Meghan Carroll – Acting Deputy Head of Primary

Teaching children organisational skills is key to helping them succeed in school and life. Some would argue that teaching effective time management is almost as important as learning how to read and write.

Understanding time helps students to use their time well. It’s a key part of executive functioning skills like planning, prioritising and working productively. Knowing how to manage one’s time has also been linked to later success in life. It is a skill that every child needs to thrive.

Time can be a tricky concept – even for adults. It impacts our emotional, social, physical, mental, financial and spiritual lives. As our lives become busier and busier, there is no better moment to start teaching our children how to balance more than one opportunity or responsibility at once.

Effective time management takes practice; just like learning the multiplication tables or tying your shoes. By showing your child early how to manage his/her time, you are instilling a skill he/she can use for life.



Christi Youd, president of Organize Enterprise, LLC, says: “Time-management is essential for everyone. If you can get your child to learn the main principles, that’s a tool they can use forever. If we don’t train them in good habits while they are young, they will spend the rest of their lives trying to shake a bad habit.”

Youd has 5 tips for teaching children the importance of time management:


Tip #1

Help your child make the distinction between what is important and what is urgent.

Important means it will help them obtain the quality of life that is most valuable to them. Urgent just means it needs immediate attention. Encourage them to work on the things that are important 1^st.

Tip #2

Help your child make a hierarchy of priorities they can use as a master checklist to make better time management decisions.

For example: prioritise the following values: family, health and fitness, school, personal development, community and friends. Add or eliminate values depending on what’s important to you and your child.

Tip #3

Within each value, prioritise activities to perform.

For instance, under School, your child may have:

1) complete homework assignments

2) study for tests

3) work on large projects. 

Tip #4

Have your child practise using the hierarchy of priorities when making decisions about how to utilise his/her time. 

Give your child different scenarios and let him/her consider what should be done 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd. For example, if he/she wants to go to a friend’s house, but also has to read the next 3 chapters of the class novel, ask your child to weigh the options. If he/she does the assignment now, they may be able to stay at their friend’s for dinner. If he/she chooses to do the assignment later, then they have to be home before dinner so they are not up late doing schoolwork. Work with your child to figure out the best use of their time.

Tip #5

Each evening have your child list on paper everything she/he needs to do, and use their hierarchy of priorities checklist to help choose the top 5 or 6 priorities for the following day.

Time management is closely related to Habit 3 – Put First Things First. Children are encouraged to spend their time on things that are most important and say no to things they know they should not do or that can wait until later. Habit 3 focuses on setting priorities, making schedules, and following plans while developing discipline and organisation skills.

Learning how to manage time well is something that doesn’t happen overnight. By starting early and learning how to weigh their options, children develop self-discipline, a deeper sense of responsibility and improved productivity; all skills that will help them be successful in life.

Arriving at school in the morning

Families are reminded that supervision around the classrooms begins at 8.00 am. Students who arrive before 8.00 am need to wait at Waxman for the bell to ring. Students who attend early morning events should go directly to the event area when they arrive on campus.

Winter uniform

Students are reminded to be in full winter uniform in Term 2 and 3. Please visit the Parent Portal or the uniform shop on the ground floor of the Adler Building for more information.

NAPLAN

This week the Year 3 and 5 students were involved in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN assesses key skills that are important to school and life including reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. Whilst the NAPLAN results provide helpful data to inform student learning, we know that the result of a test cannot fully represent what is exceptional and unique about each child. We are proud of all Year 3 and 5 students who completed the NAPLAN assessments this week, but more importantly we celebrate the growth and development they will make in all aspects of life throughout the year.