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What a wonderful start to the term with all our tamariki returning happy and settled to school - it made for a great week indeed. It was a week of good news as 3 of our seniors had their poetry accepted for publication, the sun was shining and our whānau once again gathered for a catch-up on Friday morning. If you haven’t made it yet to these coffee mornings please note the next one is August 11 - 8:45 am on and then we change it up to Friday, September 1st at 3 pm. Ka pai to Suzy for this wonderful initiative and to those who have helped by bringing along some baking.
Last night we had a fabulous night with Chis Bowden speaking on building resilience in our tamariki and it was great to see so many here despite the cold night and FIFA excitement. Please read the board news to hear further about this important learning.
Some of our tamariki are continuing their faith journey, focusing on the Sacrament of Confirmation. Receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation is an opportunity for our tarmiki to strengthen their relationship with God. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are strengthened: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. These gifts will help these children navigate the world around them as Jesus asked them to. Please keep Lorenzo, McKenzy, Monica, Leanne, Gila, and Tyler in your prayers as they prepare for this important sacrament.
The work for the Centenary preparations continues and now our tamariki have begun their learning on the 100 years that have passed. The 1920s was the focus of last week and our tamariki had a wonderful time learning about the main school building (which is Te Aroha ) being built and seeing the plans for these, as well as learning in the 1920s and the important people such as Ernest Rutherford. The 1930s is the focus this week and of course, they will be considering the celebration of the first Waitangi Day, the Napier earthquake, the Depression & World War 2.
If you have any memorabilia from any decade that you are happy to share and/or come and talk about your school experience we would love to hear from you.
Finally, ka pai to all those parents who transported, supervised, and umpired for the Eastern Zone Netball tournament - you are superstars as it allowed all our tamariki to go. We love receiving feedback such as this ... '
Important dates to remember
- August 6 Sunday, 10 am Sacrament of Confirmation at St Patrick's Church
- Book Week is in Week 4 and we hope the children are considering their costume. We look forward to seeing who takes on the challenge of a book character from one of the decades. The parade is on Tuesday, August 8, at 9 am
Nga mihi
Denise
Building Resilience in Children: Dr. Chris Bowden
What is resilience? How does it help our tamariki and our whānau? How do we build resilience and keep it? What about managing stress and anxiety and strong emotions?
These were some of our questions when we gathered on Wednesday evening for a presentation on building resilience in children by esteemed educational psychologist, Dr. Chris Bowden.
Our start to the evening deliberately included whakawhanangatanga (building and strengthening relationships) as we welcomed a great turnout of over 60 people from our school and the wider Te Motu Kairangi communities to meet informally and share kai.
We opened with a karakia and our principal, Mrs. Denise Johnson, introduced Dr. Chris Bowden to our audience. Chris has a Ph.D. Health, MA, BA (Hons 1) and is a lecturer in the School of Education at Victoria University of Wellington.
Chris opened his presentation by raising 3 questions:
- What helps build resiliency (bounce back) in young people and families/whānau?
- How to help young people cope with life challenges?
- How to be more resilient as parents and caregivers?
Chris described resilience as the capacity of an individual to withstand, effectively cope with and rebound from challenging situations, stressors, and adversity and experience growth. He said that an individual’s resiliency is linked to family/whānau resiliency. It takes a well-functioning family/whānau system, not just individuals, to cope with stress and adversity.
Throughout this informative and inspiring presentation, Dr. Bowden shed light on the significance of resilience in children and how it serves as a crucial tool in navigating life's challenges. He emphasised that resilience is not just an inherent trait but can be nurtured and developed through various techniques and supportive environments.
The key points from Dr. Bowden's presentation include:
Reaching Out Skills
1 Connections – secure stable supportive relationships, strong cultural identity, and sense of belonging.
2 Communicating – knowing how to reach out and ask for help.
Reaching In Skills
3 Control - emotional awareness and regulation/control.
4 Coping - a growth mindset and healthy habits of mind.
5 Competence – problem-solving, decision-making and coping and self-care.
6 Confidence – healthy and realistic optimism and self-belief.
7 Character – a strong sense of right and wrong, grit and perseverance.
8 Contribution – a sense of purpose and responsibility.
In summary, resilient individuals and families/whānau engage in certain processes that enable them to positively adapt to significant adversity and even grow from serious life challenges. Individual and family/whānau resilience can be nurtured, supported, and reinforced by other families/whānau, schools, workplaces and other social systems.
Ngā mihi nui Chris for an inspiring talk on building resilience in children. Your passion for your subject captivated us and the blend of anecdotes and solid scientific evidence painted a vivid picture of the transformative power of resilience in our children's lives. Your insights into fostering emotional intelligence, encouraging a growth mindset, and building supportive whānau and community relationships resonated with everyone. We left this evening with hope and determination and feeling empowered and motivated to be advocates for resilience-building in our tamariki.
