The focus for the fortnight is: Be Safe in all Environments - I Keep My Hands and Feet to Myself.

At Craigslea, we emphasize the importance of children learning to keep their hands and feet to themselves. This fundamental aspect of personal conduct plays a crucial role in fostering a safe and respectful environment for everyone.

Promoting respect and boundaries: When children learn to keep their hands and feet to themselves, they are also learning about personal boundaries and respect for others. This understanding is essential for their social development, helping them to build healthy relationships based on mutual respect and consent.

Ensuring safety: Physical interactions, even when intended playfully, can sometimes lead to accidental harm. By encouraging children to maintain their personal space, we reduce the risk of injuries and create a safer environment where all students can feel secure and focused on learning.

Developing self-control: Learning to manage impulses is a key part of emotional development. When children practice keeping their hands and feet to themselves, they are developing self-control and emotional regulation skills. These abilities are crucial for handling conflicts and frustrations in a constructive manner.

Enhancing focus and learning: A classroom where students respect personal space is a more conducive environment for learning. Fewer disruptions mean that children can concentrate better on their studies, leading to improved academic performance and a more enjoyable educational experience for everyone.

How you can help: We greatly appreciate your support in reinforcing this important lesson at home. Encourage your children to be mindful of their actions and to respect others' personal space. Discuss the reasons why this behaviour is important and praise them when they demonstrate self-control and respect for others.

Together, we can ensure that our children grow up understanding the value of respect, safety, and self-discipline, which will serve them well throughout their lives.

The SEL focus for the fortnight is: Having a Growth Mindset.

The beliefs children have about intelligence, effort, and struggle impact the choices they make about learning. People tend to hold one of two different beliefs about intelligence:

• Children with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed. These students see school as a place to develop their abilities and think of challenges as opportunities to grow.
• Children with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is fixed at birth and doesn’t change or changes very little with practice. These students see school as a place where their abilities are evaluated, they focus on looking smart over learning, and they interpret mistakes are a sign that they lack talent.

Children who understand that the brain can get smarter—who have a growth mindset—do better in school because they have an empowering perspective on learning. They focus on improvement and see effort as a way to build their abilities. They see failure as a natural part of the learning process. In contrast, students who have a fixed mindset—those who believe that intelligence is fixed—tend to focus on judgment. They're more concerned with proving that they are smart or hiding that they're not. And that means they tend to avoid situations in which they might fail or might have to work hard.

Many studies show that children who have a growth mindset respond differently in challenging situations and do better in school over time.

The way parents talk about ability and learning can have powerful effects on their kids’ beliefs. Below are three ways parents can instil a growth mindset. And remember, developing a growth mindset in yourself and in your kids is a process that takes time. Have a growth mindset about developing a growth mindset!

• Recognize your own mindset: Be mindful of your own thinking and of the messages you send with your words and actions.
• Praise the process: Praising kids for being smart suggests that innate talent is the reason for success, while focusing on the process helps them see how their effort leads to success.
• Model learning from failure: When parents talk positively about making mistakes, kids start to think of mistakes as a natural part of the learning process.