From the Acting Principal…
In the extremes of temperature that we have been facing it is timely to remind our children and parents of the essentials of the SunSmart policy.
· Slip put on clothing to provide maximum skin coverage
· Slop arrive with sunscreen applied (SPF 30+ broad spectrum recommended)
· Slap on a wide brim hat or legionnaire style to protect face, ears and neck.
· Seek shade from one of a number of sails or gazebos now available on site.
· Slide on sunglasses for eye protection.
Regular monitoring of the temperature during the day is being followed for the rest of term 4. Once the temperature exceeds 34°C all activities will be restricted to indoors. Please remind students that their drink bottle is to be with them each day and to be used regularly for replenishing fluid levels.
There are a handful of plastic containers still left from the fair. If you are missing your favourite cake/slice container pay a visit to Reception and retrieve it.
How exciting it is to see the roof go on our new building. The bulk of the work will be mainly indoors from now on. One of the benefits of the new building will be the convenient location of toilets accessible from the outside for students and also parents.
The news that we were having a visit last week from Glen Watson and his wife Viv together with a group of students from Beechworth Montessori School was enough to attract both current and former students, along with many parents, to gather around the BBQ for a chat over a sausage or two.
I was pleased to accept an invitation from Eileen to join in the birthday celebrations at the Red Gum classroom on Friday 13th November. This coincided with an open session and was well attended by parents and some grandparents. A number of former students dropped in during the day.
As we draw towards the end of the term there are a few students and families who we will be farewelling shortly. Let me acknowledge the important contribution that all families make but in particular direct our thanks to those who are moving on. Our best wishes go with them as they take up new challenges.
Thanks, Bob
Upcoming Dates
TERM 4 2009
Dec 9 Canteen Day
Dec 16 Disco & Graduation
Last day of Term 4
TERM 1 2010
Feb 1&2 Pupil Free Days
Feb 3 Children return to school
Feb 5 BBQ – Meet the New Principal
Feb 10 Meet & Greet 7pm
Feb 20 Working Bee 9am – 3pm
Feb 24 Parent Education Evening 7pm
Feb 25 New Parents’ Morning Tea 9.15am Holder
Mar 3 Canteen Day
Mar 5 Schools Clean Up Day
Mar 8 Canberra Day – Public Holiday
Mar 16 Annual General Meeting 7pm
Mar 25 Cycle 2/3 reports due
Apr 2 Public Holiday – Good Friday
Apr 5 Public Hoilday – Easter Monday
Apr 7 Canteen Day
Apr 9 Last day of Term 1
Please check the Bulletin regularly for changes to published events.
Term Dates for 2009
Term 4: 12 October – 16 December
Term Dates for 2010
Term 1: 3 February – 9 April
Term 2: 27 April – 2 July
Term 3: 20 July – 24 September
Term 4: 12 October – 15 December
Afternoon Programme Term 1 2010
Please let the office know your intended Gumnut bookings for next year. We will need to know whether you will be discontinuing, changing or maintaining your current bookings or making a new booking. The office has forms for this purpose available which need to be returned by November 30th.
Parent Library
All books should be returned by November 30th to allow an inventory to be taken. Loans will not be available over the Christmas holidays. Thank you.
Choosing Thankfulness
Last year at a conference I noticed an unusual number of people wearing purple plastic wristbands. I didn't think much about it, imagining that the bands must be in support of a worthy cause. When I returned home from the conference I stopped by my neighbourhood bookstore. At the checkout register sat a bucket full of purple wristbands, but with no explanation of what idea they represented. Upon closer inspection I noticed an embossed imprint across the face of the band, A ComplaintFreeWorld.org. I laughed at the impossible idea of a complaint-free world. ''Wouldn’t that be wonderful?'' I said to the bookstore owner. ''There's the instruction manual on the front table,'' she said. I couldn't resist buying the book.
Will Bowen, pastor of Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, Missouri, challenged his parishioners to go 21 days without complaining. To keep the challengers on track Bowen wanted a ''doodad'' to hand out after his talk to help people remember their task. Bowen's assistant came across a special on purple wristbands, and the game was on. The game? Move your wristband to the opposite arm every time you catch yourself complaining. The ''gotcha'' was that you had to start over at Day One every time you complained, even if you were on Day Twenty-One-and-a-Half.
Bowen, considering himself a positive guy, thought he'd have no problem going 21 days without complaining, criticizing or gossiping. After two weeks, he reported that he had gone six hours complaint-free. After a month, he told his group that he had made it three days without complaining.
Bowen's congregation has committed to giving free bracelets to whomever asks. His church has given away more than 6 million bands with a thousand requests coming in every day.
Thinking without complaining, criticizing or gossiping brought about some unexpected benefits. Purple wristband wearers reported that their relationships improved, that chronic health concerns diminished or disappeared, and that they were enjoying life in a way they never thought possible. They discovered what Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations almost 2000 years ago, ''The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.'' We choose our thoughts, positive or negative. Bowen says the average time it takes someone to go complaint-free is four to eight months. It's work to shift our perception of the world.
My dad had a way of dealing with those times when the apple cart gets tipped over, and all looks lost. More than once in my adult life I went to him distraught over one setback or another. He'd give me a hug, look at his watch and say, ''Well, let's have a pity party for fifteen minutes, and then get back to work.''
This is a year of tumultuous economic and political forces unleashed, and it might be reason enough for us to join a long, long pity party and neglect thinking about all that we should be thankful for. For the sake of our children, let's finish up with our pity parties and get to work to create a complaint-free world. Complain that the glass is half full, or be thankful that it is? Take the challenge to choose thankfulness.
Written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.
The Montessori Four Planes of Development explained by the child!
1. Birth to six years
“Help me to do it myself”
2. Six to twelve
“It’s not fair”
3. Twelve to eighteen
“Leave me alone”
4. Eighteen to twenty-four
“I know my place in the world”