Dear parents,

We are in the first week of working from home and I know this can be a chaotic and stressful time for families.  In many cases, parents are trying to work remotely themselves while trying to assist their children with remote learning.  It can become more complicated if you have limited access to technology, if English is not your first language, if your child normally struggles with learning and if your children are in the younger years and find it difficult to work independently.

The stress experienced by families in these unusual circumstances tends to rise and can lead to strained relationships between family members.  This is the last thing we want home learning to cause.

Next Friday we will celebrate Book Week and Janet Williams, our librarian, has designed some enjoyable activities for the students.  This will be a great end to the week and hopefully, this will take some of the pressure off families by removing the focus from formal learning.  The following week we will hold ‘Well-being Wednesday’ where students can engage in activities designed by staff that are not academic in nature and some of which will not require parental assistance.

This quote was shared with me yesterday “Stressed adults cannot teach stressed children. It is a neuro-biological impossibility. Try focussing on connections and feelings of safety.”

My thoughts are with all families and staff.

Student Welfare Officer Christina Page
and Defence Service Mentor Lee Revell

With nationwide school closures in effect, many parents are now monitoring home schooling while at the same time trying to make a living amid a terrible pandemic. In this environment of broken routine and uncertainty, chances are your child is showing big feelings and challenging behaviours. 

A school psychologist offers advice to parents on how to support their child during school closures. Three main strategies are mentioned:

1. Simplify: Relax your home schooling and productivity standards to a level appropriate for a worldwide pandemic. We are all stressed and tired and this does not make for good learning. Connection and safety are key during times of crisis!
2. Structure: Keep calm and structure on. Try coming up with your own family schedule that works for you. You do not have to fit in a whole day of schoolwork during crisis.
3. Support: Reach Out, get ahead of the meltdowns (and teach critical social-emotional skills, too!) make sure you contact MTS staff to let them know how you are travelling. Support is essential during these times of such uncertainty both for students and parents.

Please contact me on email christina.page@cg.catholic.edu.au  for additional wellbeing support. I can assist with developing and sourcing helpful resources for your child. Anxiety is high now in children even in those who never show behavioural or emotional challenges are experiencing issues, and children who had some struggles before are showing an escalation of challenges.

Here is some great reading and timely reminders of how to cope with the difficult stressful times we are facing:

Some straight up good... - Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families | Facebook

How to Reduce the Stress of Homeschooling on Everyone (berkeley.edu)

Christina Page – MTS Student Welfare Officer

Afghanistan

Many of us have been watching the coverage of the Fall of Kabul with a mixture of shock, anger, sadness and perhaps a sense of helpless frustration. These sentiments may be particularly intense for many of our Defence personnel and their families, but also friends of those veterans who have served our nation in Afghanistan during the past 20 years.

As a nation, we must never forget the 41 Australians who died during active service in Afghanistan and the many more who suffered wounds, both physical and emotional. Many of our ADF veterans continue to carry wounds from their service and this has a continuing impact on their families and friends.  As events continue to unfold and are broadcast across our television screens, as confronting images enter our living rooms and discussions abound about the withdrawal of western troops and the fate of the Afghani people, feelings of distress, uncertainty, frustration and confusion will persist.  It is now, more than ever, critically important for us, as a community, to embrace our ADF community, it’s veterans and their families; to offer support, reassurance of the importance of their contribution and gratitude for their service.

Please, reach out to anyone you know, or fear, may be finding things difficult at this time.  As Defence School Mentor for Mother Teresa School, I am available to assist any active Defence personnel and their families who may be experiencing concern. Below are a number of other welfare support services which are available.

Defence All-Hours Support LIne - 1800 628 036

Defence Member and Family Helpline (the old DCO) - 1800 624 608

Open Arms (24/7) - 1800 011 046

Open Arms Safe Zone Support (anonymous counselling for ADF personnel, veterans and families 24/7) - 1800 142 072

Defence Employee Assistance Program - 1300 687 327

Beyond Blue (24/7) - 1300 224 636

Lifeline (24/7) - 13 11 14

Lee Revell – MTS Defence Service Mentor

Maths Problems

Congratulations to Harrison Blandon whose name was first drawn out this week. I will arrange a free lunch and a handball when we return to school.

As there were many entries, I have decided to put forward three problems while we engage in remote learning. Parents may have to read and explain the problem to our younger students.

Kindergarten to Year 2 - Ariadne’s Maze

Theseus is deep in the Cretan Labyrinth and has to pass through Ariadne's maze.

An enchantment on the maze requires Theseus to pick up the piece of obsidian in the first chamber.

In each subsequent chamber, he must swap it with the next obsidian if that one is heavier.

The number in each chamber represents the weight of the obsidian inside.

Theseus wants to walk as little as possible in the maze, so will only walk to the right or down on the map.

He also wants to carry as little weight as possible when he leaves the maze.

What is the smallest weight he can leave with if he only walks right or down?

Years 3 & 4 - Eating the Chocolate

A block of chocolate is 4 pieces wide and 6 pieces long.

Jamal breaks a row off the short side and eats it. Mary then breaks a row off the long side and eats it.

What fraction of the block is left?

Year 5 & 6       Diamonds/Clubs

You have a line of cards consisting of diamonds and clubs.

♣♣♢♢♢♣♢♣♢

A flip operation can be used to flip some cards starting from the left. For example, the flip 3 operation will flip the first 3 cards as shown below:

Flip 3|♣♣♢|♢♢♣⟶♢♢♣♢♢♣

What is the least number of flips required to make the line below consist of all diamonds?

♢♢♢♣♣♢♣♣♢♢♣♢♢♣

You do not have to limit yourself to flipping just three. You can do any number of cards in a flip.

All problems taken from the series Problemo, developed by The Australian Maths Trust. Material located on the Australian Association of Maths Teachers website.

God Bless,

Peter Hughes