Dolphin Style Parenting

As a fellow parent, I spend a lot of time considering how best to raise my children.  What is perhaps most challenging is that there are so many contrasting views about how to raise them. In the busyness of life it is often difficult to find the right balance of structure and playfulness, discipline and gentleness, challenge and nurture.  I recently came across an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald that resonated with me, it spoke of a new ‘style of parenting’ titled ‘Dolphin Parenting’, based on the work of Dr. Shimi Kang.

The article contrasts dolphin parenting with some other clichéd styles; ‘helicopter parenting’ – parents that hover too close to their children and don’t allow them to experience life on their own; and ‘Tiger Mums’ – parents (particularly mums) that drive their children through coaching to get optimum results.

It is worth acknowledging that within any style of parenting there are obvious strengths and limitations and ultimately it is up to each and every parent to determine how best to raise their child.

The article goes on to suggest that dolphin parenting seeks to provide a balance of playfulness and role modeling.  Much of what is advocated for by Dr Kang seems to be similar to the role of the teacher within the PYP framework; a guided inquiry approach to learning appropriate standards of behaviour and learning from each and every life experience.

The article finishes with five suggestions that I found to be very helpful in regards to parenting:

1. Be firm and flexible by having clear rules and consequences in place while respecting a child’s freedom and independence to choose.
2. Resist from over scheduling children into extra curricular activities.  Allow time for free play and relaxation to prevent burn out.
3. Allow children to make mistakes and learn from them instead of being overprotective.
4. Nurture a sense of community and connection to others and encourage children to help others out as often as possible.
5. Play with your children as often as you can; play helps a child develop social, thinking and emotional skills which cannot be obtained in any other way.

http://bit.ly/1qJwVrS

Year 6 PYP Exhibition

Each year across the world in nearly 1200 schools, students in the last year of Primary School participate in the PYP Exhibition.  The Exhibition is seen as the culminating learning experience for students as they make the transition from the formative learning years of Primary School to the new challenges of High School.  Last year was the first opportunity for our Year 6 boys to participate in the Exhibition and this year’s class is eager to build on last year’s work.

The PYP Exhibition is essentially a unit of work designed by the students to inquire into a local issue or problem. It provides the students an opportunity to conduct their own personal research and to propose possible solutions. An important aspect of the process is the requirement for students to take personal action as a result of their learning. The unit of work culminates in an Exhibition where each of the Year 6 students has the chance to showcase their work and to share their findings, solutions and action with the school community.  This year’s PYP Exhibition will be held on Tuesday 21 October from 6:00pm.  Please set this date aside to support our Year 6 students in their learning.

Since the beginning of this year, Year 6 have been discussing possible themes and issues that could be the focus of their Exhibition.  After much discussion they have decided that the Exhibition will explore the ‘How we organise ourselves’ theme.  This theme explores the following descriptor:

‘An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function or organisations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.’

At this stage the boys are considering focusing their inquiry on some of the disadvantaged and minority groups within our society and exploring how our community can support them better.

Enrolments – Year 5 and Kindergarten

Due to the extra Year 5 class we are in the fortunate position to have vacancies for next year. We are currently enrolling boys for Year 5 2015 and have begun interviewing for Year 5 2016.

I am delighted to announce that Kindergarten is full for next year, however, we have begun interviewing for Kindergarten 2016.  Limited vacancies also exist in some other year levels.  If you know families who might be interested, please encourage them to call the School Office on 9416 4280.

Parent Information Workshop – ‘Learning across the Curriculum’

On Wednesday 20 August  at 6:30pm we will be conducting our next Parent Workshop – ‘Learning across the Curriculum’. This term we will provide specific information about our specialist subjects (Art, Mandarin, Music, PE) and how these are integrated with the regular classroom learning.

We look forward to you joining us in The Lookout for this workshop.

Chris Wyatt