Farewell 

It is with mixed emotions that I inform you that Hugo Adrian will be leaving Emanuel School at the end of Term 2 this year. Hugo began working at Emanuel in September 2010 and over the years he has been a valued and well-respected member of our teaching team. He has taught Year 1, Year 3 and Year 6 and has been an outstanding educator, mentor and colleague. Hugo has also made many contributions to the Year 6 leadership program and extra-curricular programs. We have appreciated his many contributions.

We will begin advertising this position immediately and are keen to organise a smooth transition for the students. We will keep you informed as we appoint a new teacher.

We will say farewell to Hugo at the end of this term and wish him all the very best for his future career. We hope that he will remain in touch with his Emanuel family.

Natanya Milner, Head of Primary

Mental Fitness: a model for wellbeing

Earlier this week I asked a variety of students ranging from Kindergarten to Year 6 the following question: what does it mean to be fit? Their answers are shown below:

Meghan Carroll, Deputy Head of Primary

Interestingly, many of their answers focused on the physical aspects of fitness, but what about the mental aspects?

To be in good physical health, children need to work on their physical fitness. For good mental health, they need to work on their mental fitness. Dr Paula Robinson, a registered, consulting and coaching Psychologist, has done a lot of research around Mental Fitness and the importance of developing mentally fit children.

Last week I attended a conference where Paula spoke about the fitness index (for mental fitness). She explained that mental fitness training is made up of four parts, as shown below, and how we as adults play a vital role in training our children to be mentally fit.

I encourage you to give this workout a go; do a few reps of this training with your child every week, be a spotter and help guide when appropriate, try to bulk up their development in this area and celebrate gains whenever possible.

1. Strength
   Know and use your own personal strengths. Is your child aware of his/her strengths? Does he/she use them?
   How do we get your child to engage in his/her personal strengths outside of school?
   Do you spot strengths in others with your child? Do you use the language around this to create understanding for your child?
   What is your child’s understanding behind the meaning and purpose in life? Kids are keen to explore this with you.

2. Flexibility
   Mindfulness: increased learning, decreased stress. What mindfulness skills are you teaching your child?
   Accepting him/herself; what we can and can’t change. In what ways are you helping your child develop self-compassion? Does your child practise positive self-talk? How can you model this at home?
   Negative emotions. Consider ways to teach your child about negative emotions such as fear, shame and guilt and how to deal with these.

3. Endurance
   Practising resilience. Do you provide opportunities for your child to practice this important skill?
   Increase positive emotions. Coach your child on what to do when they are feeling bad.
   Self-belief (confidence). Work on teaching your child how to think in order to perform well. Identify what works well and what doesn’t and ways to communicate this.

4. Team
   Understanding and building positive relationships. Does your child surround him/herself with people who enhance their life?

Upcoming Parent Workshops

Don’t forget to RSVP here for the Parent Workshops as advertised in last week’s MaNishma.

• Monday 3 June: Helping Your Child to Manage Anxiety with Karen Young (Psychotherapist)

• Tuesday 11 June: Healthy Brain Development Through Good Enough Parenting with Lisa Myers (Psychiatrist)

• Wednesday 19 June: Firm But Kind: A Parent’s Guide To Boundaries and Discipline with Celia Conolly

All sessions run from 7.00 pm – 8.15 pm in The Millie Phillips Theatre. We hope you can make it!

Kindness Spreads competition winners

Thank you to all those who submitted videos over the past month as part of this exciting Madrichim initiative. Each video presented the theme of Kindness Spreads in different ways. Winners were selected based on three categories and were announced at a special video screening during last week’s assembly. Mazal tov to the winners below:

Most educational/best message
Tamar Granot

Most entertaining
Chloe Biller
Jasmine Melnikoff
Maxwell Pozniak
Georgie Rosen

Most creative
Hannah Hurwitz
Rose Greenberg
Sami Lyons
Ally Rockman

NAPLAN

This week the Years 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 Years 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.

Mother’s Day breakfast and stall

Thank you to the P&F team lead by Ruby Berkovic and Jennifer Opit for all their organisation for the Mother’s Day Breakfast and stall. Thank you too to the Canteen. It was wonderful to see so many mothers, grandmothers and children celebrating together at the breakfast.