Natter Week 6 Term 2 2017 Dear Parents, Everyone looked fabulous last Thursday for our school photos, thank you to Adam Hearne for organising the smooth running of the day and thank you for ensuring the children were so well presented. Thank you also to Nicole Elliott and Jodie Cohen for organising the staff fundraiser for The Biggest Morning Tea. No doubt you heard about Dancesports with Year 5 which started last week. The students were very enthusiastic about how “fun and different” it was and the teachers too, were getting into the groove. We look forward to seeing the results of this program on the students’ respect for each other, not to mention their dance skills! Our Premier’s Debating Team had an interesting debate last week, against Terrey Hills with the topic “All students should learn a musical instrument at school.” Newport was the negative team (and with a few musicians on the team … this was tough) and although they lost the debate, gained much from the feedback of the adjudicator and from the experience. Thank you to Ingrid Mailler who has been working hard with the debating team and to our students for “having a go.” I would like to congratulate the boys’ state knockout rugby union team for their effort in the first two rounds of the competition last Monday. After five weeks of preparation and training the team played well to beat Elanora 38 to 10 in the first game. Unfortunately, in the second game, they couldn’t match Harbord’s skill, losing 14 to 5. From all reports, the boys tried their very best and played with sportsmanship and respect for their opposition. I would like to thank all the parents for their support and Miss Blazejewski, Mr Aroney, Mr Walsh and Mr Hearne for their continued commitment to developing rugby union at our school. We have renewed our subscription to Michel Grose’s website and will include articles that are sent to us each week, in the Natter. We hope you find these useful in one of the most difficult, yet rewarding roles we have - parenting. This week’s article is “Parenting Kids through the challenges of change." Our Parent Online Portal is coming. Please look out for details about paying school accounts online. Please note that this year, we sent out semester accounts (Term 1 & 2) and we will send out a Semester 2 account at the beginning of Term 3. Coming up this week we have our University of New South Wales Science Competition for participating students in Years 3-6 on Tuesday morning at 8.00am, and our drama groups have an audition for the Arts Alive Drama Festival, Year 3 duck eggs arrive, we have a girls’ and boys’ softball knockout (best of luck to our players), Bushlink visit on Tuesday, Year 4 participate in a basketball clinic and an excursion to Observatory Hill and “life skills” continue for our Year 3 and 4 students.

Read-a-thon Don’t forget it is the last week for collecting read-a-thon sponsors. Keep up the great work and remember only read on the days you eat. Perhaps the Winter weather has finally arrived. Thank you for supporting the pride we have in our school by ensuring the Winter Uniform is worn well. Warmest regards,

Natalie Baldi Principal Dates for the Diary

Tues 30 May: UNSW Science Competition 8am Wed 31 May & Thurs 1June: Year 4 Excursion to Observatory Hill Thurs 1 June: Boys’ Softball Knockout Fri 2 June: School Tour 9:45am Mon 5 June: Multicultural Public Speaking Semi-finals Debating Competition

UNSW Science Competition UNSW Science Competition will be held tomorrow 30 May at 8am. We will meet upstairs outside the Year 6 classrooms. Please bring a ‘B’ or ‘2B’ pencil, an eraser and a ruler. Ms Kellie Cheney

Parliament Report In Parliament last Tuesday, 3 suggestions and 1 report were put forward. The students happily put their suggestions into the suggestion box to make our school a better place. 2 of the suggestions were playing a song as the replacement for the school bell and buying and installing cricket nets in the school. The cricket nets are not possible because we can’t fit them in our school grounds because they are too large so this suggestion changed to try to get a pedestrian crossing on the busy road to the park, to let us get there safely. The other suggestion was to put a fish bowl in the office, to add some colour to the office waiting area. Lachy also reported on the progress of the toilets being painted and the drinking fountains. Two of the suggestions were passed. They were the fish bowl in the office and the song replacing the bell.

This parliament we experimented with getting the Year 6 students involved by having them get into groups of 6 and write what we would need to plan and do, about the suggestion to have the children teach their teachers and class, for one lesson a week. The students had excellent ideas. We will discuss this further in our next meeting. By Emma and Brody

Year 6 Excursion to Quarantine Station Last Wednesday, Year 6 went on an excursion to the Quarantine Station in Manly. After catching a bus and walking down a terrifying flight of 234 stairs, we arrived at the Quarantine Station. To start off our day we explored life from the perspective of a wealthy and then a poor person in the 1800s trying to migrate to Australia. The conditions were horrifying on the ships in those days for poor people.

