Head of Campus Update – 24 August 2017

It was a pleasure to welcome Mr Martin Heppell back to our school to address parents about the importance of developing resilience in our children. Our partnership with The Resilience Project commenced in April last year and since this time we have successfully run staff, student and parent information sessions to ensure that the key elements of empathy, mindfulness and gratitude are embedded into the lives of our children through our curriculum and actions. Sometimes it’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness of everyday life and lose sight of what we value and appreciate. We need to remind each other to be grateful for, and acknowledge, the good things in our lives and the special people who support and help us to achieve what we do. It’s also important for our children to realise their emotions and the range of behaviours often linked to their feelings and moods. Our children need to understand it’s OK to get things wrong and make a mistake or fail momentarily without it defining who they are as a person.  We incorporate The Resilience Project into our curriculum because it helps young Australians to be mentally healthy through emotionally engaging programs.

Congratulations to our enthusiastic science superstars who recently participated in the Science Talent Search organised by the Victorian Science Teachers Association. Students across all year levels confidently presented their research findings to a panel in Kew or Preston on 5 August. We are currently awaiting results but regardless of the outcome, we are immensely proud of the commitment, dedication and hard work from our budding scientists over the past few months.

Well done to:

• Symone Adelaja (Experimental Research) ‘Plants change as they grow’
• Piper Bulte (Creative Writing) ‘It’s the Little Things’
• Prateek Patange (Poster – Scientific wall chart) ‘Building Healthy and Productive Cities’
• Sibella Djukic (Working Model) ‘Balls in Motion’
• Nitesh Jayasinghe (Experimental Research)  ‘What plants need to grow’
• Ranuru Ambawatta (Working Model) ‘Elevator in Action’
• Tracy Chen (Game) ‘Future Earth’
• Shrika Anand (Creative Writing) ‘it’s the little things…’
• Keira Purches (Poster – Scientific wall chart) ‘Building Healthy and Productive Cities’
• Lauren Nelson (Working Model) ‘How does water get to the furthest leaf on a tree?’
• Mehar Saroya (Poster – Scientific wall chart) ‘Future Earth – Climate solutions’
• Misha Ravipati (Poster) ‘Conserve or exploit?’
• Risini Kulasekera (Creative Writing) ‘Congratulations you’ve saved the earth’
• Amelia Saconi and Jessica Gallie (Experimental Research) ‘How different types of slime react with each other?’
• Jovisha Simon (Science Photography) Chemical research
• Year 6KF (whole grade)
• Year 6AM (whole grade)

A reminder that our Student Led Conferences will take place in the classrooms on Monday 11 September starting at 3.00 pm and finishing around 7.00 pm. We encourage each student to take responsibility for their own learning, decisions and actions and this is reflected in the positive discussion they have with their family. Parents will soon have the opportunity to indicate their preferred time.

Our Years 2-6 students our eagerly practising for our Junior School Concert to be held in the Auditorium on Wednesday 6 September. This promises to be an evening filled with musical delight and entertainment for everyone. This is an event not to be missed and tickets are now available through the school’s website.

Finally, our Student Representative Council (SRC) has decided that this year’s Junior School Pyjama/Movie Day will be held on Wednesday 20 September during the last week of Term 3. All gold coin donations will be forwarded to the Children’s Ward of the new Monash Hospital in Clayton. A couple of years ago our SRC and Mrs Cooke participated in the painting of a mural to be displayed in the entrance of the hospital,  so this year’s SRC thought it appropriate to support the opening of the new Children’s Ward. Once again, a movie will be shown in the Auditorium during lunchtime and voting for a preferred movie is currently taking place amongst the students.

Ms Carole Reed
Head of St Margaret’s Junior School