Dear Parents and Carers,

I heard the story recently of a blind man who had been waiting for a while on the side of a busy road for someone to offer to guide him across, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Excuse me,” said the tapper, “I’m blind; would you mind guiding me across the road?” The first blind man took the arm of the second blind man and they both crossed the road. After the event the first blind man, who was in fact, George Shearing the famous Jazz Pianist, commented: “What could I do? I took him across and it was the biggest thrill of my life!”

This incident illustrates that sometimes taking a risk can help reduce our dependency on others and lead to the discovery of new capabilities and deep personal satisfaction. When it comes to our children and risk taking, we would not want them to step out 'blindly' whenever someone taps them on the shoulder and offers them a ‘dare.’ Part of raising our children is to help them to define boundaries. It’s a balancing act that requires knowing when to let children take risks in safe environments, as against taking risks in situations where they would endanger themselves or others. 

Taking risks allows children to understand the concept of trial and error. Success will certainly build self-confidence within our children and, inevitably, failure will not only make them acknowledge their boundaries, but will provide them with opportunities to cope with the negative emotions that accompany failing. Self-confident children have the inner fortitude to try new things, even if there is a possibility of failure. If we are able to control our urge to step in and provide solutions, we may witness our children engage in creative thinking, we might also witness our children explore their own abilities and then rejoice in their own accomplishments. 

It’s possible, that sometimes, in our role as parents, that we might guide our children away from challenging situations. A child’s development involves taking risks and operating outside of their comfort zone. Constantly preventing the taking of risks may cause children to stagnate within a very narrow comfort zone and this does not encourage continued development. 

Positive risk-taking behaviour can be beneficial to our children and the more practice they have with identifying risks and acting accordingly, the better prepared they will be to handle potentially dangerous situations and to solve problems in the future. Of course, the key lies in our children knowing how to differentiate between good, healthy risks and unproductive, destructive ones. 

Risk-taking at times allows our children to try new activities, to test their limits and to gain mastery over their feelings, their mind, and their body. Risk-taking prepares our children for interaction with the real world beyond what might be our safe and protected homes. If our children are not exposed to risk-taking, they could become fearful and timid individuals who lack confidence and decision-making skills.  I want to commend the Year 5 students who have courageously taken a risk and nominated for 2022 Student Leadership positions. It was such an honour to read the thoughtful and considered student applications and parent endorsements. The students who have presented speeches to their peers have already achieved a personal best and should rejoice in this accomplishment within the context of the leadership process. Congratulations also to our incoming 2022 Kinder students who have participated so confidently in the transition visits undertaken so far. Again, it is a privilege to witness the deep parental love that is so evident and on display prior to the transition session – as children enter the new experience of ‘big school’ and at the end of each of each session – when the children are excitedly reunited with their parents and share their experiences. We acknowledge the great honour that we have as educators to be part of these milestone moments in the learning journey of our students and their parents. 

Enjoy the week ahead with an openness to seeking out opportunities to experience positive risk taking and to bring to life our school motto ~ Christ Our Way and Life.

Tina Murray

Principal

CHRISTMAS CARDS

As we prepare to enter the season of Advent, we ask that our students refrain from exchanging Christmas Cards until their class / grade end of year celebration. Classes will be scheduling celebrations before the end of the year that will provide an opportunity for students to personally and meaningfully exchange cards. Our students are encouraged to consider making cards rather than exchanging cards that are store bought. The purpose of this request is to respond to Pope Francis’ call to care for our common home by resisting the urge to purchase excessively and to minimize our environmental footprint. We thank you, in advance, for your support of this arrangement and hope that you will reinforce with your children the importance of being a responsible consumer of the earth’s limited resources.

KISS AND RIDE

Please ensure your morning / afternoon routine takes into account the busyness and possible congestion at peak times. Please ensure you attend to signage regarding Bus, No Stopping, Kiss and Drop and Parking Zones around the school site and model safe behaviour for your children by always following road rules and school procedures. 

Police regularly make random checks of these areas (Emerald and Aquamarine Drive) and will impose fines and demerit points for non-compliance. The following link provides information that outlines the restrictions related to the signage around our school site.

https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/safety-rules/road-rules/parking.html

CHURCH CARPARK

Parents are NOT permitted to use the Church carpark or the turning circle as a drop off point in the morning or afternoon. 

The safety of all our children is always of the greatest importance. We thank you in advance and continue to ask for your cooperation, patience, and respect of others.