Good Afternoon Families,

Welcome back to Term 2, like always it is wonderful to have the children back here inside our school gates and learning environments. They bring an energy and presence to the place which can not be matched. 

If I could share a quick story about the beauty of feedback. Tuesday night my family and I were sitting around the dinner table enjoying a lovely meal prepared by Amy (thought I would just drop that in for a few brownie points). We were chatting about the day, parts we enjoyed and parts we were thankful for. Somehow the conversation moved to our Monday Morning assemblies. Flynn, in a way that only a child could, to their parent, thought he would (uninvited) give me some feedback about Monday Morning Assemblies and let me know that my stories are not that good, and actually I need to change assemblies up a bit. While I found this more funny than a brutal attack on my identity as a Principal, it does remind you of the nature of feedback. How well as adults do we take it compared to how often we provide it to children? Something to ponder for us all.

Below is a quote that I found quite pertinent for me. 

When I say I don’t like your idea, I’m not saying that I don’t like you. And if we’ve been persuaded by marketers and politicians that everything we do and say is our identity, then it gets very difficult to learn, to accept useful feedback and to change.

Evolving our choices and our tastes is part of being human. Establishing your identity as someone who is not static, open to change and eager for better makes it far easier to engage in a world where some would prefer us to do precisely the opposite.

Seth Godin. 

Over the next two terms as we become immersed into the Winter Sport Codes, please remember the purpose and reason why children play sports as we go out there to celebrate and enjoy watching them play. I encourage you all to start every conversation with your child post match with "I really enjoyed watching you play today".

If I could leave you with a little info-graphic Amy shared with me on the last Friday of the school break, some of you may relate to it.

Warm Regards

Geoff