Finding Joy in the Ordinary Moments

As the parent of an 18 month old, I have recently been challenged by the concept of finding joy in the ordinary moments of life. I am unable to leave my front door of a morning without my daughter voicing her amazement of a flower in our garden, the birds flying overhead or pink sky being displayed as a new day begins. Hearing the word “Wow” from my child throughout the hectic schedule of a day is a simple reminder of the beautiful mind of a child. 

As adults, we are quite often too busy to notice such beauty. There is too much that we need to accomplish our deadlines that have to be met and these, essentially, can place a pause on any ability that we have to stop and marvel at just how amazing God’s creation is. 

I think that everyone would agree that the last few months have caused a large shift in what our society might view as important. The daily life that we once knew was turned greatly on its head, causing us to spend more time at home and more time with our families. At the start of restrictions being in place, many wondered how they were going to survive without their regular social gatherings or events but the silver lining to this is that people have now adjusted to finding joy in the ordinary. 

 The things that we use to take for granted, we now appreciate even more. The big family dinners, the classrooms full of children and those random catch ups with friends are more valued than ever before. 

 From a Biblical perspective, we read in Psalms 139:16;  All the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be. We have a limited amount of time in this place and although our days can be full of schedules, we need to take the time to stop and marvel at the beauty that is around us. Children are very good at reminding us of the beauty of everyday things and at the moment, I am challenging myself to stop and to be in awe of the beauty of God’s creation, just as my daughter does every day.

Laura Ferguson - Academic Coordinator

Values at Emmanuel Christian School

Every person, every day makes hundreds of decisions.

Some of these decisions are good, but obviously, some of the decisions we make are less than perfect upon reflection. In fact, quite often we wish we could make our decisions again. Our values underpin our decision making. At Emmanuel Christian School, over the past 18 months, we have been refining what our school values should be. Our values reflect what is important to us in life. As a school we are interested in being better able to articulate what a successful Grade 6 student looks like or what a successful Grade 10 student looks like. Although intelligence is important, we also believe that there is more to life than just being ‘smart’.

When we first revisited our values, as a school we had 13 different values! Mr Winkler and I decided that this was just too many. The following months saw a process to try and refine what it was that we wanted to see from our young people. Several Google Forms were filled out by staff and after a lengthy but productive process, we have now finalised six values. Three core values that underpin who we are as a Christian school and three other main values that should guide how we live our lives, day to day.

Emmanuel’s values are:

Core Values

• Faith

• Hope

• Love

Main Values

• Courage

• Respect

• Integrity

Our values are important. Important because they are what determine our character. Our values drive our beliefs, they affect our behaviour and influence our attitude. Our character is how other people view us and form an opinion about who we are as people.

For example, if I was in a shop and the cashier gave me too much change, what would I do? (...what would you do?) If I gave the money back, other people in the line would probably see me as being an honest person. This is how I would like to be known.

These simple acts are what people notice and are what build our character.

Let’s look more closely at Emmanuel's three main values:

Courage

Courage is the ability to keep going when times are tough. Resilience plays a big part in having courage. It doesn’t matter if past attempts in doing something have not worked out, we need to keep trying, trying different ways until we succeed. Having courage is to not give up.

Respect

Respect is about putting others needs before our own. Being respectful is being aware of how what we do impacts on others. If you are in class and are constantly calling out, your classmates (and teacher) are most likely going to get sick of you very quickly. So rather than yelling out, put your hand up and wait for the teacher to ask for your response.

Integrity

Having integrity is quite simply, doing what you know is right, even when there is no-one else around. During a Maths test, if you knew the teacher wasn’t watching, would you pass a note to your friend with the answers on it? Cheating would bring your integrity into question.

Moving forward, I am very keen to continue promoting our values more and more. You may have already noticed the awesome banners that have been adorning the driveway at school. I also have plans for a student competition that will hopefully see some artwork created by students for us to display and refer to. The Emmanuel Media Crew will also be producing some content with some recently acquired animation software that will promote our values even further. We want to see every student from Emmanuel to be seen in the public eye as students who have good, strong values. As staff, we are committed to model the school values because we want to see the best version of each and every student entrusted into our care.

Drew Roberts - Deputy Principal

Trauma and the Brain

‘Trauma and the Brain’ sounds like a children’s book title.

I imagine a small curly-headed girl (indulge me) walking around on a lead, a brain which is pink and has stick legs. Maybe this isn’t such a bad image.

Trauma does do amazing things to our brain, and like it or not, Distance Education and shops closing and parks and social distancing and new societal rules are a form of trauma that we all are going through and adjusting to. 

I have been reading lots of resources about the effect of trauma on the brain and, other than proving once again to me that we have been divinely created, it is all quite amazing. 

To understand completely we need to understand a little bit about our brains, their physiology and the role each part plays.

Ultimately we have three main sections of our brain.

• The brain stem: controls all the functions of your body to stay alive. Respiration, circulation, digestion etc. It is also at the base of the brain and receives all the messages from the rest of your body via our spinal cord.

• The limbic region: this area is above the stem and consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and other bits (very scientific word there Annie, bits!). These structures regulate emotions, behaviour, motivation and memory.

• The cortex: this is the uppermost part of the brain and allows a person to reflect, concentrate, learn and think.

When trauma occurs the functioning of our brain is changed. It is harder to think and react. The brainstem and limbic system keep us functioning but the cortex can be hard to access. Children are more vulnerable to trauma than adults.

