Dweck and others working in this important strand of behavioural psychology. Dweck has shown that those who cultivate a Growth Mindset – believing intelligence or achievement is not fixed but can be developed and grown – are able to achieve far more than those who think they have a fixed capacity for learning. Even high achievers need to cultivate a Growth Mindset as Dweck has shown they can choose to avoid accepting learning challenges rather than face the possibility of failure. With a Growth Mindset, a new learning challenge or a poor test score is not seen as an excuse to give up or feel defeated, but a challenge to strive to get better. The link below is an excellent article if you want to learn more.

http://yourbrainhealth.com.au/8-ways-to-encourage-a-growth-mindset-in-kids/

Farewell to Mrs Guidi

Unfortunately, we will be farewelling Mrs Guidifrom our Kindy/Pre-Primary class a little earlier than expected as she has been advised to begin her parental leave from the start of Week 9, rather than the end of Week 10. This is very sad for all of us but an important opportunity for some extra rest for Mrs Guidi before the birth of her baby. We are very fortunate to have Mrs Annette Sawyer taking over from Mrs Guidi in the last two weeks of term – and Mrs Sawyer will also be in the classroom during Week 8 to help her become familiar with routines and expectations. Mrs Guidi will be formally farewelled at next week’s Assembly – please come along if you are able.

Funky Monkey Bars update

The Funky Monkey Bars are inching ever closer to being finished – in fact, I hope that they are finished by the time this newsletter is uploaded! Once the soft fall is in place and final checks have been made, they will be available for our students to play on. Many thanks, again, to our wonderful P&F group for their generous donation of the Funky Monkey Bars, and to Mr Hanekamp and his assistant Bailey for the preparation of the concrete footings and installation.

Communication

A reminder that myself and all our staff are always available to talk with parents about any queries or concerns they may have. Issues are rarely resolved if both parties don’t come together to discuss the situation and one-sided conversations can be very damaging to our school community. Please make an appointment to see your class teacher, or myself, if you have any queries or concerns. We will always work with you to resolve matters to the best of our capabilities.

Cross Country

Finally, and unfortunately, I will not be at the Cross Country Carnival due to needing to be in Perth on urgent business. My thoughts and best wishes are with you all and I know that Mrs Marinoni, our staff and our students will do an outstanding job. I hope you all have a great day and the weather is not too wintery!

God Bless and take care,

Mrs Sharon Marino

Principal