Dear McAuley Families

I hope everyone enjoyed 'Wellbeing Week' last week. For all of us it was a chance to “unplug” and change the routine. As nerve wracking as it was to postpone meetings and cancel events I trust it was a great opportunity for some family time.  Wellbeing Week is something the McAuley staff are keen to continue in Week 7 each term and we look forward to continuing and enriching this new tradition.  The Executive Team would welcome any suggestions you might have to make this week each term more significant.

Last week leads very well into RUOK Day which is celebrated today. At school we will wear yellow and give out wrist bands to remind everyone of the importance of recognising and supporting someone close to us who might be struggling. There are some excellent resources on the “RUOK” website www.ruok.org.au about not only how to open a conversation but what to do if someone says they are “not ok”.  In this year above all others we need to not only be attuned to our own mental health but the mental health of those we live, work and care for.

I am noticing more and more excellent online seminars and podcasts from expert relationship and parenting people.  I encourage you all to take advantage of this new type of offering which is so much more accessible than attending a seminar or meeting. 

Maggie Dent www.maggiedent.com has recently published a book on mothering boys and has some great content on her website and in her podcasts about boys and girls.  She writes really well about emotional intelligence (EQ) which is a most important quality to build in our students and children. She writes… “Failure, losing and making poor choices are a consequence of being human. Please play endless games with your children so they can recognise the emotional cues around responding to failing and give them strategies to manage with.” This practical advice ties in with our messaging around mental health and RUOK Day. We too make mistakes in our dealings with others and should never be too old (or too proud!) to acknowledge a failing or an error.  “…Remember to be realistic – growing emotional competence is strongly linked to the growth of the prefrontal cortex, and that does not finish until the mid-20s. There are lots of other factors that influence developing EQ – temperament, birth order, trauma, neuro diversity, special needs and sensory overload. Gosh it would be so much easier if we could gift it to our children in a neatly wrapped box wouldn’t it?”

There have been numerous times in 35 years in education when despairing parents have asked what I think they should do about their son or daughter and my only response can be to love… loving them through it is sometimes the only option. Love the good, love the bad, love the mistakes and love the successes. Easy said at times but well worth the effort.

Don’t forget to take a moment in the coming days and weeks to ask someone “Are you ok?”

Mary our Mother… Look After Us.

Eamonn Moore

Principal