Saint Ignatius College Geelong
Dear Parents & Friends of St Ignatius College Geelong,
I hope those of you who were on holidays, and in particular, our students found time for some relaxation and quality family time over the last two weeks. I also hope you and your family are well.
I am so pleased we are all back at school and was delighted with the many cheerful greetings I received from the students I met as I walked around the College before classes commenced on Tuesday.
Hopefully, we won’t see a return to remote learning, and we don’t experience the impact of the pandemic that Melbourne schools are.
School operations
While we may not know of anyone with COVID-19, as I am sure you have heard before, we need to be careful we don’t become complacent.
With the new term and as some time has elapsed since students and staff were together, I ask for parents to please reinforce and support the following the key messages:
On Tuesday all teachers were given a list of expectations for students. Homeroom Teachers went through these with their students, so everyone started the new term ‘on the same page’ in regards to ensuring everyone knows what is expected of them to protect everyone’s health and safety during the pandemic. Hopefully, we will maintain onsite teaching and learning.
Temperature checks
Based on guidance from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, to support community awareness of the symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) and to help identify students displaying symptoms, all schools located in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will commence temperature screening of students while they stay at home restrictions are in place.
For schools like ours, outside metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, the routine use of temperature screening is not required. However, temperature screening is being undertaken for a few students who reside in metropolitan Melbourne and travel to our College each day.
Face masks
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has confirmed that the use of face masks or coverings by adults or children is not recommended in schools at this time.
Unlike many public spaces and community settings, including public transport and supermarkets, schools are controlled settings where entry is restricted to only students, staff and those delivering essential school services and operations, and transmission reduction measures can be fully supported and reinforced, such as:
As has always been the case, staff or students who wish to wear face masks in school and when going to and from school may do so.
Camps, excursions and other off-campus activities
For the next three weeks, we will not be conducting these activities. We will assess the situation after a couple of weeks and advise parents if we decide to recommence such activities again.
Change to Semester Reports to parents
Saint Ignatius has been implementing a move from summative reporting to online continuous reporting this semester.
Traditionally we have provided an end of semester report with comments. From now on, a briefer ‘Statement of Results’ will be issued instead.
Previous year’s summative reports at the end of each semester showed what the student had achieved in that semester’s assessments. This method of reporting may not have provided very constructive feedback and usually came at a time when it’s too late for a student to improve.
In contrast, continuous reporting provides students with meaningful feedback about how they can improve in addition to receiving assessment results regularly throughout the semester, rather than just at the end.
Students will become more motivated to improve their performance if they have full transparency over their achievements and areas for improvement as they keep moving through the semester. Not only does it allow students to constantly reflect on their progress and make improvements as they go, but parents can also be more involved in their daughters/son’s educational journey as they receive frequent updates of their progress.
So, a continuous report is one that is built throughout the semester and provides students and parents with an ongoing overview of how they’re progressing.
Through the College’s online Learning Management System “Canvas,” parents can access, via an online login, up to date records of their daughter or son’s assessments.
At any time during the year, through Canvas, they can see the assessment task, the date due, the criteria for marking and the achieved result and associated teacher feedback after marking is finished.
By checking the criteria for marking and reading the feedback, both the parent and the student can see where the student needs to improve and take action so that the following assessments show an improvement.
This system helps our students improve in all areas of learning by providing:
I encourage parents if you haven’t already done so, to ask your daughter/son to give you a tour of Canvas and in particular to show you where the feedback and results can be found.
Semester One Statements of Results will be available via the parent portal as follows:
Teacher change
We welcomed Ms Elana Cole back from parental leave this week. I thank on behalf of the College, Ms Alithea Anderton, who covered Ms Cole’s Yr 7 RE, English & Humanities and Yr 8 English classes for the first half of this year.
Thank you for your ongoing support of our College.
Michael Exton Principal
For general enquiries please telephone the College on 5251 1136 or email: office@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For student absence please contact the College office by 10am and leave a message or email: office@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For College Fee related enquiries email: fees@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For account related enquiries email: accounts@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For enrolment related queries email: registrar@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For general IT support enquiries please email: itsupport@ignatius.vic.edu.au
For Wellbeing support please email: wellbeing@ignatius.vic.edu.au
Thank you for your understanding.
As we return to the College we are excited for a semester that promises some sense of normality. We are also saddened that due to a surge in the number of COVID19 cases in Melbourne many students in Victoria will again be entering into a period of remote learning. We are aware of the impact that this will have upon families and communities ‘up the road’. In reflecting upon the period of remote learning in term two the biggest impact was the inability to be in and enjoy nature.
