Author: suzannewiles

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting our Spring Tour for prospective families. It is an opportunity for parents to make one of the hardest decisions on choosing a school for their children. The privilege of education which aligns with families’ values,  faith and holistic opportunities is one that the St Stephen’s School community is spoken highly of in Perth.  It is always a delight to be able to showcase our beautiful grounds and facilities however the opportunity to see the students in classes with their teachers and engaging with each other provides the true St Stephen’s School vibe. Our student ambassador Victoria spoke about her experiences and encapsulating all that we are as a School.  With her permission I have shared her speech.

My name is Victoria Hill I’m in Year 9.  A little bit of background on me is that my mum attended this school as well, she was in the very first class of Year 8 and was also in the first graduating class! I’ve been attending St Stephen’s since kindy and I’m here on the K-12 Journey!

I have really enjoyed my time here because I believe that St Stephen’s has a quality that is quite unique. When you look at school as a general kind of blanket term it’s a place where kids go, to learn. But St Stephen’s is so much for than that. It’s a community.

When I’m at school I feel uplifted by the teachers around me. They are always supportive of what you can do and what you can’t do yet. The staff go out of their way to look out for their students. They keep your best interest at heart and have endless opportunities for students. We have a wide student culture. If I stood up here and told you about all the extracurriculars we offer, we would be here for a very long time. 

St Stephen’s fosters a community that allows for lifelong connections. When my mum attended this school, she graduated with such strong bonds with friends that she still hangs out with to this day. Coming up she’s attending her 30-year reunion. Her classmates from all those years ago, meeting up again to share and love in the community that St Stephen’s has placed in their hearts. 

And that’s what’s so amazing about St Stephen’s, because it’s one thing to sit in a classroom and take notes. But without being in a community that you love, that supports you, that looks out for you. That builds you up to grow. It’s really challenging to succeed. By making lifelong friendships, participating in the opportunity’s that St Stephen’s makes available to you, it really paves the way for a positive schooling experience. 

I’ve been fortunate at St Stephen’s to have been able to take part in a lot of opportunities.

The first was back in 2019 when I was in Year 6. Our school has a mission, serve God serve one another. And I was really interested in taking part in one of our schools Service Tours to the Kimberly region. 16 students from both campuses were selected to take part and I’m so grateful that I was one of them. We travelled around in an off road bus for 10 days, we flew in to Broome and flew home from Kununurra. But along the way not only did I form strong friendships and bonds with the rest of the tour group, but my eyes were opened going into community’s and schools that are so different from my own. This tour is one of a handful that the school offers. Obviously with Covid it’s been a bit challenging to go on any other tours, but should the opportunity arise again I’d love to do another service tour later in my school life. 

I mentioned earlier about the long list of extra curriculars that are on offer at St Stephen’s, so I thought I might tell you about a few that I engage in. My biggest one is debating. Ever since Year 6 I have realised that it’s definitely my thing. We have a rookie debating competition. Which is where all the juniors and first timers just get in there and have a go. That was where I had my first big success at St Stephen’s. My team debated really well for 12-year old’s, and I got the award for best debater, which I was really proud of. Fast forwarding to high school I’ve been participating in the Western Australian Debating League every year. Which I have loved competing against other schools. My biggest achievement however happened last Friday. My teammate and I had the opportunity provided to us by our head of English, Mr Jakeway, to be guinea pigs in a program they were thinking of advertising next year. So, all competitive sides of us put aside. My friend Jacob and I tried British Parliamentary Debating. Little did we know that after the qualifying rounds we had progressed into the semi-finals on our first ever season of the competition. Last Friday after debating the topic “this house believes that we should encourage all kids to attend university regardless of intellectual abilities” St Stephen’s School walked out with being the official winners for the 2022 grand finals. 

Other extra curriculars that I love at St Stephen’s is our drama program. Every two years we either do a production or musical and every time that opportunity comes up, I always give it a go. So far, I have acted in roles in the Lion King, Wizard of Oz and Lion the witch and the Wardrobe. And I hope that there are many more to come.

