Andrew Watt – Principal

As another productive, stretching and busy term comes to an end, my hope is that every member of our Emanuel School community will enjoy a warm, peaceful, fun-filled and well deserved mid-year break.

Squeezing the most out of the non-term break

With the exception of our Year 12 students (who will be preparing for the Higher School Certificate), our students will move into a more relaxed mode over the break. The time away from their regular school routine provides an opportunity to recharge, through resting, relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends. As in every break, parents will face the challenge of keeping their children occupied and active. For many families, there is a danger that their children will occupy too much time on social media and online gaming. The most recent report from the e-Safety Commissioner revealed that in term time, our young people spent an average of 14.4 hours a week online. There is no research covering the time spent online during a holiday break! Nine in ten adolescents used the Internet to watch videos, chat with friends and listen to music; eight in ten adolescents played games online with friends. Ensuring that there is a balance between outdoor and physical activities, face-to-face interactions and online activities will be important.

Many parents ask how much screen time is too much? According to the e-Safety Commissioner there is no magic figure. It can be easy to focus only on the clock, but the quality and nature of what young people are doing online is just as important. Parents are advised to consider their child’s screen use in the context of their overall health and wellbeing. For example, is online time getting in the way of sleep, time outdoors and exercise? Is it impacting on their face-to-face connections with family and friends?

Signs to watch out for this break:

• less interest in social activities like meeting friends or playing sport
• tiredness, sleep disturbance, headaches, eye strain 
• changes in eating patterns
• reduced personal hygiene
• obsession with particular websites or games
• extreme anger when being asked to take a break from online activity
• appearing anxious or irritable when away from the computer
• becoming withdrawn from friends and family.

Parents can help our young people manage their online time by keeping an eye on the games, apps and devices used. They can chat with their child regularly and help them stay aware of how much time they are spending on different online and offline activities. Parents can also involve their child in creating a family plan for leisure and entertainment time that balances time spent sitting in front of screens, including time online and watching TV, and a variety of offline activities. As well as agreed age-based time limits, the plan can include rules about which websites can be visited and online games can be played. It can also include control of access to the internet or devices, perhaps with daily passwords revealed once family/friend time and chores are complete.

K-2 Athletics Carnival  

Our K-2 students enjoyed their inaugural Inter-House Athletics Carnival at Hensley Athletics Field this week. It was a beautiful day, filled with rotational activities in Grade groups. Activities included relays, tug-of-war, discus, long jump and so much more.

Many thanks to our carnival organisers, Stuart Taylor and Mateusz Rabenda and to our parent photographer, Ofer Levy, for his fantastic photos.

Mazal tov to…

• Tamarah Aaron, Milly Ginzberg and Ella Sherman, Year 11 Visual Arts students, for being selected to participate in the exclusive National Art School’s HSC Intensive Studio Practice course that runs over two modules this July and September. We look forward to seeing the work they create throughout this special experience at one of Australia’s leading Art schools.
• Solomon Pager on his substantial achievement over the past four years to reach the Gold Level of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. 
• Our Primary futsal teams who participated in the NSW Regional Futsal Championships this week. Our Under 12 Boys won the Grand Final and now proceed to the NSW State Championships.

Quote of the week

“I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.” ~ Taylor Swift aka Tay Tay