Over the holidays many in our community made the most of some beautiful afternoons by visit local reserves and beaches enjoying nature with their family and friends. As we enter a new semester we are grateful for the ability to experience nature. In observing it’s beauty and complexity we are drawn to the transcendent. In nature we find it easy to see ‘God in all things’.
When we view nature it’s easy to see that plants are a true wonder of creation. They are ancient and extremely varied. Some 400 million years ago the first terrestrial plants evolved. With changes in the environment and selective pressures over hundreds of millions of years there are today approximately 400,000 known species of plant. They range from enormous trees like the Mountain Ash to tiny mosses that are less than a centimetre in height.
Plants are truly amazing. They can grow in almost every habitat on earth. Plants can grow in deserts or in salt water mangroves, they can grow on the top of snow covered mountains or in almost complete darkness. In fact, there is a type of moss called the Dwarf Swan-neck Moss that can grow next to volcanoes in soil temperatures of 72°C!
Jesus often used plants to explain great truths in ways that people could understand. Whether he used images of vines or wheat to explain his teachings three aspects are vital to the success of plants in his parables – soil, pests and weeds. For a plant to grow to it’s full potential the environment needs to be perfect. Even the Dwarf Swan-neck Moss cannot grow in the dark or with herds of goats foraging freely.
Metaphorically the same is true for our students. Each of them like a seed has all that is required to reach their potential and like plants each is unique and capable of doing something no other can. Each student, if nurtured he or she can achieve not only what they hope for but have the ability to change the world and their community if they focus upon the gifts provided by God.
During the term, students will make subject selections that will develop their skills and abilities through the study of subjects that truly interest them and that they have an aptitude for. One common aspect that can limit their development is in choosing subjects for the wrong reason. Subject selection based upon friendships, perception of how easy or hard a course may be can be viewed metaphorically as the thorns Jesus spoke of. Students must be careful to avoid weeds to smother their potential or crowd out what leads to growth.
As a community and within families we need to support students as they develop. It is the role of these supportive networks to help tend the soil and deter pests that might “eat up the seed” before it grows. The most essential aspect of gardening is development of the soil. The creation of humus through careful composting is in many ways a fine art. If the soil is not adequate or the environment is not safe growth cannot occur. It is the job of families and communities to prepare and nourish ‘the soil’ so that students can flourish.
We should also be aware to the presence of God in our community and the movement of his Spirit within us. For students to achieve their potential they also need spiritual nourishment and the guidance of their conscience. Supporting students spiritually and discussing our belief in a loving and merciful God is of vital importance for students as they develop into adulthood. Empowering them to seek God and develop their own relationship with him is a promise made at baptism and a central belief of our College community.
To achieve all that is possible in their lives each child requires the support of the whole community, a relationship with God and the tools required to make the better choice when making decisions.
So as this term begins let us reflect upon the wonder of creation and the vast and extraordinary environments plants thrive in. Spend time in nature and consider how plants can teach us much about reaching our potential and the need for favourable environmental factors that ensure growth. Although growth can occur without intervention success is guaranteed with some support and intervention. Our job is to tend the soil and add the humus required to help young people achieve their goals and become the people of great virtue and love for others. If a tiny moss can grow in soil that would kill any other multicellular organism as a community we can ensure that each of our students reaches their potential and becomes the unique and vital individual God planned for our world!
Yours in Christ,
Brendan Nicholls Liturgy Coordinator
The term has commenced well for all our students and teachers and we are very glad to be able to start together delivering classes face to face. That being said, there is some very important information in this newsletter that relates to release of Semester 1 results; preparation for and selection of 2021 subjects as well as arrangements for parent/student/teacher conferences that will all be conducted under the COVID-19 restrictions that remain in place for the foreseeable future.
At the start of 2020, Saint Ignatius College moved to the whole school implementation of the Canvas Learning Management System. As a result of the introduction of this interactive learning system from Years 7 to 12, teachers were able to provide targeted feedback to students to help them achieve improved learning outcomes in their chosen subject areas. The provision of these results with feedback has meant that parents and guardians have been able to observe that feedback and track student progress across the semester.
With the onset of remote and flexible learning at the start of Term 2, the use of Canvas to deliver curriculum content via announcements enabled us to ensure learning continuity despite the difficulties of not being able to teach students face to face.