From then on we saw lots of scary things, like the strange ways people were treated in the hospitals and the bird shaped masks that the doctors wore. These masks always smelt like onions and perfumes to stop the diseases from getting in, though it did not work. We even saw a mould of an 18 year old girl's hand who had small pox. It was disgusting. After that we explored the old acid showers. They were dirty, mouldy, dark and extremely smelly. Before the end of our day we had to become detectives and

search through old luggage and guess which person it belonged to by looking at what was inside their suitcases. Before we went home we had lunch and played by the beach with hula hoops, quoits and skipping ropes, just like the kids in quarantine in days gone by. Stella B. & Heidi A. 6AW

Resilient Kids - save the date NSW Health offers a range of parenting seminars. A presentation on Resilient Kids/Teens is to be held at Newport School on Monday 19 June at 7pm. This presentation will cover: helping your child/teenager recognize, accept and express feelings, developing optimistic thinking, coping skills and problem solving, and dealing with negative emotions and stressful events.

Senior Choir News Newport’s senior choir sounds amazing! Everyone is learning their words and parts very well, and attending rehearsals at lunch times on Tuesday. We held a lovely joint session and invited Keisha T. and her bagpipes to join us for Loch Lamond. It sounded wonderful! Thank you, Keisha. We are working towards our big rehearsal at North Sydney Girl’s High School on 29 June, which is the last week of this term. More information will come closer to the date. Parents and families, don’t forget the Town Hall Concert is on the evening of the 8 August. All choir members will receive a special t shirt but will need black skirt or pants, and black shoes for the occasion. Ticketing details will follow soon, but tickets go on sale on 19 July, at the city Recital Hall Box Office. Warm regards, Miss Mallin, Mrs Rulli and Mrs Gutherson

Chess News Last Friday Newport Junior B team had a 3 1/2 to 1/2 win over St Luke's Grammar Junior B team while the Seniors picked up 4 points for a bye. This Friday is an away match for the Juniors at St John's Narraweena and the Seniors will have a home match against St Martin's Davidson A. Mark Tickle.

Music News All primary ensembles are now practising hard for the Northern Beaches Instrumental Festival in about two weeks’ time. If you are yet to receive information about this event please contact your ensemble manager.

A reminder that the Music Committee is interested in selling a tenor saxophone stand, a guitar stand and alto saxophone stand for $20 each. If you are interested please contact Paula Paterson at pandtpaterson@gmail.com. The next Music Committee Meeting is scheduled for 21 June at 7.30pm in the main staffroom. All welcome. Dates for Diary Tues 13 June Violin 1 playing at K-2 assembly Wed 14 June Northern Beaches Instrumental Festival (Junior & Senior Bands) Sat 17 June Northern Beaches Instrumental Festival (String Orchestra) Wed 21 June Music Committee Meeting Thurs 22 June Senior Band playing at Years 3-6 assembly

Parenting is always challenging, but perhaps never more so when you are undergoing change yourself.

Recently I spoke to staff at the General Motors Holden in South Australia about how they could help their families navigate the imminent plant closure, and subsequent loss of jobs. Change of this magnitude generally impacts on everyone in a family, bringing an added layer to parenting. Essentially the job of these parents was to help their children successfully navigate changes rather than isolate or protect them from the changes that will occur.

From a child’s perspective, it’s not the change itself but how parents react to adjustments that is most significant. Change tests individual and family resilience, but managing it well builds resilience. While most people yearn for certainty and consistency there will always be times when circumstances change – people shift jobs, families relocate and parents split up. These situations are difficult to manage at the time but inevitably people adjust and more often than not, end up with a better situation – a job that they enjoy; a better lifestyle or finding family peace.

parentingideas.com.au now we know.

Parenting kids through the challenges of change By Michael Grose

POSITIVE PARENTING

While change is not easy to endure, there are some things we can do as parents to help our children cope and hopefully grow from those changes.

