GIANT EASTER EGG RAFFLE

Our Giant Easter Egg Raffle will be held on Thursday April 6th, as part of our final school assembly for the term. We thank all families for your support with this special event. All funds raised from our raffle will go towards the refurbishment of the top playground for Foundation-2 students.

 CORRECT SCHOOL UNIFORM

A reminder to all parents and students that full summer uniform needs to be worn to school for the remainder of Term 1. Could we please ask parents to make sure their children are presenting to school in the correct uniform.

Students can wear all black runners so long as they don’t have any branding showing. Boys are to wear grey socks and girls are to wear white socks. A number of students have been presenting in black sports socks with logos, this is not acceptable. 

BUILDING RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN

Resilience … it’s a familiar word, isn’t it? But what does it really mean? When we talk about resilience, we’re talking about a child’s ability to cope with ups and downs, and bounce back from the challenges they experience during childhood – for example moving home, changing schools, studying for an exam or dealing with the death of a loved one. Building resilience helps children not only to deal with current difficulties that are a part of everyday life, but also to develop the basic skills and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life, during adolescence and adulthood.

Resilience is important for children’s mental health. Children with greater resilience are better able to manage stress, which is a common response to difficult events. Stress is a risk factor for mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, if the level of stress is severe or ongoing.

So where does resilience come from? 

Resilience is shaped partly by the individual characteristics we are born with (our genes, temperament and personality) and partly by the environment we grow up in — our family, community and the broader society. While there are some things we can’t change, such as our biological makeup, there are many things we can change. 

One way of explaining the concept of resilience is to imagine a plane encountering turbulence mid-flight. The turbulence, or poor weather, represents adversity. Different planes will respond to poor weather conditions in different ways, in the same way different children respond to the same adversity in different ways. 

The ability of the plane to get through the poor weather and reach its destination depends on:

• the pilot (the child)
• the co-pilot (the child’s family, friends, teachers and health professionals)
• the type of plane (the child’s individual characteristics such as age and temperament)
• the equipment available to the pilot, co-pilots and ground crew
• the severity and duration of the poor weather.

We can all help children become more resilient and the good news is, you don’t have to do it alone. You can ask other adults such as carers and grandparents to help. Building children’s resilience is everyone’s business, and it’s never too early or too late to get started. We’ve got some simple things that you can do in your own home.

How can I build resilience in my child?

The latest research shows that there are five areas that offer the best chance for building resilience in children. 

As a parent, carer, or significant adult, you can help to develop essential skills, habits and attitudes for building resilience at home by helping your child to:

Build good relationships with others including adults and peers

Quality relationships are important for resilience. You can help develop your child’s resilience by helping them build and strengthen their relationships with other children, and with significant adults in their lives – including your parent-child relationship.

It is important to remember to:

• spend quality time with your child
• support your child to build relationships with other adults
• help your child develop social skills and friendships with peers
• help your child to develop empathy

Build their independence

Autonomy and responsibility play an important role in building children’s resilience. You can encourage your children to take on responsibilities and develop a sense of autonomy.

It’s important to remember that as parents, it’s natural for us to want to protect our children from negative experiences, but it’s important not to shield them completely from life’s challenges. Working through difficulties and problems – with adult support as required – will give your child a chance to learn about themselves, develop resilience, and grow as a person.

Learn to identify, express and manage their emotions

Being resilient is not always about feeling better or having fewer emotional reactions. It’s about managing and responding to emotions in a healthy and positive way. You and other adults in your child’s life play a role in helping children articulate, respond to and manage emotions.

It's important to remember the following:

• Improving children’s resilience is not about helping them feel less. It’s about helping children to manage their feelings in a healthy way.
• Children with a sensitive temperament can be just as resilient as any other child.
• Children respond to ‘difficult events’ in different ways and may need different types of support. Siblings experiencing the same difficult event (e.g. a natural disaster) may respond differently. For example, one child might avoid talking about a one-off adverse event (e.g. a natural disaster) and act as if it hasn’t affected them at all. While another may become very anxious about specific situations such as going to school or separating from a parent or carer following the natural disaster.

Build their confidence by taking on personal challenges

Provide your child with opportunities to build their confidence and learn how to deal with obstacles, success and failure when they undertake personal challenges.

It is important to remember the following:

• One idea that is very relevant to building children’s confidence by taking personal challenges is ‘healthy risks’. Healthy risks are age and developmentally appropriate risks such as walking to the shops with a sibling or alone. Healthy risks are not only about the risk of getting physically hurt, but also about the risk of losing, failing or making a mistake.

As a parent, you need to define what you consider to be a ‘healthy risk’ for your child – depending on their age, maturity and your own comfort level. It may be useful to ask yourself what risks you have let your child take in the past. What was the outcome? Would you encourage your child to take that risk again? It may be helpful to discuss ‘healthy risk-taking’ with other parents.

There are some simple things you can do to build your child’s resilience in these areas. You might be able to think of more. It’s important to remember that the strategies we recommend are;

• suitable for everyday use with children aged 0–12 years
• have been tailored for pre-school aged children (1–5 years) and primary school aged children (6–12 years)
• should be prioritised in a way that best meets your child’s needs.

If your child is currently experiencing stress, challenges or hardships in life which are affecting their well-being, additional professional support may be necessary.

Andrew Osler

St Ita's Principal