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P R I N C I PA L ’S R E P O RT

Mascot Public School 207 King Street Mascot NSW 2020

Tel 02 9667 4301 Fax 02 9667 4905

Email: mascot-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

www.mascot-p.school.nsw.edu.au

NEWSLETTER Term 3, Wk 6 26th August 2019

CRICOS: Provider Name: NSW Department of Education CRICOS Code: 00588M

Grow Your Mind Mental health awareness month is fast approaching. Grow Your Mind have created a checklist poster with different visual invitations to do something for your mental health. There are 9 items on the list which we will explore in the lead up to October and throughout mental health month. We thought we would start with a not so obvious one:

Show kindness to someone. So clearly being kind is quite a popular goal, generally speaking we like to think of ourselves as kind, we want to raise kind kids

and we like it when people are kind to us. But there are other benefits to being kind: it’s good for our mental health. “Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet

is fighting some kind of battle.” I love this quote because you’re essentially setting the bar high when it comes to showing kindness to others and there is a strong message of compassion. Note, the quote does NOT say “Be kinder than

necessary to the people you like that don’t bug you”.

We tend to have this down pat. It is after all fairly easy

to be super kind to people we like and admire. But at

school, in our home life or on the sporting field we will

continually meet people who get under our skin. How

do we be kinder than necessary to them?! And maybe

we should extend this question to: why be kinder than

necessary to them?

26th August 2019 Preschool Pet Education Visit 10am - 12pm

28th August 2019 Open Day 9am - 10am

29th August 2019 Fathers Day stall

2nd September 2019 P& C Meeting 7pm

2nd - 5th September 2019 NAIDOC Day Week

4th September 2019 South Sydney Zone Athletic Carnival

5th September 2019 NAIDOC Day Celebration School Assembly

16th September 2019 BYOD Parent Info Sessions 3.30pm and 6.00pm

23rd - 25th Sept 2019 Stage 3 Camp

27th September 2019 Last day Term 3

14th October 2019 Term 4 Students return

31st October 2019 Stage 3 Spooky Fete

7th November 2019 Music- Count Us In Celebration 12pm

13th November 2019 Flying Start Orientation 9.15am - 11.00am

20th November 2019 Flying Start Orientation 9.15am - 11.00am

27th November 2019 Preschool Information Session 9.30am - 11.00am

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Let’s start with how. Keep your Guard Dog small. An enlarged amygdala is not going to bring forth the

kinder than necessary part of yourself. Practice mindfulness. Just take a mindful mo-

ment. Three deep breaths, a round of finger breathing, a moment to pause and notice

how you are feeling or a quick reminder of three good things in your day.

Model being kind: Let’s say, you are with your children and have a tonne of items

in your trolley at the supermarket. The person behind you only has a few. You offer for them to go first. Kinder than necessary. Or, another first world problem scenario: What do you do when a car cuts you off and your children are in the car? Give them the bird? Shout out a few expletives? Quick disclaimer – we are as guilty of this as anyone. How about next time, try naming your emotion but offering a bit of compas-sion up too. “Gosh that is frustrating when a car cuts you off, they must be having a hard day to be in such a rush”. Right here and now you are modelling for your child the next time someone bugs them – they name their emotion but they still act with kindness.

Set a kindness intention: Ask your children, ‘How are you going to be kinder than

necessary today? In particular put the emphasis on, how could you do something nice for someone who bothers you? Or at the end of the day see if you can elicit some information about acts of kindness they carried out. You are showing your child that your family values kindness. This is not to be confused with rewarding kindness, see next point:

Take rewards out of the kindness expectation: Dr Helen Street from the

University of Western Australia argues strongly against extrinsic rewards for kindness.

So if you want your children to be kind then pop away your certificates and gold stars.

Tell them to be kind for kindness sake. No one is watching you, still be kind. There is

more research out there on the implications of rewarding kindness and the fact that it

tends to dull motivation.

