From the Principal’s desk
The Anxiety Project
Creating a ‘have a go’ culture at Rylstone Public School.
This year, our school is undertaking a project to address childhood anxiety called The Anxiety Project.
If the flip side of anxiety is resilience, how can parents, school teachers and school staff work together to foster resilience in students? It could be as simple as creating a ‘have a go’ culture at our school. Fostering resilience in today’s risk-averse society can sometimes be a challenge.
By adopting a ‘have a go’ culture at Rylstone PS, we hope to set children up to try, experience and sometimes fail at new experiences.
What is this doing for a child? Building resilience thinking skills and capabilities. In the 1980s researcher, Carol Dweck coined the idea of the ‘growth mindset’ and the ‘fixed mindset’. Children with a ‘growth mindset’ were more likely to see challenges as opportunities for growth, were more likely to persevere even in the face of adversity and were more likely to accept that they would sometimes fail. Children with a fixed mindset often believed strictly in natural ‘abilities’ or ‘talents’ and were more likely to give up in the face of adversity.
It has been proven that teachers and significant adults in a child’s life can teach a child to alter their mindset and encourage them to a ‘growth mindset’.
A central element of The Anxiety Project is for the students to be braver and to ‘have a go’ - and not avoid difficult tasks or situations, which are within their ability to cope with.
All of our staff have been undertaking professional learning created by psychologist Michael Hawton and reading research from places like The Harvard Center for the Developing Child which has shown us that sometimes behaviour by significant adults (like teachers and parents) can inadvertently assist students to avoid difficulties, which are within their grasp to solve, and can be counterproductive.
It is important for us to instill a ‘have a go attitude’ or growth mindset in children. We can do this by shaping the way that they view challenges and setbacks and encouraging them to learn from their mistakes. A child’s development of healthy brain architecture is constructed by ‘serve and return’ conversations that child has with significant adults in their life. We are learning that teachers and parents can help a child build resilience thinking skills when facing adversity.
Here are a few of our top tips from what we are learning and doing to create ‘have a go culture’ in our school:
- Use failures as an opportunity to learn. When children experience failure, try to avoid fixed mindset reinforcement like ‘Not everyone can be good at Maths’. Instead, ask curious questions with the child, ‘What can we learn from this? What could we do better next time? What other resources could I give you to learn the content better?
- Use SBI – Situation, Behaviour, Impact. SBI is an alternative to praise that effectively reinforces the growth mindset. As a parent, you acknowledge the: Situation, ‘I noticed you were a bit scared about jumping in the pool’/ Behaviour, ‘But you did it anyway, with Molly holding your hand’/ Impact ‘And now I can see you’re having a great time swimming with Molly’.
- Remind kids that good things take time and perseverance – we’re not going to be great at everything straight away. When kids get frustrated that they can’t accomplish a concept straight away, remind them that good things take time, all things are difficult without practice, and no one is instantly amazing at anything. Instill in them a ‘have a go’ attitude that will see them through to adulthood.
- Support your school's efforts to help your child's resilience:
- Talk with your child’s teacher and Implementation Coach about The Anxiety Project at your school.
- Instil in in your child a ‘have a go’ attitude that will see them through to adulthood.
- Avoid prematurely jumping in to fix school-based problems that are within your child's ability to solve.Get involved in Parent training – there will be Anxiety Coach training available at our school later in Term 3.
For more resources for parents on how to manage child anxiety and build resilience thinking skills visit: https://www.parentshop.com.au/for-parents
P&C Movie Night
What an amazing night! I’m sure anyone who attended would agree it was a fabulous evening and our RPS P&C did an fabulous job. An ENORMOUS thank you to all members of the P&C and volunteers, especially the brains behind the original concept, Karen Croake!
Special thank you to all the external people who helped us along:
- The Community Charity Shop Kandos - whose generous donation of $500 covered the film licence and contributed to our funds.
- The Rylstone Kandos Film Society - who allowed us to use all their equipment along with Leon Thompson who setup and operated the whole thing.