Given these changes, semester reporting has changed as well and these changes were indicated at the beginning of the year at all parent information evenings. Instead of summative reports, students will receive an individual Statement of Results for set assessment tasks as well as judgements in relation to learning skills and attributes as well as indications of Victorian curriculum progression points or in the case of senior students, satisfactory or non- satisfactory completion of VCE Units or achievement of competencies in VCAL strands.
For your information, Statements of Results will be accessible via the parent portal for students in Years 7, 8 and 9 on Friday July 17th and for students in Years 10, 11 and 12 on Friday July 24th. In both instances, the Statement of Results will be accessible from 4pm on each day.
Details as to how Statements of Results can be accessed will be emailed to all parents on Friday July 17th via the Deputy Principal’s office. Parents and guardians who have any difficulty accessing these results, will be advised in this notification how to receive technical assistance should that be required.
With the onset of remote and flexible learning coupled with restricted access to the school site, we have not as yet been able to conduct formal parent/student/teacher conferences. As it is unlikely that this situation will change in the current circumstances in Victoria, we have planned to stage these conferences in two stages.
Years 11 and 12 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
Years 11 and 12 parent/student/teacher conferences will be conducted via Zoom on Wednesday July 29th from 4.00pm to 8.30pm. Fifteen-minute time slots will be set aside for each conference and the teacher conducting the conference will contact the parent or guardian via the student’s school email address and laptop.
Bookings for these conferences will open via the parent portal on Xuno at 9am on Thursday July 23rd and close at 4pm on Tuesday July 28th to enable subject teachers to adequately prepare for these conferences.
The period from 6pm to 7pm will be unavailable for bookings to provide a dinner break for teachers conducting these conferences.
If a parent or guardian is unable to secure a booking on that evening or has technical difficulties conducting the conference, he or she will be able to email that particular subject teacher to request a phone or Zoom conference at another time that is mutually suitable for the teacher and the parent or guardian.
Years 7 to 10 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
The second stage of conferences will occur on Thursday September 17th from 4pm to 8.30pm and then Friday September 18th from 9am to 12 noon. Friday September 18th will be a student free day except for Year 12 VCE English students sitting an October test English exam from 9am to 12-15pm.
Depending on the state of play with COVID-19 management across the state, these conferences may be face-to-face or by Zoom.
While we would like to have been able to conduct parent/student/teacher conferences face to face earlier than has been possible this year, I respectfully remind all parents and guardians that they can contact a subject or homeroom teacher at any time via email or the student planner to request a conversation with regard to student performance or progress.
I would also refer parents and guardians to the comments made by Principal, Mr. Michael Exton, in his section of the newsletter that provided advice as to how to ensure that you monitor feedback and progress that your son or daughter can share with you via the Canvas LMS.
Despite the challenging circumstances that we find ourselves in at present, it is time now to turn our attention to subject information and selection procedures for 2021. We are not able to conduct our subject information procedures as has been the case in previous years due to the current restrictions in place under the guidelines of the Department of Education and the Catholic Education Melbourne.
For this year the following arrangements will be in place for our students and their families.
On Friday July 17th, subject information booklets for students in Years 8 to 11 will be published in a common Canvas course called ‘2021 Subject Selection Pathways.’ All students currently in these levels will be able to access any of these booklets and their associated elective or subject preference forms course, thereby enabling them to see courses that are being offered across the College from Years 9 to 12 in 2021.
Once these booklets are uploaded, students, parents and guardians will be able to start reading through the electives, units or subjects available at each level next year and begin important family discussions as to what might be best for their son or daughter.
From that point, a series of sessions will be offered to students and parents to assist them in making individual selections for 2021. For students and parents in Years 9 and 10 this year, a pre-recorded presentation will be made available in Week 3 of the term to offer specific information related to that level. Furthermore, for these levels and all other levels as well there will be specific guidance provided at school or via Zoom to assist with selections dependent on what is possible at that point in time.
Please note that for all students currently in Years 8, 9, 10 or 11, they must complete and submit their selections by Wednesday August 18th. This is so the College can determine what subjects are viable to offer in 2021 based on student preferences, staffing capacity and timetabling constraints. To help them do this, students in these year levels will receive a hard copy of the relevant form at that level to record their selections and these forms will then be collected by homeroom teachers at morning homeroom on August 18th.
When the subject information booklets are available on Canvas, an email will be forwarded to students and parents in Years 8 to 11 to explain how to access this course and the booklets contained within it.
We look forward to working together to guide your sons and daughters on their learning pathways through the College in the coming years.
