From The Principal

Dear Parents, Students, Staff and Friends of Nativity School,

We have had a positive start to the year with our students settling into their new classes, re connecting with friends and making new ones and a buzz of excitement as students begin their learning.
Some of our Reception students shared with me what they like about school so far:
Lana -I like to play with my friends
Ira – I like drawing and colouring
Rhys – I like playing in the Kitchen
Leo – I like Mrs King!

At Nativity, students engage in the Positive Education curriculum each year which supports them to develop positive habits of mind and resilience in learning and social situations. This is a focus in all classes particularly during the first weeks of school. When students believe that they are worthy and capable of overcoming challenges, they become resilient.

I recently read about the Japanese art of Kintsugi which offers a rich metaphor around this idea of resilience.
Kintsugi means ‘to join with gold.’ It is a crafting method that consists of assembling broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pot.
The broken pieces of the pot are glued together with lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder. The visible fractures are adorned with gold rather than hidden.
Symbolically, the golden cracks represent the worth of the bowl because of its imperfections rather than in spite of them. The bowl is like a human, cracked by the contingency of life.

There is a lesson for us all in embracing failures and experiences that crack our spirit and thinking about – How do we turn those life cracks into gold? I encourage you to work with your child/ren and their teachers to respond to the challenges of the school year with a growth mindset.

You can support the teacher’s work in creating resilient young people by encouraging your child to be independent, develop problem solving skills, by promoting a growth mindset in the face of challenges, fostering a sense of optimism, supporting them to build a variety of social connections, helping them to know their strengths and hold a positive view of themselves and to be able to self regulate their behaviour.

We look forward to welcoming you to our Parent Information evening and AGM in week 3. Please watch out for the information on how you can book for these sessions via email and Seesaw next week.

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing many of you at our Welcome Mass tomorrow morning at 9.15am.
God Bless,
Erika