The amygdala, part of the limbic system, controls the release of stress hormones that can keep us in fight, flight or freeze. The hippocampus has the job of filing memories for later storage, but when the amygdala sends off the stress signal our  hippocampus stops filing and starts pumping cortisol to help us deal with stress and can actually stop us feeling pain, like a safety mechanism. But, if we stay in a stress state for prolonged periods of time, this can affect our ability to remember things and therefore learn new information.

If we are in stress for extended periods of time our cortex functions of our brain are impaired and we find it harder to think, process and learn anything. We have disorganised minds, are forgetful and can seem to be ignoring instruction.  

So, back to the dog brain on a lead scenario. Our curly-headed girl still can function, but she may need help controlling her dog. She needs positive and gentle adults in her life affirming her and keeping good healthy routines for rest and play in her life. She needs kind and caring teachers who gently lead her to good decisions. She needs time to adjust to the new normal and understanding if she gets a bit scattered or emotional, clear and fair boundaries to make her feel safe.

Annie Joy - Primary Cordinator

Strategies for coping with distance learning

In this current climate, many of our conversations have been drawn into topics such as outbreaks, illness, death and the loss of our previous sense of routine and normalcy.

Children are being exposed to a high level of information and are also seeing their parents and adults around them showing signs of stress and anxiety. As well as all of this occurring, their routines are being changed and research shows that children thrive on routine of everyday life.

It would be normal to try and shield our children from the events and chaos that is occurring around them, however research also suggests that even a 2 year old child is aware of changes around them. With this information it is important that we filter our discussions and topics to suit the age of your children to ensure that we are not allowing undue stress and anxiousness to occur in this already unsettling time. Families need to ensure that they are communicating about the current situation with Covid-19 in a way that allows children to have a significant understanding, without promoting panic. If young people are not given sufficient information, this can lead to them trying to fill in the gaps themselves, leading to misinformation and possibly overestimating the situation.

It is important to note that children are resilient creatures and during this time, it has been amazing to observe children’s responses to this ever changing world. Feeling connected to their peers in a new medium is also something that many families have chosen to grasp and it has been wonderful to see so many parents encouraging apps such as Facetime or Microsoft Teams, to ensure that children are feeling connected to their friends.

It is even more important in this current climate that we ensure that children are having the downtime that they need to be able to relax and “switch off”. The following is some tips and hints that might be useful in your home during this current season:

• Ensure that your child is not over exposed to news outlets and if they have questions about the current situation, ensure that you are honest and provide suitable information for your child’s age group.

• Utilise software that can give your child the opportunity to keep in touch and feel connected to their friends. This can be done using various apps on your phone or by using a tablet or computer.

• Try to exercise outside. It is amazing what a walk and talk together as a family can do for everyone’s mental health. If it is too tricky to get outside, maybe having a hot drink and down time together after dinner at night could be an option too.

During this time, I have been reminded constantly of 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. It can be very easy to become overwhelmed during this time, but remember that we have an Heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally and wants to carry all of your stress and anxiety because He loves and cares for us.

Laura Ferguson - Academic Coordinator

Distance Learning in the Secondary School

We have been really impressed with the way you as parents and carers have worked with school to assist our students to continue their education. For this we are very grateful. 

Especially in an environment where the game plan is out of our hands. In a way, this time is a reminder of the words spoken in Romans 8:28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. While we may not know exactly what is going on, it is great to know that God has a plan and a purpose, and eventually we will find out!

Good and bad things come out of crises like this. As Winston Churchill stated during World War 2: “Never waste a good crisis.” His words have rung true with worldwide educators where we have had an opportunity to no longer accept the normal. We had to move into new spaces to teach students in a rapidly changing environment. 

In the high school, teachers have had a lightning introduction to working with new technologies such as Microsoft Teams to communicate with students and families as well as programs like Google classrooms and flipgrid to teach. Sometimes, for our older teachers, these words sound like they are from another language. It has been a challenging but rewarding time where our teachers have been learning alongside the students.

We know families have embraced this technology as well, but it has also created some issues with students schooling. We hear feedback on communication where sometimes we communicate too much and learning becomes overwhelming. 

Students are often speaking of having feelings of loneliness and want to come to school as they miss the face to face interaction with peers, friends and teachers. This is one of the hardest things for a teacher as well. We are all in education to grow and build relationships so we can get students to be the best they can be. Without face to face interactions, this becomes more difficult.

To assist your children in their learning, please be mindful of the tips we have included below. And I know that a lot of parents and carers have to work from home making it really difficult for you to help with your child’s learning.

• Go through your child’s timetable with them. Have a look at it and ask them if they understand it.  Sometimes these things can be overwhelming. Plan their routine with them.

• Highlight their times and classes to help them see what their day looks like.

• Make sure they are exercising as the benefits are huge including improving mental health and wellbeing. Their PE training sessions can help here.

• Have open conversations with your child about what is going on around the world, making sure you don’t emphasise and focus on the media hype and doom and gloom.

• Protect your child online. At school we run an internet filter called Cyberhound.  You may need to look at a free online filter and make sure you have open discussions on safe internet usage with your child. These discussions may include getting them to agree to not delete any history, and agree for you to be able to check it, through sitting in a communal room so you can check in with them regularly.

• Keep in touch with school. We love hearing from you as it helps us to understand your needs as well.

Please stay safe, remember to social distance and I look forward to having all of our students back at school some time in the future.

Ed Moroni - Secondary Coordinator