- Mudgee Sound & PA Hire - who ran the awesome tunes and sound for the evening and Jono Clarke setup and operating.
- TG Lus Electrical - thanks Tim for lighting up the event, making it both safe AND beautiful.
- Joel Fuller for once again being the emcee extraordinaire!
Also a big Thank You to Rylstone Foodworks and Larissa Kerney for going above and beyond with assisting us order all the food and Coopers Country Meats Butchers.
Zone Cross Country
Once again Rylstone Public School hosted the Cudgegong PSSA Zone Cross Country on Friday 10th May. Thank you to Mrs Rankin who again worked laboriously behind the scenes to ensure that the day ran smoothly.
Thank you to our RPS P&C and volunteers for the catering which everyone enjoyed. I think you all deserve a well-earned rest!
Tennis Coaching
This term sees a return of tennis coaching being provided by Jackson from Mudgee Tennis. As always, the students from Kinder to Yr 6 have enjoyed their lessons and are enthusiastically developing their skills!
Mother’s Day Breakfast
Thank you to everyone who RSVP’d for tomorrow’s Mother’s Day breakfast. Thank you to the dads who have volunteered to help set up and pack up. We hope all of the mothers and mother figures at Rylstone PS had a lovely Mother’s Day last weekend and are coming along to enjoy a pancake brekky on us tomorrow!
Peanut Butter
Staff have noticed a few students bringing in peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches. Due to various allergies, we ask that NO NUT foods be brought in to school.
Head Lice
We have been notified of a few cases of head lice. Please check your child’s hair and the best deterrent is tying hair up. If you do find head lice, please remember to treat bedding etc as well. More tips on how to deal with head lice can be found here: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/head-lice
Stomach bug/ COVID
We have several cases of a nasty tummy bug going around the school. As per health advice, students need to be symptom free for 48 hours before returning to school.
We have also seen an increase in COVID. If your child is displaying symptoms, we ask that you still test for COVID and notify the school. Please keep your child at home until they test negative or are symptom free.
Parent Helpers
Many classes are looking for parent helpers. If you would like to help in a class, please contact myself or the class teacher. You could help with reading or in small group activities. Maybe you would like to help with art or sport? Maybe you would like to run a knitting club in the library once a week? You may not necessarily be in your own child’s class; you can help in any class available. To be a voluntary class helper you will need to fill in a voluntary working with children check statutory declaration available at the front office. To be a class helper you also need to be consistent and reliable. You will need to adhere to the NSW DoE Code of Conduct and maintain confidentiality. If you would like to help or offer your skills, please reach out to myself or your child’s teacher.
As always, if you have any further questions or concerns, please contact me on jodee.burcher@det.nsw.edu.au or call on 6379 1404
Jodee
In the classrooms
Wattle
We've had an incredible start to the second term, and the past few weeks have been dedicated to celebrating and learning about our amazing mums. It's been truly magical to witness the children bringing their mums to life, and we've had a blast getting to know our Kindy Wattle Mums through their children's eyes.
In addition to our Mum’s celebrations, we've been exploring similes inspired by the book "My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks." The children had a blast crafting similes about their mums. It was delightful to see their creativity at work, and we learned that there's no comparison between our mums and dirty socks! All of our mums smell like candy and flowers!
Similes about our Mums.
- My Mum is as beautiful as a flower.
- My Mum is as beautiful as a rainbow.
- My Mum is lovely like the stars.
- My Mum is as special as a sunset.
- My Mum is as lovely as a rainbow.
- My Mum is as beautiful as perfume.
- My Mum is as lovely as a love heart.
- My Mum is as special as horses.
- My Mum is as lovely as lollies.
- My Mum is as beautiful as dresses.
- My mum is beautiful like a princess.
Banksia
It’s been a brilliant start to the term in 1-2 Banksia!
We wrapped up our Science unit by thinking about whether different foods come from plants or animals and the processes they go through before we use them. We even made our own frozen yogurt bark, decorating it with our choice of toppings.
In English, we listened to a book called We Love You, Magoo. We made our own version of the book when we imagined what Magoo would get up to at our school. Each person created a page for the book. We would love to share it with you!