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Finally, why be kinder than necessary? From a survival point of view: Everyone is facing a battle! The very nature of being human means that we will inevitably experience sadness, setbacks and failures. Yet despite this we are also capable of being a resilient species. We are familiar with Charles Darwin's phrase "survival of the fittest" from his evolutionary theory. Interestingly, Darwin wrote an 828 page sequel to On the Origin of Species in which he mentioned ‘survival of the fittest’ only twice, while LOVE is spoken about 95 times. Our tendency to care for one another is perhaps our strongest and most adaptive instinct in keeping us alive.

From a selfish point of view:

Kindness is good for the heart, the body releases a

hormone called oxytocin when you are kind, which helps to protect

and strengthen your heart. Even the neuroscience and

social science research is clear. Kindness changes the brain, it makes

us more resilient and allows us to feel more connected.

2020 Enrolments Do you have a child who turns five years of age before 31 July 2020 and will be ready to start school? We encourage all families with children starting school next year to contact the office as soon as possible to complete the enrolment paperwork. Please also spread the word to other local families interested in enrolling at our school that now is the time to work through this process. Now is the time to complete an Application for Enrolment form. You can do this by doing one of the following: • Picking up an application form from the office. • Emailing the school at mascot-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au to request a form. • Downloading an Application to Enrol form from the school website at: https://mascot-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/contact-us.html

Our 2020 Kindergarten orientation dates have been set and are on our website. Our 2020 Kindergarten Orientation dates are 18 September (Playgroup Session), 13 November and 20 November (Flying Start Orientation Program). It is important that we have all enrolment applications well before these dates and by the end of term if possible.

ASSETS This week the contractors will be working on the covered ways to and from the library.

Weather permitting. As yet we’re not sure if they will block off the walk way near the

music room but we’ll let you know.

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Mascot Public School Open Day

We will be holding an open day on

Wednesday, 28th August 2019 from 9:00am - 10:00am.

Prospective parents will have the opportunity to tour the

school and view our programs and facilities

This year, the Father’s Day stall will be held on Thursday, 29th August 2019. A wonderful assortment of gifts will be available for purchase. Prices will range from $2 to $10. Children should bring their money in an envelope on the day and they will “shop” with their class at selected times. We thank the P&C for their continued support with this fundraising event. Thank you for your support and we wish all our fathers a very Happy Father’s Day.

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Students from 1/2DM have created compositions based on Rainforest scenes. We looked at some artwork of other artists and talked about the types of trees and other plants in the rainforest and the animals that live there. We enjoyed making up stories about the pictures.

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Mascot Public School Homework Club

The Homework Club will commence on Monday afternoons 3:00pm - 4:00pm in the Support room.

Please note that is for the children and parents. This is so that, at home, parents are aware of the of the work that their child is doing.

John Riley Learning Support Teacher

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Music: Count Us In –Thursday 7 November 2019 – 54 Days to Go!

It’s on again! Come and join Mascot Public School sing the same song at the same time together with more than half a million students across Australia. All are welcome at this com-munity event at MPS - 12:15 pm on Thursday 7 November. This year the song is called ‘We Are’. Parents, teachers, students and friends... there is plenty of time to learn the song/piece so if you play an instrument or sing, grab a score from Ms Music Young (she has them for just about every instrument imaginable including recorders, guitars and band instruments) and come and be part of the fun. You can hear the song on YouTube. Simply search “We Are 2019”. For more information about this wonderful music program go to https://musicaustralia.org.au/program/countusin/ Music education has been proven to improve students’ literacy, numeracy, school

attendance and confidence. Music: Count Us In brings teachers, parents, students and

the music industry together in celebration, as more than half a million people unite to

sing the same song at the same time, right across the country.

Jnr Soccer Result

Mascot vs Ferncourt A LOSS 0-3

Snr Soccer Result

Mascot Cauliflower vs Ferncourt B Mascot Broccoli vs Marrickville West

WON 6-0 DRAW 1-1

Snr Netball Result

Mascot A vs Marrickville West B WON 27– 11

Mascot B vs Mascot C WON 5 -0

Jnr Oztag Result

Mascot A vs St Peters WON 6 - 4

Mascot B vs Marrickville West DRAW 5- 5

Snr Oztag Result

Mascot vs Ferncourt Omega WON 5 - 2