Newsletter 4 16 February 2022
From the Principal
Hi everyone,
Thanks again for your cooperation with the management of COVID-19. We have contacted numerous parents to collect students who present with symptoms during the school day (including headache, sore stomach, temperature, runny nose, cough, sore throat). Thanks sincerely for the families who’ve been diligent in keeping sick children at home and rapid testing as QHealth have advised. We understand it may be frustrating to manage these arrangements but they are necessary at this time.
Please refresh your understanding of the drop-off and parking arrangements around the school. Quick points:
- Martin Street -drop off and pick up- (best option) Parking or waiting is not permitted on the yellow lines in the Drop and Go Zone.
- It is also possible to park and pick up at Gladys Street under the Busway bridge
- Cowley Street- non-vehicle collection
- Salisbury Street- non-vehicle collection- please do not park and collect in Salisbury Street in front of Narbethong Special School. Taking up car spaces here interferes with the collection of students from NSS (many with mobility issues). It results in carer/parents of students at NSS walking long distances to collect students.
More detailed information will be sent with other important parent information next week.
Please be aware that there is refurbishment work occurring at Narbethong Special School. There may be some alteration to the student/parent walkway from Salisbury Street. The contractor has made an undertaking to keep the passage open before and after school.
Not to steal Mr Bryant’s thunder but please find a link to a new initiative to recycle used batteries. BCycle has launched a new campaign which highlights various drop off points around the country where we can take used batteries. The nearest points to the school being Woolworths, Aldi and Officeworks.
Have a great week
Simon Vaseo
From the Head of Curriculum
Self-control in children
At an early childhood convention I attended some years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Richie Poulton, CNZM, FRSNZ who over the past 50 years has fronted the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. This study has involved the longitudinal study of the health, development and wellbeing of a general sample of New Zealanders from birth then periodically over a fifty-years.
How does this relate to education, students and our children you may ask? Well one of the major findings from this sample group of 1037 people is that childhood self-control is a large determiner in positive outcomes in adulthood.
I approached Dr Richie and asked a simple question, ‘How can we improve self-control in children?’ This posed question put me directly in touch with his research team in New Zealand and has directly impacted in what I share with teachers, parents and students in aide to improve relationships, classroom and playground behaviours to progress the outcomes for our children. Dr Richie and his team have shown that the playing of games improves self-control in children.
There are 3 broad areas of self-control:
- Being able to regulate your emotions (e.g., manage feelings of frustration when things don’t go your way; managing excitement when having to wait your turn to do something fun)
- Being able to regulate your behavior (e.g., slow down, wait your turn)
- Being able to regulate your thoughts (e.g., focus, attend, filter out distractions)
If you look around our classrooms and in the playground at Buranda State School we have lots of children who demonstrate self-control and thoughtfulness on a regular basis. I believe this is directly linked to the teaching of philosophy and the pedagogical practices of our teachers. Students at Buranda regularly play games in the classroom to learn the Australian Curriculum and they are able to regulate their thoughts through learning the practice of philosophy and considering that there may be no single correct answer.
At home you can further support your children through playing games such as memory, handball, copy me or even completing puzzles. Remember to keep it a fun game so they can engage in the task. If you would like any more information on some of the activities that can be done at home to improve self-control please do not hesitate to contact me.
Lauren Grayson
Head of Department – Curriculum
Buranda State School
Further reading is available
The Dunedin Study
https://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/
Childhood self-control forecasts the pace of midlife aging and preparedness for old age | 2021
Richmond-Rakerd, L. S. Caspi, A. Ambler, A. d'Arbeloff, T. de Bruine, M. Elliott, M. Harrington, H. Hogan, S. Houts, R. M. Ireland, D. Keenan, R. Knodt, A. R. Melzer, T. R. Park, S. Poulton, R. Ramrakha, S. Rasmussen, L. J. H. Sack, E. Schmidt, A. T. Sison, M. L. Wertz, J. Hariri, A. R. Moffitt, T. E. « Hide
PNAS, 2021, 118(3), .
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2010211118
https://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/files/1610496520755.pdf
Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control | 2013
Terrie E. Moffitt, Richie Poulton, and Avshalom Caspi
American Scientist, 2013, 101 352-359.
https://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/files/1571970023782.pdf
A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety | 2011
Moffitt, T.E., Arseneault, L. , Belsky, ... Show all »
PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA), 2011, 108(108), 2693-2698.
doi:10.1073/pnas.1010076108
Student Absences/Early Departures
When emailing your class teacher regarding your child's absence or early departure please include the admin email adress: admin@burandass.eq.edu.au so the office is aware if you child is away or leaving early. You are also able to text your child's absence to our text line before 9.30am: 0428 679 117.
Book Club
The Scholastic Book Club catalogue for Term 1 2022 has been given out to your children.
To make a purchase, go to: Scholastic.com.au/LOOP OR download the LOOP app.
Please DO NOT send money and orders to school as they cannot be processed this way.
Orders close Sunday 20 February 2022. Orders placed by the closing date will be delivered to school.
*Every order will earn resources and books for our school library*
Crazy Hair Day – help Darci raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation!
Darci (Year 6) is shaving her head this year to raise money towards finding a cure for blood cancer.
A Crazy Hair Day will be held on Friday, 4 March 2022 to help her raise funds.
Students can donate a gold coin and come to school with their hair in a crazy style, dressed up in either ribbons or with colourful hair spray.
If any student doesn’t want to participate in crazy hair, but would still like to donate, that’s ok too.
Collection boxes will be located in each classroom, and we’ll announce how much we raised together the week after the event.
For more information on why Darci has decided to do participate, see her website via the following link:
Darci's Fundraising Website - The World's Greatest Shave
Darci will be shaving her head at the Camp Hill Antique Centre, 9:30am Sunday 20 March 2022.
From the P & C
Uniform Shop
Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances the uniform shop will be closed tomorrow, Thursday 17 February. We will let you know when it will re-open.