We’ve been doing lots of work with number bonds and place value in Maths.
And we were very focused and worked hard to use the felting skills we learnt on our Red Hill excursion last term to create a bouquet of felted flowers for our mums. 😍💐
Bottlebrush
On Thursday 2nd May Bottlebrush travelled to Gulgong to the Red Hill EEC School for a day learning about life and schooling in the colonial period. They had so much fun making scones, butter, dressing up and learning to write with ink.
School Cross Country
The school cross country event was a fantastic occasion held at the end of last term. Every student displayed their utmost effort, demonstrating true sportsmanship and dedication throughout the event.
A big thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to help and support the smooth running of this event. Your assistance and encouragement were greatly appreciated!
ZONE CROSS COUNRTY
Student Report
RPS did a fantastic job in Zone Cross Country. We got together with different schools in the area and enjoyed running as well as eating the great food from the canteen that he Rylstone P&C ran. Some RPS students made it to WESTERN including Wyatt Kimmorley, Mitchell Rankin, Rebecca Rankin, Kirsten Van Oosterum and Will Fielder. We wish them good luck.
By Wyatt Kimmorley
PSSA Touch Gala
Thank you to Mrs Fielder for attending the day and making sure that the students scored tries and not goals! Mrs Fielder said it was a wonderful Touch Gala Day. The sun was shining, skills were sharpened, faces were smiling and in classic Rylstone Public School style, comradeship was king. Well done to all players for representing our school so well!
Student Report
On 7th May some Year 4 and 5/6 students went to Mudgee PSSA Touch Football and versed Gulgong, Mudgee and Cudgegong Valley public schools. Everyone enjoyed it and had an amazing time. The boys and the girls all tried their hardest.
WELL DONE RPS
By Celeste
SRC
Sentral
Please remember that Sentral is the go to place for all school information, permission requests, school payments, absences, newsletters, Parent Teacher Interviews.
Please note that SMS messages sent via Sentral from our school will come from a random phone number but we will always start our message with RylstonePS or RPS. We have limited characters use so messages may be brief and to the point.
Sentral Parent Help pages: https://www.sentral.com.au/parents
Please keep up to date with your child's absence explanations, as unexplained absences, as well as total absences, will be mentioned on your child's report. Red on your child's attendance calendar indicates we do not have an explanation.
Dates for your calendar
Don't forget you can find these dates on your Sentral Calendar too.
May
- 17th - Mother's Day Breakfast
- 17th - Scripture Commences
- 17th - Zone Soccer Trials
- 31st - Assembly Item Class 5-6 Waratah
June
- 3rd - P&C Meeting 3:30pm in the hall
- 10th - King's Birthday Public Holiday
- 12th - Western Cross Country, Orange
- 27th - Public Speaking Finals Wollemi COPs
- 28th - Assembly Item Class 3-4 Bottlebrush
July
- 1st - P&C Meeting 3:30pm in the hall
- 5th - Mufti Day
- 5th - Term 2 BBQ
- 5th - Home Reading Award Raffle
- 5th - Gold ARPY Assembly
- 5th - Last Day of Term 2
Reminders
- Students arriving late or departing early MUST come to the office to sign in/out.
- Parent helpers must sign in at the office for WH&S.
- Payments to school (not P&C) can be made online via Sentral Pay with a debit or credit card, or cash can be sent in an envelope to the school office. The school does not have an EFTPOS machine.
- Please check your child's attendance on the Sentral app and keep up to date with absence explanations. Explanations are required within 7 days of an absence. A text message will be sent if your child is absent and you haven't submitted an explanation.
- School Drive Subsidy and bus transport: Please keep your details current and notify the Dept. of Transport of any address changes at www.transportnsw.info/school-students
Garden Update
P and C News
Uniform Shop
The shop is open on Friday afternoons 3:20-3:45pm but don’t forget you can shop anytime 24/7 via our online shop and your order will be sent home with your child: https://rylstone-public-school-parents-and-citizens-association.square.site/