Chris has provided a link to his presentation slides which are well worth looking at if you weren't able to make the seminar:
What next? Watch out for our seminar on digital resilience!
It doesn’t end here. We are motivated to take meaningful actions to promote resilience in our tamariki and encourage our whānau and community to help build our tamariki's resilience.
We recognise that our tamariki and rangatahi face unique challenges in the digital age. To address this, we are organising a seminar on digital resilience aimed at equipping parents and whānau with the knowledge to navigate potential online hazards. Teaching children how to be responsible digital citizens and manage screen time effectively will be a key focus. Watch for more information in the coming weeks.
He kai kei aku ringa - there is food at the end of my hands
(said by a person who can use their basic abilities and resources to create success).
This whakatauki signifies resilience, empowerment, and hope. It refers to one's ability to use the skills and resources you have to create success. It's about being responsible for the resources and capabilities one needs to grow and develop.
Yesterday we celebrated the feast day of Saints Joachim and Anne, who were the parents of Our Lady. There are no mentions of them in the Bible or Gospels, what we know comes from Catholic legend and the Gospel of James, which is an unsanctioned writing form from the second century AD. So we don't know a great deal about these saints, but one thing we do know for certain is that Mary had good, faithful parents who raised her with a love and devotion to God like none other except Jesus Christ Himself.
So Joachim and Anne serve as role models for parents and both deserve to be honored and emulated for their devotion to God and Our Lady Mary, the Mother of God.
We hope you have added to your calendar Wednesday, September 13 when we will celebrate our grandparents and those who fulfill this role for all our tamariki.
Congratulations to Issy, Isobel, and Freddie whose writing was entered last year into a book of poems. Their poems on 'Breathe' were successful in being selected for publishing in the Tūhono 2022 poem book - ka pai to all three of you!
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
― Mother Teresa
Welcome back to Term 3! We’ve hit the ground running and are straight back into some really amazing learning.
As you would have read and heard already, our focus this term is on ‘The Power of People’.
In Week 1, we discussed how people have the power to create change. We talked about some people who we could think of that we knew about already, who have made a positive impact on their community and the world, among them being: Mother Teresa, Ernest Rutherford, and Nelson Mandela.
Our trip to Wellington Museum for our ‘City Experience’ on Friday was a fantastic opportunity for us to learn more about the history of Aotearoa and some powerful people in our local community who made a positive impact and brought about change.
We enjoyed our afternoon rotations with Te Moana in Week 1, looking at a range of technology challenges. We learnt a lot about teamwork, perseverance and strategy, and had some fun learning through play.
Here are some photos of some of the challenges we worked on:
PARENT INFORMATION EVENING: VAPING FACTS AND HOW TO TALK TO YOUNG PEOPLE ABOUT VAPING
An informative event will be held at Scots College at 6:30pm on Monday 21 August to address vaping facts and how to effectively communicate with young people around this topic. Experts, including representatives from Life Education Trust, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, teachers and students will share their insights. The objective is to help attendees to deepen their understanding of vaping and gain practical tools to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. Tickets are $5 and are available at https://events.humanitix.com/2023-speakers-series-vaping-facts-and-how-to-talk-to-young-people-about-vaping
‘See live kapa haka performed by our local schools as they prepare for national competitions! Come to a Matariki ki Akau Tangi kapa haka performance in Kilbirnie and receive a $5 voucher to spend at participating stores and cafes. Performances from now until 10 August (see schedule @destinationkrl - varying dates and times). Venue: St Patrick's Hall, 17 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie (opposite Headstart) Come and support our young people - kia ora! Koha appreciated to cover school costs.’
To keep up with what is going on visit www.facebook.com/
We do hope that your school will be able to come to at least one of these free performances. To book please contact info@krl.org.nz
If your child loves doing cartwheels, handstands, trampolining, flips, dancing, or parkour, then they will thrive at Bigair Gym!
Bigair Gym classes are excellent for fun, focus and fitness! Children learn new skills and develop personal confidence and self-achievement! Strong focus is given to safety and technique, ranging from fundamentals to advanced skills. The structured classes follow a Bigair Badge Programme, which creates focused learning, and allows children to achieve and feel personal progression! Bigair classes include GYMNASTICS, TRAMPOLINING, TUMBLING, FREE RUNNING (thats parkour with flips) & CHEERLEADING! Inquire about Bigair BIRTHDAY PARTIES too!
Bigair Gymsports Kapiti ph. 297 0400 e. kapiti@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay ph. 383 8779 e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Tawa ph. 232 3508 e. office@bigairgym.co.nz