And the final extracurricular that I participate in is service learning. I enjoy doing the food runs for the salvation army or doing volunteer work at retirement homes and disability centres. At St Stephen’s School the community isn’t contained just to the school grounds. It’s also in our local settings as well. Serve God serve One another isn’t just a school moto, it’s something to be proud of. Attending a school, that fosters good moral principle isn’t a chore, it’s something that I love doing in the local community. Not something that I just do at school. 

I’m not going to stand up here and say that at St Stephen’s it’s such a magical place because no students ever have any worries, and everything is perfect. Teenagers get stressed, school can get tricky and overwhelming. But we have support networks. Every day after recess we have homeroom a 25-minute group where there are classes of all year groups. There’s no work. You just sit, hang out, take a break. This is the opportunity whereby if your being challenged, being overwhelmed, or need support. There are trusted teachers in your life every single day. We also have House Deans. I’m in Timae so my Dean is Mr Timms. You can talk to the Deans about anything. At 100% of the time any issues get resolved and addressed. 

We also have something unique during school time programs at St Stephen’s. In Year 7 and 8 we have Forum, because we were all just kids adjusting to high school life and pressures, it was two classes a fortnight that taught us study skills, time management and a school life balance, all skills that we all need. In Year9 we have Rite Journey, a program with four lessons a fortnight which covers a lot of topics that tackle moving into the adult world. They are gender divided classes where we cover important topics like equality, boundaries, morals, and beliefs. In short, it’s a judgement free zone where we have discussions about issues impacting our generation and gender. Its advice for moving forward into senior school and adulthood. Leaving behind a positive legacy and setting us up for a successful and fulfilling adult hood. 

So, for all of you students who are considering starting your journey at St Stephen’s. I’ve got some advice for you. 

1-                 Community is important, engage and enjoy in the experience

2-                 Its ok to be vulnerable, the staff and students are all here to support each other and there are so many networks that are available for whatever needs or concerns that you may have.

3-                 Get the most out of your opportunity’s, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but give it a go. There’s no harm in trying.

4-                 And finally, you don’t have to be an expectational or extraordinarily gifted person to be loved and supported at St Stephen’s.

 

Thanks so much for your time and I hope hearing from me was valuable for you!

 

 Rosemarie Dunn

Head of Campus – Duncraig

Your gift of non-perishable food this Christmas, will relieve the stress and worry for many families.

Join with UnitingWA and Food Bank to collect and deliver generous food hampers.

Ask your Homeroom teacher for the food item that has been allocated to your Homeroom and place in the collection bag provided.

All items should be delivered by Friday, November 25.

 

The Year 11 Marine and Maritime Studies students have been learning the rules and regulations for power boats. Through the power of imagination, and the creativity of our wonderful lab technicians, the Science lab was transformed into a boat harbour! The students were practising giving way and avoiding collisions, departing and coming alongside a jetty, and drills such as collecting someone who fell into the ocean. It is safe to say, all students were on board with the activity!

Ben Nicholson

Teacher – Science

The Triathlon took place today.

There were 17 points between 3^rd and 1^st with Carana taking out first place .

Roughly 180 students took part in the day across both solo and teams swimming, bike riding, and running.

Karry Plummer

Teacher – Health & Physical Education

MINDFULNESS

As we move into Term 4 and the wonderful activity and learning to come we also have those mornings where you are running late, rushing to get packed lunches, everyone up and ready to leave, not finding the car keys or forgotten items for the day which can cause havoc.

For parents, challenging moments like this can cause us to “snap” or “be grumpy”. At these moments’ mindfulness can be such a valuable tool.

There are two parts to this: the first is being a mindful parent by making choices for your children and your family in an intentional way, and the second is parenting kids who learn to use mindfulness as a tool in their lives.

PARENTING MINDFULLY

Start with intention. When you have a why behind your actions, it can help to ground your parenting. What’s the point of homework? If you see it as one more thing to check off a long list, you will approach it very differently than if you see it as a time to bond with your children and glimpse their learning process. When your child goes to training, remember that you started these activities for joy and for exercise, the busyness they add to your family schedule can sometimes get in the way of remembering that there is purpose to their involvement. This allows you to stay out of the potential role of task master where you may encourage them to attain and achieve rather than to have fun and do their best. Practise having an intention to accompany every action.

