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Dear Parent, Guardians and Carers,
At St Michael’s we take pride in our school and strive to ensure that high expectations are set and met. Our school uniform defines who we are as a school. It is compulsory for all students to wear the school uniform in the correct way. We understand that children can outgrow their uniform or shoes quickly and sympathise with some difficulties you may experience in having to replace them. However alternatives should not be a permanent solution and sourcing the correct uniform is preferrable. Over the next two weeks, the following will be focus areas at school:
- Black school shoes and grey socks or tights to be worn with the winter uniform
- White socks are to be worn with the sports uniform. No black socks.
- For health and hygiene reasons and to assist in the prevention of head lice spreading, hair (shoulder length or longer) is to be tied back, plaited or braided. Only school colour red or blue ties/scrunchies are to be used.
Our students will be made aware of the uniform blitz through their year level assemblies and we would love your support to help reinforce our uniform message.
Friday 27th Relax and Read PJ day
On Friday 27th August the children and staff will have the opportunity to come to school in their pyjamas as we enjoy a “Read and Relax” day to celebrate book week. In the afternoon the children will participate in multi age activities across the school. Book week in Australia runs from August 21st -27th. This year's theme is “Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds”.
Prioritising mental health in the digital world
Whilst there may not yet be conclusive evidence linking digital media use to poor mental health outcomes there’s no denying that it’s one of the chief concerns facing parents and educators of children and adolescents, growing up in a digital world. The contradictory research findings confirm that this is a complex topic.
There’s certainly consensus in the research that young people are heavy technology users, which comes at a cost of their psychological and physical needs. Their digital behaviours eat into the time that was once available for three pillars of mental health - sleep, relationships and exercise.
Minimising sleep disruption
Sleep is vital for mental wellbeing and emotional regulation in childhood and adolescence. Inadequate amounts or poor-quality sleep can cause mental health issues. Studies consistently show that Australian children and teens aren’t getting enough sleep. Digital device use is also linked to sleep disruption, impacting the sleep-wake cycle. The Lancet study suggested that nearly 60% of the impact of young people’s psychological distress could be attributed to disrupted sleep and exposure to cyberbullying.
Parents need to remind children and young adolescents about the critical role sleep plays in their psychological wellbeing. Parents can help adolescents foster healthy social media habits by establishing a digital curfew, keeping devices out of bedrooms and discouraging teens from ‘bookending’ their day with social media as it can easily trigger the stress response at these times.
Maintaining healthy relationships
Positive relationships are fundamental to a young person’s psychological wellbeing. Adolescents are biologically wired for relational connection. They want to be part of a tribe. Whilst teens and pre-teens may insist that technology connects them and caters for their relational needs, if used excessively or inappropriately, technology use can compromise their relationships and deteriorate their mental health.
Parents need to encourage and sustain opportunities for real interactions amongst adolescents. When we connect in-person the brain releases oxytocin, the social bonding hormone, which isn’t replicated online. The need for keeping a balance between digital and face-to-face interactions is paramount.
Ensuring sufficient exercise
Sedentary social media and digital consumption frequently replaces physical movement on weekends and after school, which are the opportunity times for kids’ sport, free play and outdoor activities. Brain science now informs us that physical exercise boosts serotonin and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine that play a critical role in regulating adolescents’ mood.Lack of exercise is now being linked to the current anxiety epidemic that we are seeing in young people.
Parents need to ensure that children experience a minimum of 30 minutes exercise, and teens a minimum of 60 minutes. “Go outside and play” is a term that this generation needs to hear as frequently as children in past eras.
In closing
The research into the links between kids’ digital technology use and their mental health presents a complex picture that defies simplistic conclusions. Blanket statements and headlines that suggest screens and social media are to blame for kid’s poor mental health aren’t helpful as technology is now a part of all our lives. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that the key pillars of mental health outlined above can be severely impacted by the overuse of digital technology. All things in moderation, a common guideline for healthy living, is best when considering kids’ social media and digital technology use.
Dr Kristy Goodwin presents a related webinar: Taming digital distractions
Our school has a membership with Parenting Ideas. As part of this membership, you can attend the upcoming webinar ‘Taming digital distractions’ at no cost.
In this webinar, Dr Kristy Goodwin helps parents and carers understand why children and adolescents are vulnerable to digital distractions. She provides science-backed solutions to help kids and teens develop healthy digital behaviours so that they can focus, learn and thrive online.
When: Wednesday 8 September 2021 at 8:00 PM AEST
To redeem
- Click this link: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/parent-resources/parent-webinars/webinar-taming-digital-distractions
- Click ‘Add to cart’
- Click ‘View cart’
- Enter the coupon code TAMING and click ‘Apply Coupon’ Your discount of $39 will be applied.
- Click ‘Proceed to checkout’
- Fill in your account details including our school’s name to verify your eligibility. These are the details you will use to login to your account and access your webinar and resources
- Click ‘Place Order’
This offer is valid until 8 December 2021. If you’re unable to make the broadcast time, just register anyway and you will get access to the recording.
Kind regards,
Jodie
It's great to see so many people engaging with the event reminders, information and photos on Facebook. If you haven't already followed our Facebook page, head on over to St Michael's Primary P&F Events Page! This is a great way to keep up to date with school events and information.
Each week students from each class are awarded Student of the Week certificates. These children are nominated for the example they have been within the school based on the School Wide Expectation focus for that week. The weekly focus will be from Wednesday until Tuesday the following week. Awards will be presented to students on Friday at assembly.
In Week 5 the School Wide Expectation focus was Resilience:
I view mistakes as a learning opportunity.
I persist through challenges and difficulties in my learning.
The award winners for Week 5 are:
| Indi Devitt | Arlie Graham | Olivia Uren |
| Candice Bayer | Alex Do | Jack Lemon |
| Oscar Hill | Yaazhini Arun Kumar | Lily Sanders |
| Isabella Conway | Rowan Dunne | Ethan Palmer |
| Miles Blackford | Wynter Krausz | Jakeb Domagala |
| Kaiden Garth | Jack Rathjen | Spencer Campbell |
| Annastasia Witte | Xavier Pettie | Miley Affleck |
| Aubrey Ross | Harrison Milliner | Max Auteri |
| Ava Berkelmans | Lahna Murphy | Taylin Moloney |
| Campbell Quail | Summer Moore | |
| London-Rose Radford | Tyler Benbow |
Lk 1: 39 - 56
On Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Catholic tradition teaches us that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was taken body and soul into heaven as a reward for her faithfulness. In Sunday’s gospel we read about Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth upon hearing that she was also having a baby. Elizabeth said to Mary “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” These words form the basis of the Hail Mary, Mary’s special prayer. Mary’s life was devoted to doing the will of God, she served God faithfully and has provided an example for us to follow. Speak with your children about the special role that Mary played not only in the life of Jesus but as a devoted servant of God.
Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and St. Michael’s Primary School is excited to be participating. A new application is being used this year that offers a range of exciting features including:
- access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
- a modern user-friendly interface
- rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
- the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review
The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 17 September 2021.
Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.
All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.
To see the Premier’s message, view the booklists and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc
Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge 2021
We have 51 students registered
1092 books finished
165 Book Reviews
21 Students Completed
32 days left until it finishes on 17th September 2021
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