2 feb 18
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Mon 18 Feb Mon 25 Feb
Tues 19 Feb Tues 26 Feb Meet the Teacher Night.
Wed 20 Feb Scripture lessons begin Wed 27 Feb
Thur 21 Feb Thur 28 Feb
Fri 22 Feb Summer PSSA begins Fri 1 March PSSA
Next Fortnight’s Diary Term 1 Weeks 4 & 5
Homebush Public School Rochester St Homebush NSW 2140
Phone: 9746 9171 9764 4472 Fax: 9746 3516
Email: [email protected] www.homebushpublicschool.com.au
Meet the Teacher Night
Homebush Public School will be holding its “Meet the Teacher” night next Tuesday 26 February.
During the mee ng, the class teacher will talk about the class program, student requirements, teacher expecta ons, class proce-dures, rou nes and homework. It is important to keep in mind that this mee ng will not be an appro-priate forum to discuss individual students.
We will stagger the mes of the mee ngs so that parents with chil-dren in different classes will have a chance to a end mee ngs for each of their children.
More informa on will be sent home later this week.
Oral Health Services
Sydney Local Oral Health Services provide free dental care to all chil-dren under the age of 18.
Clinics are located at Marrickville, Canterbury and Croydon. For more informa on call 9293 3333.
ganising and running the day.
The next day saw us holding our Chinese New Year celebra ons. Many of our students had given up numerous lunch mes to prac-ce their items and their efforts
were reflected in a very colourful and entertaining performance.
I’d like to thank Mrs Tung for all of the extra work she did in the pro-duc on of the event.
Jack Liston
Principal’s Report
Last week was a very busy week at Homebush Public School. Our stu-dent popula on reached a level allowing us to form 19 classes and all students were placed into per-manent classes.
Two days later we held our Annual Swimming Carnival and it was a wonderful day for all of our prima-ry students. A big “thank you” to Mr Blundell and Mrs Rossi for all of the hard work they did in or-
Tom Khanthan and “Bala” Baladevan were each presented with a spe-cial framed cer ficate at the last P&C mee ng. Tom has served on the P&C for 4 years and Bala for 9 years and both men were recognised for the work they had done for our school and our students. Tom and Bala’s children are now a ending high school. Our whole school community would like to thank Tom and Bala for their service to the school.
Anaphylaxis
The Department of Educa on and Communi es has recently an-nounced that all government schools will receive a general use adrenaline autoinjector (an Ep-iPen) for their first aid kit.
This does not replace the need for parents to con nue to provide the school with an adrenaline autoin-jector and ASCIA Ac on Plan for Anaphylaxis signed and dated by their doctor when their child has been diagnosed with anaphylaxis. Instead the general use adrena-line autoinjector is intended to be used if:
o An undiagnosed student has an anaphylac c reac on at school
o There is a misfire of the adrena-line autoinjector that has been prescribed for a student
o A student requires further adrenaline autoinjector to be ad-ministered a er his or her own adrenaline autoinjector has been administered.
Please contact the school if you would like further informa on in rela on to this ma er.
Photos from our Ch
inese
New Year cel
ebra ons and
our Annual S
wimming Car‐
nival.
School Website We will be increasingly relying on our school website to communicate important information to all of our fami-lies. Please make sure you bookmark our web address.
www.homebushpublicschool.com.au
P A R E N T I N G
P A G E
Articles presented on this page
are written by Michael Grose,
one of Australia’s leading Par-
enting Educators.
Mental health is the
new self-esteem
What is your state of mind like? What is the state of your child’s mental health at the moment?
These are ques ons that we need to ask ourselves con nually. The busyness of life means that many of us feel that we are living our lives on the run and there is li le me or chance to relax.
It is one thing to feel a li le stretched. In some ways this is quite a healthy state. We usually achieve li le if we are in a con-stant state of iner a. But it is an-other thing en rely to feel con-stantly stressed because we are so busy or demands just stack up so that before we know it we are snowed under and life seems out of control. For the sake of our mental health we need to create space so we can relax and not feel that out lives are spinning out of control.
The same circumstances hold for children. Le to their own devices children generally have sound mental health habits. They a end to about the right ra o of play, rest and work - that is, play comes before work and just a er rest in most children’s scheme of things (just like dic onary order). I have never had to say to my children, “Now get back to playing. You have done enough work for one day.” It is always the other way around and so it should be.
But it seems things may be chang-ing in these mes of highly or-chestrated, adult-ini ated child-hoods. It is not so much that work comes before play rather that play is so highly structured that much of the spontaneity and self-directedness of play is lost.
The last decade has seen almost universal acceptance by parents and caregivers of the place of self-esteem in a child’sdevelopment. But we need to be careful not to over-organise and over-complicate children’s lives at the expense of free, unstructured ‘muck around’ me.
The importance of ‘muck around’ me is underes mated. Research
maintains that self-ini ated lei-sure is essen al for good mental health and emo onal well being in adolescents. Teenagers who have an interest outside of school or their normal range of ‘work’ have a tremendous insulator against stress, anxiety and depres-sion.
Parents and teachers can fill up so much of children’s and young people’s lives with all types of ac vi es that there is li le space or me le to pursue their own interests or to just ‘muck around’. Most of us know intui vely that ‘muck around’ me is the prerog-a ve of childhood.
The opportunity for some free, unstructured me is something that we adults need to remember as we model good mental health habits for the children and young people in our lives.
Wise and Witty Words “It is not giving children more that spoils them; it is giving them more to avoid confronta-tion.” John Gray, "Children Are From Heaven"
PARENTING PROGRAMME IN FEBRUARY BRINGING UP GREAT KIDS
(for parents of 0 to 6 years old children)
Programme description The “Bringing up great kids” program uses ideas of mindfulness and reflec on to support parents to review and enhance their interac on with their children. Parents will be provided with an understand-ing of children’s brain development, with a focus on their emo onal development and reasoning abili-es, and reflect on how this may influence their paren ng approach.
Through the program it is expected that parents will come to:
Learn more about the origin of their own paren ng style and how it can be more effec ve;
Iden fy the important messages they want to convey to their children and how they do this;
Understand the messages that children communicate to their parents and how they do this;
Discover how to overcome some of the obstacles that are ge ng in the way of being the kind of parent they would like to be;
Learn about the importance t of building self esteem in children;
Discover ways for parents to take care of themselves and to find support when they need it;
Develop strategies to manage their child’s behaviour in a posi ve way.
WHEN: Wednesdays from the 20th of February to 27th of March
TIME : 10am – 1pm
WHERE: Croydon Health Centre, 24 Liverpool Rd Croydon (parking entry through Croydon Ave)
FACILITATORS: Chris ane Barton (Child & Family Health Nurse) & Alicia Paciocco (Social Worker)
BOOKINGS: Contact Chris ane on 93781368 or Alicia on 95620452 to register
Childminding: Childminding is available.