Assistant Head of Primary P-4

Pastoral Care

Judith Locke Parent Information Evening (P-6)

Our Parent Information Evening on Monday 4 March with guest speaker Dr Judith Locke was a huge success. Judith is a clinical psychologist and author, who specialises in parenting issues. The evening focused on ways that parents can foster the development of young children’s resilience, self-regulation, resourcefulness, respect, and responsibility. These five essential skills help children become more capable and confident in school and beyond. The evening had a practical emphasis, with Judith presenting a vast array of practical strategies to build confidence and resilience in children, along with developing their social skills.

The five essential skills are lifelong skills. They are critical for success in work, in relationships and in life in general. As mentioned in the last issue of Veritas Voice, these essential life skills underpin and are integrated into our Pastoral Care program and are explicitly taught to the children across all year levels and are visible in all classrooms through our Primary Pastoral Behaviour Matrix and 5 Rs classroom posters.

For those who missed the evening or would like to learn more about raising confident and capable children, please visit Judith’s website https://confidentandcapable.com/ or learn more through Judith’s books, The Bonsai Child and The Bonsai Student https://www.bonsaichild.com/.

Community Time

This week, we used our Community Time to deepen the students’ understanding of one of the 5Rs by applying their knowledge to a real-life setting. Specifically, students explored the theme of Respect, by investigating ways that they can respectfully participate in school gatherings. Students worked collaboratively to unpack what respectful participation in school gatherings looks like, feels like and sounds like, with a particular focus on school assemblies. They considered how respect is shown through our College song by singing with our voices and using sign language to communicate the words, ways to listen respectfully to speakers and presenters and to how to use applaud respectfully.

Lauren Petroni
Assistant Head of Primary P-4