School photo day...such excitment over having your picture taken!

Last week was the annual school photos event. There was such excitement everywhere about having your photo taken. All the classes looked fantastic as they marched up to the Indoor Sports Centre - checked shirts, hair combed, ribbons and bows in school colours, and black shoes. Teachers all over the school were checking each member of their class for sticky up hair and shirt collars, dirty knees and odd socks. Teachers were all dressed up too. One said to me 'I've got make up on for two days in a row!' And another turned up in a tie and dinner suit! (I saw him later in the day and he had ditched the tie and rolled up his sleeves!)

Thursday morning was staff photo time - the kids were disappointed they couldn't watch. Up until this year staff photos have been done in the middle of the oval with all the kids looking on and laughing. Last year my heels sank into the boggy grass and my hair blew everywhere and I said to Mrs Cathcart, 'please organise an alternative for next year'. So we built the Sports Centre! The photographers lined us up and I had to sit down the front and in the middle - as usual. All the tall men stood in a group behind me. We definitely need to break with tradition next year - I'm going to stand up at the back!

This year the photographers allowed the classes to have a fun photo, as well as the more serious traditional class photo. Some of these are gorgeous - actually all of them are! I think we need to reverse the trend of spit and polish for photo day and include more waggley ears and sticky out tongues. 

Sometimes we take ourselves far too seriously!

A school song

Last week four Year 5 girls arrived from their classroom to share some writing - they had been challenged with the task of writing a school song or poem. I was so impressed with all of them - it was clear they knew our vision statement and school values; they managed to incorporate the school wide practices that ensure our school is a safe and enjoyable place for everyone; their verses were catchy; and they have captured our school ethos beautifully! I promised them I would put them in the newsletter - one a week for a few weeks, and I couldn't resist putting this one here. I love the bit about effort being higher than Mt Kilimanjaro!

My Golden School

Peregian, Peregian, our education starts here.
Peregian, Peregian, our bad habits disappear.
Our efforts are higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro,
and everyday we learn for today and for tomorrow.

Chorus 
Peregian Springs State School,
In you we learn how to play
With ground rules,
And amazing tools,
My Golden School,
You will always make my day.

Smiling faces are walking around,
Many teachers are pleased.
Peregian, Peregian,
You exceed the standards with ease.
Our efforts are higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro,
and everyday we learn for today and for tomorrow.

You are the newest,
the best in Peregian Springs.
I think you are amazing.
We all know that you are these things.
Our efforts are higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro,
and everyday we learn for today and for tomorrow.

Chorus x 2

Peregian, Peregian,
My Golden School,
Peregian, Peregian,
My Golden School,
Peregian Springs State School. 
(Faith)

I asked is there music? and they looked a little horrified and said 'We'll just read them'.

Well done, girls!

Common Courtesies... or just plain old fashioned good manners

I'm pretty big on good manners at school - or Common Courtesies, as we call them. Our Common Courtesies include greeting people when you first meet them for the day, saying please and thank you, knowing how to enter a room politely, using 'excuse me' in its correct context, using each other's names and a few others. At Peregian Springs we teach these to children explicitly, and everyone models their use. Our Common Courtesies are demonstrated everywhere everyday by students, teachers and other staff members - and we love it when parents reinforce these at home too.

Our students' manners is one of the things visitors to our school comment on nearly every week - visitors seem to be amazed at how polite and courteous our kids are. And I'm always terribly proud of them when they walk past me as I'm escorting a group of visitors and call out 'Good morning, Ms Sands', spontaneously and without any prompting! (This often happens in the supermarket in the afternoon too!)

Being consistent with our teaching of manners is important - those of you at Assembly on Friday would have heard me pull up the school and chastise them for talking and walking away while one of our Student Leaders was trying to close Assembly. I'm happy to say, I rarely have to do this, as mostly our kids are happy and polite students without being reminded. For me, though, setting and maintaining the standard is important.

Why do we think manners are important enough to teach? It's because a few common courtesies make the world a nicer place to be in - a smile improves a recipient's day; a please, a thank you and a polite knock on a door helps someone feel respected; the use of a person's name creates connection; and an 'excuse me' often leads to another feeling cared about.

Common Courtesies are the key to helping us function as a community - they demonstrate care and respect, and help us get along with each other harmoniously. A father said to me the other day about his son's discovery of the shower,  'He's just realised that smelling nice helps him get along with people better!' And this is what I think about manners - they help us get along with people better!

School pride

School pride - what is it? what does it look like? how do we know when we have it? These are all illusive questions, the answers to which are pursued by schools all over the world.

You know school pride when you see it, but it's hard to describe. It's something you can feel, and it probably can be heard too.

Last Thursday 7/6D went whale watching (courtesy of one of the student's parents). What a fantastic experience on a brilliant Spring day. After they arrived back at school, I received a call from a member of the public who wanted to talk to me about what she observed after being on the same boat with the class. Since these calls are usually bad news I answered with dread in my heart.

The woman explained that she had been on the boat with her elderly mother and she admitted to being annoyed when she saw they would be sharing their trip with a large group of school children. She had pushed her way to the front and demanded that Justin (7/6D's teacher) let them on first as she didn't want her mother 'pushed over'. She then went on to tell me what an amazing group of children they were - their manners were impeccable, they looked fantastic in their uniforms, she didn't hear the teacher raise his voice once, one of the boys gave his seat up for her mother and so it went on. She concluded by telling me they are a credit to 'that young man' - I think she meant Justin - and a credit to the school. Her mother, at the end of the trip, commented how nice it was to spend the day with young people.

I'm sure you can imagine the pride I felt - whammy, straight in the chest. When I told the story on Assembly the next morning you could see 7/6D swelling up as I spoke. And when the whole school congratulated them and Justin - well, it was wonderful!

It's important to teach children the value of pride - not in a 'I'm big noting myself' kind of way - but as an internal feeling of personal power and competence - that is, a motivating kind of way. Being proud of your school and proud of the people in it enhances a willingness to learn and do your best. And this fosters a personal competence that will carry kids through their future lives and will impact on the ways they view the world.

Well done, 7/6D - we're all so proud of you for showing the world and the whales what Peregian Springs State School does best!