1. Stay present. It’s easy to allow worry to take you away from the present. When you get a call from the school telling you your child didn’t do well in an assessment, it’s easy to imagine a future where they struggle in school through the years. Deal with how this affects today. Not imagining the worst helps you be more effective at dealing with what’s happening in this moment. Worrying is like paying interest on a loan you haven’t been approved for.
2. Model and encourage communication about feelings. Communicating your feelings helps you and your family work as a cohesive unit. We are all wired differently so when things go wrong, we sometimes assume that everyone has the same reactions and beliefs. For example, my daughter has a messy room. Many may say “make her clean it up”. When asked, “Why is your room messy?” I would have expected an answer that stated “I don’t want to clean it” but the explanation was that when her room is all neat, she feels this isn’t a welcoming space. She feels calmer when there’s a bit of chaos. I explained that mess for me causes a sense of disorganisation and stress. Our compromise: I am fine with this chaos as long as it is clean chaos and if we have visitors, this space is out of bounds and the door closed. We also negotiated times after assessments and holidays where the room got a thorough clean. Communication provided us both a better understanding on respect of space in the home.I can tell you honestly this is still a challenge I have to manage each day.
3. Listen. When you talk with your children about their day it is often either a one-sided, probing conversation that is initiated by you and gets one-worded responses, or a long-drawn-out story that the child initiates and you barely focus on as you cook dinner or drive to the next activity. Focus on opportunities to actively listen to your child. This means waiting to speak instead of directing the conversation where you think it should go. It also means not reacting or judging what they share. Become the kind of listener who asks great questions like “what did you like most about that” or “tell me about that”. Another pitfall to avoid is assuming you know why your child is sharing. If you are solution oriented, when your child comes home complaining about a conflict with a friend, your nature may be to try to help solve the problem. I’ve learned that some people like to talk about things and that is enough to help them feel better. Others need action. Asking a question like “How can I be most helpful?” or even “Do you want help, or do you want to vent?” can be extremely useful.
4. Admit your mistakes. Parents seem to think they must be perfect. We get frustrated when we don’t know what we should do and yet our children didn’t come with a manual. Sometimes we make a choice that in hindsight isn’t really aligned with how we want to parent (like snapping). It’s important to show children that we learn from mistakes so when they make one, they learn too. There is nothing wrong with pointing out that you made a mistake (“I’m sorry I snapped at you. That’s not the way I want to talk to you”) and then trying again (“I’ve taken some deep breaths. This helps me to be calm. Could you please explain to my why you did ..?

RAISING MINDFUL CHILDREN 

Parents today want so much for their children that there is danger of over-programmed children who control the home. The following are some important values to consider teaching and modelling for your children:

• Love yourself. • Be resilient. • Strive to do your best. • Happiness comes from within. • Have compassion. • Foster connection. • Feed your body and mind healthy things.

Mindful practices that parents and children can do together to foster these values are:

1. Deep breathing. Teaching kids that three rounds of slow inhalation/exhalation can calm the fight or flight response will help them to feel in control of emotions rather than feeling that their emotions control them.
2. Practising gratitude. Making a point of talking about things you are grateful for helps everyone in the family to increase wellbeing. Try starting each dinner by listing the best moment of the day and something you are grateful for.
3. Meditation. Even parents who have their own meditation practice don’t always think to get their children meditating. According to Deepak Chopra, “The beauty of meditation is that everything comes from within, but ‘within’ means different things at different ages.” Be aware that children probably can’t sit for long. Remember that everyone is different so let your child find what works for them. Model it, but don’t force it.

A mindful family works together as a team. As a parent you are guiding the team but not controlling outcome. If you can help reduce anxiety about mistakes by normalising them at home, you help to dispel the fear. Then you can prioritise joy and celebrate learning. This will allow the experience to feel easier for the entire family.

Tamara Lechner is the Canadian Regional Manager at the Institute of Positive Education based out of Victoria, BC.

Rosemarie Dunn

Head of Campus – Duncraig

Last term a specially selected group of Y9s became mentors for our Y2s at the ELC. During this time there was a range of activities from bush school to explore and understand our own environment, writing poems to develop literacy, litter picking to be responsible citizens and treasure hunts to enhance our own curiosity. It was a beautiful opportunity to develop relationships in our students and build leadership skills in our Y9s.

Nicola Ross

Teacher – Science