Message from Michele Marquet

Dear Junior School and Pre-school Parents,

What a joy it was to see our Y3-Y6 boys participate in their first sports fixtures last Saturday. The weather was glorious and games went ahead as planned. Excitement is building for the upcoming Y6 and Y4 camps. Please read the Y3-Y6 News & Reminder section for more information.

Across the school, the teachers have been embedding routines and habits that will help every boy make the most of each minute in the classroom for learning. Their first units of inquiry have all started in earnest and the boys are showing pleasing levels of engagement. It has been a happy and focused start to our academic year.

Last week, Dr Judith Locke spoke to our Kindergarten and Y1-Y6 families and noted that we all want to raise our children to be ‘fully functioning people who enjoy life in the real world, and whose company and contribution the world enjoys.’

There were many interesting ideas and honest observations made by Judith about how we can best support our boys on their journey to becoming independent, resilient people who can, indeed, positively contribute to society and our world.

One idea that really resonated was her timely reminder that we need to help our children develop the following five essential skills in the primary school years:

Resilience – our children’s capacity to bounce back from challenge;

Self-regulation – our children’s capacity to resist doing something that is immediately pleasant to them, for a greater future gain;

Resourcefulness – our children’s capacity to adjust their actions to suit the current situation;

Respect – our children’s capacity to give appropriate regard to others, including, but not limited to, those in authority;

Responsibility – our children’s capacity to show that others have value through their actions and behaviour.

You can find more information, ideas and observations in Judith’s excellent books, The Bonsai Child and The Bonsai Student.

Kind wishes,

Michele Marquet