From the P&F Association
Mid Term Update
It has been a busy term with so much happening and more exciting events planned for our Santa community.
The P & F committee are working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that each year group is supported and given the opportunity to grow and come together as a cohort. We cannot do this work without your support and commitment to our children and their education.
The recent P&F General Meeting on 22 June was a productive meeting where we were provided with an update as to the school developments, upcoming events, and how we as parents can assist our children on a daily basis. Debra’s article on the Art of Conversation (below) is a great way to help our children strike up a conversation and engage in a positive manner.
We cannot wait for next week’s Primary School and Gioia House Disco. The children are looking forward to it and we hope to see many parents socialising and enjoying a sausage sizzle. Please ensure that you buy your tickets no later than 10 June 2024 via the trybooking link below.
Don’t forget to save the date for our Trivia Night next term. Start organising your teams as we know it can get very competitive. More details to come. Stay tuned!
Parent and family catch ups
Given the short term and the array of social and school events throughout the term, the year catch-ups have been limited. We are looking forward to more events happening next term.
However, the Year 7 cohort managed to organise a fabulous night at the Home Grounds in Five Dock. It was great to meet the new families that have joined the school, and we look forward to many wonderful gatherings in the future as the children grow.
We have quite a number of Save the Dates below so please mark them in your calendar! See Past Events section below for photos of the recent gatherings.
The P&F Association
Upcoming Events
🎉 Primary School & Gioia House Disco! 🎉
Get ready to rock at our upcoming Disco with the theme Party Rock!
👪 Parents Welcome! Feel free to stay, eat and socialise at Warami during the event. 🎉
🗓 Date: Friday 14 June
📍 Location: Del Monte Hall
🕔Disco Times:
- 5:00pm to 5:45pm – Prep, Kindy, and Year 1
- 6:00pm to 7:00pm – Year 2, Year 3, Year 4
- 7:15pm to 8:30pm – Gioia House
RSVP by 10 June via the TryBooking link
Tickets:
- Kids Ticket: $15 – Includes Disco Entry, Glowing Wristband or Finger Lights, Sausage Sizzle, Juice Popper and a small Ice Cream
- Adult Sausage Sizzle: $10 – Includes Sausage Sizzle or Steak Sandwich and a Can of Drink or Bottle of Water
🌭 Pre-book your sausage sizzle to guarantee availability as there will be limited extras on the night.
Additional purchase items on the Night: Glowing Wrist Bands, Finger Lights, Drinks, Coffee and Ice Cream.
Looking forward to seeing you all!
🎉 Save the Date: Santa Trivia Night! 🎉
Are you the smartest person in the room? Prove it! Come along to the Santa Trivia Night! Come along for an evening of fun and a chance to put all of your knowledge to good use!
🗓 Date: 23 August 2024
⏰ Time: 7:00pm
📍 Location: To be Confirmed
Parent Catch Ups
🌟 Year 10 Family Catch Up! 🌟
Don’t forget the Year 10 Family Catch Up is coming up! It is a chance to unwind and have a chat about all things Year 10.
🗓 Date: Saturday 15 June 2024
⏰ Time: 3:00pm to 5:30pm
📍 Location: Regatta on the Bay
UTS Haberfield Rowers Club
🌟 Save the Date: Year 2 Family Catch-Up! 🌟
Hello Year 2 families! It’s that time again to get together and have a few laughs. Who knows maybe Gio may put in appearance or two 😊 Save the date!
🗓 Date: Saturday 17 August 2024
⏰ Time: 6:30pm
📍 Location: To be confirmed
Details of the venue will be confirmed soon.
🌟 Save the Date: Year 8 Parent Dinner & Drinks! 🌟
Year 8 parents this night is for you! Put it in your calendar for an amazing night of socialising and a great deal of fun.
🗓 Date: Friday 26 July 2024
⏰ Time: 6:30pm
📍 Location: To be confirmed
It’s been a while since the last catch up so we hope families can attend! Details of the venue will be confirmed soon.
🌟 Save the Date: Year 9 Dinner! 🌟
Join us for a special Mother and Daughter dinner. It is not often that our girls get to spend one on one time with mum so let’s take advantage of such moments. Mark it in your calendars. Venue to be confirmed shortly.
🗓 Date: Friday 26 July 2024
⏰ Time: 6:30pm
📍 Location: To be confirmed
Past events
Year 7 Family Catch Up
The Year 7 families enjoyed a lovely evening catching up with old friends and welcoming new families that joined the school at The Home Grounds in Five Dock. We look forward to the next catch-up!
Parent Education
The Art of Conversation by Debra Brodowski
As adults we know the importance of having conversations with others, people new to our work, community group, sports team. The art of conversation, starting with ‘small talk’, finding points of common interest so that we can ‘dig deeper’, helps build strong and meaningful relationships with others, as well as allowing those that might be new in a social situation to feel included.
Our young people are more connected than ever before, to gaming, to social media, to technology, to sms’ing/ snap-chatting etch. Such ‘hyper-connection’ has meant that there are likely to have been fewer opportunities to practice having actual conversations with others. The potential impacts of this are many:
- Lowered levels of empathy and emotional understanding with others
- Feeling disconnected to others
- More ingroup – outgroup behaviour (people being excluded, formation of cliques)
- Increased feelings of social anxiety and avoidance of in-person interactions
Whilst we still need our tech based interactions with others, it’s an integral part of our lives, we also need to balance this with face to face interactions and ‘the art of conversation’.
The art of conversation
Have you ever noticed a situation where you see your young person with their friend and there’s silence? You later ask ‘what happened?’ and the response is ‘I didn’t know what to say?’ The art of conversation has a few key elements that we are able to share with our young people:
- Starting a conversation can happen in a few ways:
- noticing something about the context of the environment: ‘It’s so cold today, isn’t it?!’
- making a compliment to the other person: ‘I really like your … where did you get it?’
- asking a question about them: ‘What was the best thing that you did on the weekend?’
- Keep the conversation going by:
- adding something personal to the conversation to build on what was just said
- using open-ended questions to keep the conversation going (ones that require more than a yes/no answer).
- Actively listen to the other person. Show that you are paying attention by:
- maintaining eye contactodding
- smiling.
As people it’s normal to feel self-conscious about striking up a conversation and have a fear that we will be judged harshly. The reality is that we all have an inherent desire to feel included and be liked and form connections with others. Teaching your young person the art of conversation is building with them a crucial skill for their confidence and their social-emotional well-being.