Dear Parents and Carers,

I thought I would share some tips to help your child with their education journey for you to do at home.

Ask about your child’s day

Stay involved in your child’s education. Even small things, like asking children what they did in school, can be the difference between a child who unplugs at the end of the day and one who continues thinking about what was learned. If a student goes home and everyone says one thing they did that day, repeating it to anyone else in the house will help them remember it. If they say, ‘I don’t remember’ or ‘I don’t know,’ ask them something specific: ‘What did you do in science today,’ something that will get them talking about what they have learned.

Let your child see you making mistakes.

Parents are their child’s first teacher and their lifetime teacher. Part of being a lifetime teacher is teaching your child how to deal with making mistakes. Make mistakes and let them see that you can deal with it so they will know you can move on easily.

Don’t tell your child that you weren’t good at maths.

Parents might feel intimidated by the thought of helping children with their maths homework, especially in the upper grades. Never say, “It’s okay, I’ve always been bad at maths, too”. You would never say that about reading. Maths is here to serve you, not to trip you up. It’s here to make life easier, and a lot of that can start at home with parents showing that they’re not intimidated by numbers. Try to relate it to daily activities, whether it’s calculating statistics at a sporting event or working out the cost of groceries. Capitalise on those day-to-day things where maths comes up rather than drilling children on maths facts. That way you’re really engaging them and letting them see how what they’re learning matters in life.

Get organised with a colour-coded system

Older students are expected to be more independent and manage their assignments themselves, but as they transition from primary school, they can find it hard to keep track of everything. Try using colour-coordinated folders and notebooks to help students keep their material for different subjects organised.

Don’t compare your child with others

This applies to all children but is especially important with kids who have learning disabilities or other special needs. Don’t put pressure on the child to be just like the child down the street. There’s no such thing as the child that’s like every other child. Every child is different. They all have strengths and weaknesses, they all have talents and challenges.

High school is not the time to take a more hands-off approach

Just because your children are getting older doesn’t mean it’s time to put them on auto­pilot. This is the point in their lives when they’re trying to sort out who they are. Peer pressure is intense and their connectedness to school can wane. When drugs, bullying, peer pressure and skipping class become more rampant, that’s when your teenagers really need you, your support and wisdom and your rules and values. Remember they are always looking out the corner of their eye to see what you are thinking and how you are reacting. You show them how an adult deals with life.

Lastly, don’t do everything for your child

Sometimes it’s faster to do things yourself than wait for your child to complete a task. But by doing everything for them, you’re not preparing them to take care of themselves. If your child is having trouble with something, such as organising his backpack, stand next to him and have him do it while you talk him through the process. This goes for time management as well. Parents can empower their children to think for themselves and be more responsible for themselves. They need to figure out: How do I juggle all of the activities and classes but not have to rely on Mum and Dad to step in.

Have a great weekend and happy Mother’s Day to all our great mums.

Thanks

Darryn Martin

On Wednesday, Rooms 4, 6 and 7 were treated to a visit by one of our special parents, Ms Dressler. She came to share with us the importance of our wildlife, including Pygmy, Honey, Brushtail and especially Western Ringtail possums. The Western Ringtail possum or Ngwayir is a species of possum found only in a small area of Southwest Western Australia. They are a cat-sized marsupial with a stocky build, dark greyish-brown fur, pale underparts and a long prehensile tail with a whitish tip. There are only 3 main populations of Western Ringtail possums left and so we all need to make a concerted effort to protect them. 

We found out what they eat, how they sleep, how we can help them build a drey or nest. More importantly we learnt about our impact on their survival and how can we help them to thrive and still enjoy our own domestic animals without impacting them. It is important that dogs and cats are secured at night. There is a catio building workshop being held on April 5 and you cab apply for funding to help build a catio. 

Thank you so much for the very informative lesson, I have no doubt that the awareness raised will definitely make us all think about our impacts to those that live around us.  The students were certainly buzzing with ideas and excitement, thanks!

We Love Auslan!

 We have had an exciting start to Auslan this term, learning about important Australian cultural events recognised by both the Deaf and Hearing community. We took time to discuss the significance of Anzac Day, learning relevant signs including the phrase “Lest we forget” which is signed “Never forget” and made poppies as a symbol of remembrance. 

We have also begun our 3 week focus on Family, paying particular attention to “Mum”. Students had a lot of fun sharing reasons to celebrate mothers and the other important female family role models in our lives this Sunday. We wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day and hope that you like the students’ creations.

Have a look at our gorgeous students signing a quick note to you all. https://youtu.be/OStGBND-t3s

Sign of the week

It’s Mother’s Day this Sunday so our Sign of the Week is Mother/Mum (the same sign is used for both).

Well-done to this month’s signing star! Archie, great work!

Interschool Orienteering Event Newsletter - Today, 32 students from Years 5 and 6 took part in an interschool orienteering event at Centennial Park – Eastern Precinct (Junior Football Oval).

Everyone showed fantastic teamwork, determination, and enthusiasm as they navigated their way through the course. It was a brilliant day, and we were so proud to see our students representing the school with such energy and pride.

This year was our best result yet! Overall, we came second, with Flinders Park taking out first place. Our Year 5 team came third, and the Year 6 team finished in second place—an amazing achievement and our most successful performance at an orienteering carnival to date.

Individual Results:

Well done to all the students involved—you should all be very proud of yourselves!

I would like to share the following message I received today from the Orienteering Coordinator about our school.

📍 Free Family Entry:
Please see below—or collect a hard copy from the front office—for a Free Family Entry to the next ADHOC event, held at Yakamia Primary School on Saturday, 17th May at 3:00pm.

👉 Important: If you plan to attend, please contact the ADHOC Club via Facebook, phone (0407 519 232), or email ([email protected]) so they can prepare enough maps.

Wednesday - Walk to school day!

This coming Wednesday we are having our walk to school day! Hopefully we can get a record number of students supporting us. There will be yummy fruit at the end thanks to our P&C.

Goodness me what a spread! Thank you to all of our volunteers and the wonderful parents in the P&C for putting on a fantastic tea and treat for our mums of Little Grove. We hope that everyone one has a lovely weekend filled with treats, love and relaxation!

Lunch orders continue, please keep in mind that this is organised by a very small group of volunteers, please take into consideration helping with these lunches, in order for us to continue to provide this service. If you have a spare hour or two to help collect and distribute the lunches through the canteen, please place your name on our volunteer roster https://volunteersignup.org/EH7XW.   If you haven't helped with lunches before, we have a really awesome guide to help you or we can have one of our wonderful P&C ladies come and show you the ropes.

Please make sure orders are placed by 12pm TUESDAY via www.quickcliq.com.au. Please send us a message or email at [email protected] if you want to know more