Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,

We look forward to sharing what we have been doing in The Resilience Project with you tonight at 5pm. This parent session will give attendees a chance to see what The Resilience Project looks like at St Michael’s as well as discussing the benefits of the program for our students. We will also discuss the importance of practising The GEM principles at home and how this can promote well being in your family. 

The session will run from 5-6pm in the school hall. Please sign in and enter via the hall door near the church. We look forward to seeing you there!  Thank you to Leanne Kamphuis and her team of helpers for putting this together. 

There will be no Assembly this Friday - The hall is being used for an incursion for the F - 2 grades. Awards will be given out in classrooms.

Regional Cross Country 

On Thursday 6th June St Michael's had 5 students participating in the Regional Cross Country, Tessa Jennings, Poppy Howe, Levi Stanistreet, Kaiden Warne and Chloe Rawson. This course is more challenging to the previous courses the students have participated in so far and Thursday’s conditions were also less favourable. However, all of the students performed magnificently with Tessa Jennings and Poppy Howe progressing through to the next round!

Traralgon District Winter Round Robin Sports

On Tuesday 4th June St Michael's 5/6 students attended the Traralgon District Winter Sports day. St Michael's was well represented across all four sports of Football, Soccer, Netball and T-Ball, with multiple teams in Netball and Soccer. Whilst the day was cold we were fortunate to not have any rain and the spirits and smiles of the students kept us all warm! Whilst we don’t have any of our teams progressing through to the next round we do have a group of students who represented St Michael's proudly and displayed wonderful sportsmanship. 

We would like to also send a BIG THANK-YOU to the following parents and volunteers who put their hand up to help on the day (to either coach or umpire) Jodie Wilson, Krystle Ing, Maree Athanasiadis, Rachael Quinlan, Megan Harper, Luke Thorton,  Alana & Emily Scholtes, John Buhagiar, Conor Clarke, Gus, Clayton, Eddie Goicoa, Damien Blackford and Mark McMahon. Whilst the list of names of helpers might look long, don’t be deceived, it was a big day for our helpers who didn’t get a break all day. Without help at these events we can’t offer the opportunities to our kids and we are very grateful for their support. 

TEACHING CHILDREN THAT MISTAKES ARE OKAY

You won’t find a child more chuffed with themselves than a preschooler who is learning to write their own name. In the beginning, they courageously create a jumble of mixed-up letters and back-to-front S’s to piece together the first iteration of what will become their signature. Very quickly, those mistakes lead to mastery, and they’re equipped with a skill they’ll use hundreds of thousands of times throughout their lives.

As our children grow, their fearlessness in the face of mistakes often gives way to a paralysing fear of failure. They become less willing to take risks, try new things, and broaden their experience because of the risk of not getting it “right” straight away.

How do we help our kids overcome perfectionism and make friends with mistakes again?

Here are my top tips for parents and educators:

#1: Talk it through.

Whether it’s learning to ride a bike or writing a story, when a child shows reluctance to try before they start, ask them what they’re worried about. Give them the chance to share their fears and talk it through. Ask them, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’ Putting words around their fear can help contextualise and minimise it, making ‘the scary thing’ seem smaller and easier to handle.

#2: Share your story.

Younger children love to hear stories from their parents and trusted adults. Share a story with them of when you were scared, then tried, failed, and learned something from making a mistake. You can make it funny to lighten the load and help diffuse their worry.

#3: Resilience.

Making mistakes and learning from mistakes helps children build resilience, which will stand them in good stead later in life. If they have tried, failed, and then tried again, it helps them build confidence to tackle bigger, more daunting tasks down the track. Failure is not the enemy; failure to try is! Failure, ironically, can build success. As the saying goes, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, then try and try again.’

#4: Reward the effort.

If you have coached and coaxed your child or student into trying something new for the first time, or if they have worked hard to conquer their fear, then regardless of the outcome, let them know they are champs for trying. This way, the reward is linked, not to whether they failed or succeeded, but to the effort they made in the first place. Being a ‘doer’ with a positive ‘at least I tried’ attitude will help children build a positive approach to tackling new activities and tasks later in life.

#5: Practice makes perfect.

Perfect is of course not needed but practice is important. Give children plenty of opportunity to keep trying their chosen activity, whether they’ve taken up a new sport, musical instrument, or hobby, or whether they’re plucking up courage to make new friends at school. Help them stay positive and celebrate their achievements and learnings with them along the way. Whether they tell you this or keep it to themselves, kids love it when their parents, carers and teachers are their support team (and they’ll remember it later too!).

 Written by Dr Justin Coulson