This Term, the students and staff have been learning from the "Resilience Project" platform. This teaches us about G.E.M - Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness while discovering emotional literacy. Teachers have been working through lessons and students completing tasks through their journals. We are in the middle of completing our student surveys to enlighten us with where our students sit in relation to well-being. One of the big things to come out of this program is the ability to see the good happening rather than focus on the negative. Research shows we can receive 1000 positive comments and 1 negative and we will focus on the negative. How true!

My challenge to all is this. Ask these questions each night around the dinner table:

1. What went well for you today?
2. Who was someone that impressed you?
3. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

Here is a short video that explains the program briefly for our students

GEM for students

This week, Year 3 and 5 had a trial run with a sample test for Naplan in Naplan conditions. This is a wonderful opportunity, as we explained to our students, to do some training. All good 'athletes' train to improve and so do we as student 'athletes'. The Year 5 students participated in the Writing Test and learnt what style the test is delivered. The teachers had their training in the protocols of administering and what support we can assist our students to do their best. I myself train in using the dashboard that controls the schools administering such tests and making sure our internet systems can handle the Naplan portal. Tomorrow, we do it all again for Year 3 with the Omnibus Test ( sample from Numeracy, Language Conventions, Spelling and Reading). If ever there was an example of 'The Spirit Way', this week is it. Persistence and Inspiring are 2 such qualities that shine bright. It is such a joy to see a student give the thumbs up, with headphones on, indicating that they are good to go with their 'training'. Our students show us much resilience, we just need to look for it.

If you have any concerns or questions around Naplan 2021, please contact your teacher or see myself. We are more than happy to assist and answer your questions.

Get in the Spirit!

Paul Martin