This year it will be very important that all students doing a Unit 3/4 VCE subject or subjects complete a formal GAT practice to be fully aware of how this general achievement test will be used to assist with correlations to subject study scores and final ATAR results. As there have been extended periods of remote and flexible learning in Semester 1, with students undertaking SACs in differing circumstances, the GAT is likely to assume additional significance as VCAA seek to ensure equity of results across all students and courses.
We will therefore be conducting a practice for all students required to sit the actual VCAA GAT on Wednesday September 9th. This practice will be held on Tuesday August 11th from 9am to 12-15pm with normal Period 5 and 6 classes to follow in the afternoon. We are currently seeking an external assessor/s to grade the written communication tasks while multiple choice answers will be provided to students after the practice, to help them determine how the GAT mark is derived and to better understand its overall importance.
A letter detailing arrangements for this practice GAT, the formal GAT, Year 12 VCE October practice exams as well as end of year VCAA exams will be forwarded to parents in the next few weeks but this advance notice is to request that key GAT dates be placed on the family calendar so that all students are present for both tests.
In. concluding, I thank you all for your ongoing support to ensure our students are as well prepared as possible for a range of key events this term and trust that you and your families continue to remain safe and healthy.
Mrs Annette Chidzey Deputy Principal [ Learning and Teaching]
At the end of Term 2, Saint Ignatius College celebrated Refugee Week from Sunday 14th – Saturday 20th June. The theme for 2020 was “Year of Welcome”. This year we celebrated welcomed, advocated for and served asylum seekers and refugees in a number of ways.
During Personal Learning, the Year 8 cohort created a welcome sign for each homeroom and decorated 250 bunting flags with messages of welcome. These bunting flags were displayed around our school and were a colourful reminder of our commitment to welcoming, loving and serving people.
On the Thursday of Refugee Week, 125 students participated in a silence protest to advocate for those people seeking asylum who are in detention centres and voiceless. These students were challenged to wear a sign and not to speak for the entire school day! In previous years we have held ‘The Cage’ at school for 30 senior students. This year we were required to adapt ‘The Cage’ and invited all students to take action and advocate through this silent protest.
Those participating in the ‘Silent Protest’ were also encouraged to participate in the ‘Watch Party’, or film night, on Canvas and challenged to sleep out in their backyards. Another important component of ‘The Cage’ was raising much needed funds for Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) via our Go Fundraise Team Website (https://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/TheCageSICG) efforts last term raised $921.00. We hope that we can still make our target of $1,000 by the end of next week!
Later that day, our school community participated in a virtual assembly where homerooms watched a video exploring the refugee crisis and the current situation for asylum seekers and refugees in Australia during the COVID-19 Pandemic (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=362716228028938). The production of this video and its content was created by Jessica Breckon (Justice Captain), Abbey Maffescioni (Justice Captain), William Bothe (Liturgy Captain), Erika Slevin (JRS Youth Ambassador), Kathleen Donald (JRS Youth Ambassador) and Jarryd Atkinson (Youth Ministry Facilitator). This Virtual Assembly invited our students to act in some way for this global and domestic injustice and concluded with our community participating in an adapted ‘Circle of Silence’ where we stood in silence and solidarity with people seeking asylum.
Twelve Refugee Week Challenges were also created for students to complete from the start of Refugee Week until the end of the school holidays in order to learn about, advocate for and reflect on people seeking asylum. These were made available on the new Love and Service student Canvas course. Our current context has required us to adapt the way we love and serve others. We are no longer able to engage in face-to-face service in our community. These Refugee Week challenges were therefore created to allow our students to continue to love and serve others through advocacy and reflection. These challenges, like the Laudato Si’ Week Challenges, were also another opportunity for our students to continue to gain service hours.
Saint Ignatius College is committed to loving and serving the most vulnerable in our local and global communities. It is incredible to see our students respond to injustices in our world, such as the refugee crisis, with empathy, commitment and a desire to learn about these injustices, so that they can act and bring about change in our world. I am very grateful, as the Justice and Service Coordinator, for the opportunity to support our students as they grow in empathy, commitment and a desire to love and serve others.
Ms Alicia Deak Justice and Service Coordinator
Applications are now open
Very often young people need a word of encouragement to make the move to apply for a leadership position. You may have experienced this yourself in your life. I know I have. As such you may consider encouraging your son/daughter to apply for a student leadership role at the College for 2021.
We encourage our students to put their ‘hand up’ for all opportunities where they can be of service to the school and/or the wider (local, national, international) communities. Also, it is important for students to be pragmatic and build resilience when not successful in their application.