The following five ideas will help:

1. Acknowledge feelings Every difficulty or challenge we face is accompanied by uncomfortable feelings such as sadness, anger and disappointment. When feelings aren’t acknowledged, children will either act out or act in. That is, they will either become aggressive, agitated and hurtful or become moody, anxious and depressed. Give kids permission to talk about emotions by talking about your own feelings and your emotional reactions to events. Help children of all ages verbalise their feelings by asking children how they feel in response to different events. “How do you feel about this?” is a great way to initiate conversations on an emotional level.

2. Look after yourself (and your partner)Change is usually stressful for adults. Feelings of anxiety are common in times of uncertainty. “Will life ever return to normal?” is a common question. Self-care is essential in times of change. It’s hard to parent well when you are stressed, anxious or depressed so do all you can to stick to the building blocks of well-being.

POSITIVE PARENTING

That is, sleep well (life’s always better after a good night’s sleep); get some exercise (to release the feel-good endorphins); actively maintain your support networks (talking about diffi culties is therapeutic); get some relaxation (it’s important to take your mind of your worries for a time) and pursue at least one interest that you enjoy (fun and play is an antidote to depression).

3. Stay optimisticOptimism is characteristic of resilient people. I’m not suggesting that you take a Pollyanna-ish attitude that ‘everything will be all right’. Instead project the attitude that the current situation may be diffi cult or that life at the moment may be diffi cult but you will get through this. “This too shall pass” is a powerful resilience concept for kids to experience and learn.

4. Maintain consistency and routineWhen disruption appears in your life try to keep things as normal as possible for children. In particular, stick to regular mealtimes; keep bedtimes regular and keep the traditions that kids enjoy and bring your family together. This type of familiarity is comforting for kids, helping them maintain feelings of control, which is something they crave in times of change.

5. Maintain consistency and routineResilience is best practiced as a family or community, rather than as an individual so look for ways to bring your family together. Family mealtimes; shared enjoyable experiences and simply hanging out together are the types of activities that build strong families. In times of change and upheaval what we need most is each other.

Life is full of changes. Some are welcome and some aren’t. It’s human nature to resist change, particularly when it’s unwelcome. But change also presents opportunities for growth and development. Helping kids cope with change, even when it happens to you, is a chance to build their resilience, which will be tested many times throughout their adult lives.

parentingideas.com.au now we know.

Parenting kids through the challenges of change

Visit our websitefor more ideas and information to help you raise confi dent and resilient young

people.

Special note: I’m thrilled to announce that my latest book Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children is out. It’s available at parentingideas.com.au

© Parenting Ideas 2017

2017 Newport Public School

READ-A-THON 15 May - 2 June

artwork by tristabel.com

Newport P & C Fundraising - 2017 Images from the Noun Project created by Rockicon, Kokiri studio, Oksana Latysheve, Made by Made

Prizes in each grade for the most

books read and sponsor dollars!

Have fun and get reading

Sign up some sponsors, family,

friends, neighbours!

First class to bring in

their sponsor dollars

will get pizza for lunch

with Mrs Baldi!

� BONUS PRIZE �

1 MORE WEEK

KEEP

READING

Holiday Drama Workshops

Q: Help! How will I keep the kids entertained this coming winter holiday?

A: Send them to a fabulously-fun Drama Workshop!

What? Three exciting mornings of theatrical adventure will be experienced using the imagination to

explore presentation and performance through facial expression, body language and voice.

Smarty Pants Drama Students will be engaged in Drama activities including mime, characterisation, role-play, improvisation and prop creation.

Stimulated through images and stories the students will feel confident to safely explore the daily themes. They will feel ownership and pride through building and performing their own improvisations to one another.

Who? Years 3-6/ Age 8-12. Where? Avalon Recreation Centre, N.S.W.

When? 9am-12pm Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 12

th & Thursday 13

h July, 2017.

Cost: $180.00.

Bring: Water and morning tea.

Clothing: Pants/leggings, t-shirt, jumper and socks.

Bookings Essential by Friday, June 23rd, 2017.

Term-time Drama classes are held on a

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.

Go to:

W: www.smartypantseducation.com.au

Or contact

Victoria Lockhart

T: 0405 146 345

E: smartypantsdrama@gmail.com