Dear Parents and Carers,

As many of you would be aware, motivating children can be difficult. So too, engaging students in learning is an ongoing challenge. Research out of Harvard University points out that caring adults can help students develop the motivation systems that will serve them well, long into adulthood.

Encourage curiosity and exploration. Beyond their basic needs, children are motivated by exploration, play, mastery and success. Parents can reinforce these motivations rather than being overly fearful that children will get hurt — fears that can rub off. Caring adults whom children can trust can help them figure out what to actually be afraid of and avoid.

Don’t rely on incentives. The goal is to help kids develop their own inner fire to learn. Children can stop engaging in activities once they’ve been given a tangible reward for it. Systems focused solely on external rewards and punishments are unlikely to achieve sustained, productive motivation. Positive feedback is more likely to support healthy motivation.

Remind children that success is possible. We’re unlikely to be motivated to do anything if we think it’s impossible. A growth mindset — the belief that we can change and improve through practice— enables children to get motivated.  

Social interaction. From babies to adolescents, social interaction is a key to motivation, releasing natural opioids that activate the brain’s reward system. In our digital world, apps and screens can be supplements for learning, but in-person interactions remain essential.

Remember we all have different intrinsic motivators. A child intrinsically motivated to play sports, might respond well to constructive criticism from a coach but another student might respond more to encouragement and become discouraged by criticism. These different motivation systems may be due to children's genes and their life experiences, and they might require different approaches to motivate them.

Despite the common misperception that some people naturally have or lack motivation, science shows that the nature of parent/child relationships and opportunities for safe exploration affect the development of these systems — for better or for worse.

Kind regards to you all,

Rodney Little - Principal 

Keep up to date by clicking on the link above for all upcoming school events and dates.

All school fees and excursion payments are to be finalised by the end of November please. Thank you for your support. 

Our Library is currently running a great pre-Christmas BOOK FAIR!

Our School Library (park and enter from Carey Street) will be open all week, either before school from 8:30am or after school to 4:00pm for all purchases. Lots of great reads on display. 

Therry House - will hold their House Day next Friday the 22nd November. K-10 students and invited to wear CRAZY HAIR and wear SILLY SOCKS with their normal school uniform. No money is required on this day.

Our second and final Year 7 Orientation day was held last Friday. The students participated in a well-structured program, which included Digital Technology, Science, Art and PDHPE - finishing off with Peer Support activities aimed to develop firm friendships!

All students were welcomed to our Secondary Campus; those currently in Year 6 at McAuley and those students joining our community from other local schools. 

As a Central School, we are committed to providing a comprehensive holistic educational program for four years of schooling encompassing Stage 4 and Stage 5. Year 7 begins Stage 4 of that journey.

The Stage 4 (Year 7 and 8) course of study at McAuley is designed to give a solid academic foundation and to provide a good breadth of different learning experiences that will result in the students having the knowledge, skills and resilience to successfully pursue Stage 6, years 11 and 12 or the workforce.

On Wednesday 13^th November  McAuley students and staff had the pleasure once again of an inspiring visit from Adjunct Professor Dr Kaye Lowe.  Kaye presented a Writer's Craft to students - further encouraging the love of writing and books! 

Dr Lowe was able to visit classrooms and was impressed with students reading choices to be reading the book that ”You just want to keep reading... "You need to read to just find out what happens next!”

• Stage 2 students were given tips to read a couple of chapters to ensure you get to know the story before choosing another ”Give the book a chance, but if it isn’t that hot book... change it!"
• Read other books in the series, or another book by the same author if you find a book you love.

Stage 1 students shared some of their current writing which greatly impressed Dr Lowe with their great vocabulary and "Writer’s Craft".

Stage 3 students also shared some of the authors they love to read and books that they are currently enjoying... A couple of students also shared their very creative texts.

Secondary English Teachers,  Ms Fran Clarke and Mrs Jeanette Dumbrell also had the opportunity to work with Dr Lowe and be inspired by her wealth of knowledge regarding literature.

Notable authors recommended include:

Kindergarten

Pamela Allen, Alison Lester, Mem Fox and bridging text series, Little Lunch and Hey Jack.

Stage 1

Sally Rippin, Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Ahn Doh.

Stage 2

Michael Morporgo, Kris Kofler, Katherine Rendell, Morris Gleitzman, FC Jones, Tim Winton and Children’s Classics.

Stage 3

Jack Heath, Jackie French, Dianne Wolfer and Rick Riordan.

We are very appreciative for Dr Lowes' assistance in continuing to encourage our students to enjoy reading and celebrating their writing efforts. Dr Lowe was also able to secure a further $2500 for primary student reading literature.

Kinder students were busy this week writing to Santa to ask him if he could send a special 'Elf on the Shelf' from the North Pole! Please Santa, Please!

This week, Year 1 have been 'honing' their editing skills - checking their writing for punctuation, improved language and other great ideas! Some really great writing children - well done!

CANTEEN ROSTER NEXT WEEK:

Monday 18th November - Anita Davis

Wednesday 20th November - HELP REQUIRED PLEASE

Friday 22nd November - Amanda Sutton and Narissa Watts

We have a few 'gaps' on our Primary Canteen Roster. We need urgent help for the 3rd Wednesday of every month, the 5th Wednesday of every month and the second Friday of every month.

Remember - this canteen can only remain operational if we have volunteers to run it. We know everyone is busy, but if you know of someone who may like to help out (parent, grandparent, friend), please contact the school. Opening times are from 12:55pm to 1:30pm.

Thanks everyone. 

Wow - Year 3/4G have been 'cashing-in' our McAuley Community cans and bottles and have gained funds to purchase many wonderful balls and playground toys! What a great effort - thanks everyone for supporting our recycling project! 

See more great photos on our Facebook page.

The weekly radio 'School News' segment on "Sounds of the Mountains", continues every Wednesday at approx. 9:45am. It is wonderful listening to our students speaking 'live' on the radio. Well done SRC students for your confidence, maturity and great delivery each week! 

Well done Natalie and Ethan who did a fine job delivering our school news this week. 

Large, all weather (indoor/outdoor) Indigenous designed mats have been purchased for all classrooms. The mats will hopefully promote meaningful discussions about culture, diversity, the planet and animals. The recycled mats are also a bright and fun addition to our classrooms!

Thanks to the power of social media - we have now filled all the missing names on our McAuley Honour Boards. 'Katopra Design' will now update the names of all our Dux and School Captains. After the destruction of some school archives in a fire some years ago, we were missing some important names on our Honour Boards. 

Thanks to everyone who has assisted with this on-going project.