Students have been emailed role descriptions, application forms and other relevant documents.
The leadership positions available are listed on the application form.
For current Year 10’s
It is important for current Year 10 students to understand that, in a change from previous years, the Captains in each of the Portfolios (Academic, Arts, Environment, Justice, Liturgy, Sport & Wellbeing) will be selected from current Year 10’s (Year 11 in 2021).
Current Year 11 Portfolio Captains will act as a mentor to next year’s Captains.
For current Year 11’s
It is important for current Year 11 students to understand that, in a change from previous years, the College Captains and College Vice Captains will be selected from current Year 11’s (Year 12 in 2021).
Applications are now open & should be emailed to me (gravenera@ignatius.vic.edu.au).
Kind Regards
Anthony Gravener Student Leadership Development Coordinator
Congratulations to the Unit 3 VCE Theatre Studies class on their recent performance of four scene excerpts from Australian playwright, Les Winspear’s hilarious modern version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
Due to the recent challenges faced by the class in developing this production during our ‘remote and flexible learning’ period, I am extremely proud of everyone for creatively developing two production roles in order to bring this fabulous performance to life for their Outcome 1 assessment.
Students worked creatively in production roles such as; sound, lighting, costume, props, directing, acting, make-up and hair design in order to produce an engaging and interactive live performance to a small audience of 13 staff and students due to the current restrictions. Despite the limited audience, the standards of professionalism was exceptional.
We wish you all could have been there to appreciate the student’s wonderful performance, so here are some photos for you to enjoy instead!
Miss Walker
Every year Apple Corporation holds what is called the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) and as a part of this they also hold a competition for students which gives them the opportunity to submit an innovative creation.
Over the past few months Christian has worked passionately on a project and created an augmented reality solar system that can be used as a teaching device. It allows the user to select a planet, learn information about the chosen planet and then complete a quiz at the end.
Christian was one of only 350 winners world-wide and one of only 10 winning students in Australia!
It's wonderful to see his hard work and passion paying off with such a prestigious award. He is also currently working on developing a robot hand with another student at St Ignatius College, James Fuller and they are so grateful for the encouragement and support he is receiving from Mr Nash his Digital Technology teacher.
Attached an article which includes a little more information about the WWDC
https://eftm.com/…/apples-wwdc-scholarship-winners-receive-…
This link to Christians WWDC scholars profile and shows more information about his creation:
https://www.wwdcscholars.com/s/F2812AC3-0380-422C-9635-8F74…
Well done, Christian!
These operation have been devised due to current Vic COVID-19 guidelines.
No parents allowed on site. No volunteers on site.
Maximum of 4 only to serve in the canteen.
Social distancing requirements.
Canteen open to serve:
Recess - Years 10-12 only (Not serving Years 7-9)
Lunch - Years 7-12
Lunch Orders:
Years 7 - 8 : YLCs to give home room teachers a (washing) basket for each HR teacher.
Students to complete their order, place into the basket with money. Students leaders to take basket to canteen by end of homeroom and collect from canteen at 12.25pm.
Year 9: 1 basket near YLCs office (PANJ)
Students to complete their order on the paper bag, place into the basket with money. Students leaders to take basket to canteen by end of recess and collect from canteen at 12.25pm.
Years 10-12: basket at the canteen
Students to complete their order on the paper bag, place into the basket with money at the canteen by end of recess and collect from canteen during lunch time.
Staff: basket at the canteen
Staff to complete their order on the paper bag, place into the basket with money at the canteen by end of recess and collect from canteen during lunch time.
Each basket will have a Canteen Price List, paper bags and plastic money pockets.
Each basket will be daily cleaned and sanitised by Canteen staff.
Staff on Yard Duty to encourage physical distancing for students waiting in queues.
For Term 3 these Canteen Operations are to be reviewed and adjusted to comply with prevailing Vic COVID-19 guidelines.
Welcome back to Term 3 - Hope you all had a lovely break!
Unfortunately not much is changing on the Parents and Friend’s Association front given the current circumstances. I have had lots of enquiries about the second hand uniform shop and unfortunately my hands are tied on that front! No visitors allowed on school premises but rest assured, once this ban is lifted, we will be back running as normal!
Please don’t forget we are still fundraising! E-Entertainment Books are now available for 2020/2021 so please help support the school by e-purchasing!
Visit the school Facebook page for details or you can contact me directly on 0438 353 855 if you need any further details.
