Resilience

I welcome you all back for Term 3 and I hope that all families have had a chance to rest and recuperate in preparation for the start of Semester Two. It is an especially warm welcome to new students and their families as we begin a close relationship supporting you in your journey with us.

I am sure that many of you have heard the term ‘resilience’. Many of you would have needed to demonstrate resilience at many times in your lives. The capacity to develop resilience will continue to grow over time as we experience new and challenging events. Resilience has been referred to as wellbeing under pressure. Leading Australian psychologist, Andrew Fuller, has described resilience as “the happy knack of bungy jumping through the pitfalls of life.” Founder of the ‘Resilience Doughnut’, Lyn Worsley, suggests resilience is “the process of continual development of personal competence while navigating and negotiating with available resources in the face of adversity.” Certainly, the news over the holidays drew my attention to the fact that many people the world over have needed to demonstrate resilience. What also drew my attention, was the work, including podcasts by Dr Justin Coulson, founder of Happy Families. In particular he and his wife in one of their podcasts, spoke about parents and carers jobs is “not to fix every challenge that your child faces…the more you fix, the more you disable your child. Rather be there as a support as they look to find solutions (when they’re not emotional).” For younger people it may be that you fix it with them but having them lead the process. https://www.happyfamilies.com.au/

As we commence a new term it would be natural that we may experience a bit of a shock getting back into routine. Indeed, our prayer at assembly referred to us asking God for persistence as we re-adjust back into classes. Whilst we hope all students have a smooth term, it is only natural that there will be some ‘pitfalls’ along the way. The most important thing is that we are there to support them as they navigate events and find solutions to their problems.

‘Steps’ Year 8 Outdoor Education

Please join me in wishing Year 8 students all the best as they embark on their Outdoor Education Program next week from 19th to 23rd July. I thank Ms Kim Wood for her leadership of this program and the staff who will be supporting her and the students during this time. There is a tremendous amount of organising that takes place well in advance of any program that occurs and we are grateful to have someone of Ms Wood’s calibre leading the way and shaping the programs for various cohorts in the College.

Student Handbooks

I would like to remind families that all students in Years 6 to 12 need to have their handbook with them for each lesson. This document is a conduit for maintaining open lines of communication between school and home and complements the other means of communication with staff and students. I would kindly ask that Years 6 to 10 have their handbooks signed weekly and that for Years 6 to 12 students, if they are late arriving or departing early then the appropriate slip is filled out in advance please.

Mr Ben Ryan, Director of Students