Hope everyone stays safe!
Regards
Sandi Clark
Behalf of the Parents and Friend’s Association
The last few months has certainly been a test of young person’s emotional smarts. The ups and downs of the COVID-19 experience continues to play on the emotions of all us, but for adolescence who are going through a period of brain development, this can be a particularly tricky time. Fortunately, parents are in a wonderful position to assist and in doing so develop emotional smarts in their young people. The following strategies will help:
Talk openly about feelings
Your young person will benefit from being around adults who talk about their own emotions and feelings rather than ignoring or bottling things up. A focus on emotions builds their vocabulary and also gives them permission to do the same.
Talk about the emotional impact that daily events such have on you
Ask them how they feel or react emotionally to things that happen to them
Use specific terms for feelings such as ‘irritated’, ‘nervous’, ‘tense’, ‘annoyed’
Build awareness of the triggers
Your young person may experience mood swings due to the changes occurring in both their body and brain as well as the changes COVID-19 brings. They may feel confused and even fearful of their reactions. Help your young person recognise the situations and events that trigger different emotions. Your young person may be aware that returning to school, for example, may make them nervous but they may not realise that they become annoyed when they’re told to do something rather than
when they are asked.
Discuss trigger events and moments with your young person
Make a list of trigger moments to help him prepare for them
Develop plans to better manage emotions before they spiral out of control
Encourage journaling
Young people often have difficulty internally processing many of the events that happen during the course of day, leading to confusion and worry. Encourage them to keep a daily diary or journal so they can make better sense of events and situations that impact on them emotionally. Getting their thoughts and emotions down on paper helps them gain clarity, gain control of their emotions and build better mental health. Writing thoughts and worries down prevents constant rumination, which often leads to catastrophising.
Give your young person the privacy needed for journaling
Remind them that posting on social media is different to journaling
Share with your young person how you process your thoughts and emotions in healthy ways
Differentiate between feelings and mood
Adolescence can be a confusing time, particularly when they’re changing from primary school to secondary school. Feelings of confusion and self-doubt can seem like constant companions. Help your young person understand the difference between mood and feelings. A mood can stay for a long time – days and weeks – and is impacted by the lifestyle factors such as sleep, diet and exercise. Feelings are fleeting. They come and they go. They are easily shifted with simple tools such as breathing, visualisation and distraction.
Accepting discomfort
We naturally want to feel happy and content, however life is never that simple. Your young person is more than likely learning to come to terms with that. Help them feel comfortable with unpleasant feelings such as sadness, disappointment, jealousy and frustration. Let them know that there are behaviours that can’t be tolerated such as aggression and hurting others, but there is nothing so bad that they can’t talk about it. Introduce them to healthy coping skills they can use to make uncomfortable
situations more tolerable.
These include:
Humour: having a laugh or finding a funny side is a great coping strategy
Normalisation: understanding that you are not the only person experiencing something helps to rationalise thinking
Distraction: taking a break from a situation if only for a short time is very therapeutic
Compartmentalisation: stopping an event infecting all areas of life is a wonderful coping skill
Goal-setting: finding solutions to problems and taking the first steps needed to reach them creates a sense of hope and momentum
Emotional intelligence is a skill that grows over time. It’s like working out at the gym – those muscles will take time to build. Similarly, those emotional muscles will take some time to grow stronger. They may need time to talk about and explore their feelings, and become more accustomed to experiencing feelings, even those that make them feel uncomfortable.
Michael Grose
Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s the author of 10 books for parents including Thriving! and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It, and his latest release Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children.
Join Saver Plus and we'll match your savings, dollar for dollar, up to $500 for school costs.
To join Saver Plus, you must be at least 18 years or over, have a child at school or attend vocational education yourself, have regular income from paid employment (you or your partner), have a current Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card and be in receipt of an eligible Commonwealth social security benefit, allowance or payment.
The eligibility criteria has also been broadened to assist more families, with JobKeeper and/or a formal Child Support arrangement classed as ‘income’.
Contact: Your local Saver Plus Coordinator
Phone: 03 5278 8122 Email: GeelongSP@bethany.org.au Web: www.saverplus.org.au
See PDF flyer for details:
Local Community and Sporting groups you may be interested in.
Parent Education Events - Geelong Region: Term 3 2020
All programs are free and will be run via Zoom, however, bookings are essential.
To book visit www.geelongaustralia.com.au/parenting or call us on 5272 4781.
There are a number of events planned for Term 3, please see attached flyer for event details: