A Message from the Head of Newington Prep

Habit of Success: Willpower becomes automatic (Self-Discipline)

What habits would you most like to see your children develop? Regular reading, doing homework independently, completing jobs around the house without you asking? It may come down to the habit of self-discipline. Research around willpower shows that it has a very positive effect in various areas of our lives. Self discipline is a better predictor of academic success than IQ. We want to develop willpower (self discipline) in our boys as a habit. There are many benefits that would flow from this for our boys and indeed for ourselves, if we can develop this attribute.

The Marshmallow experiment from the 1960’s is probably the most well known experiment about the power of willpower and its impact on success. In this experiment four year olds were offered a marshmallow immediately, or the option of waiting and getting two marshmallows later. Those who had the self-discipline to wait were shown to be far more academically successful in later life.  Furthermore when a person develops self-discipline in one area of their life, it often permeates into other areas. If we exercise more, we find we eat less junk, we sleep better and we are more patient with others.

This is one reason of the many reasons that playing sport and music is really important.  The lessons and self- discipline it takes to practice music or to train for your sport, helps students be able to self-discipline in other areas like doing homework and study. Willpower is learnable. It can be taught and reinforced to make it a habit.

Setting Goals

In order for people to exhibit self-discipline, it takes some forethought and planning. To develop the habit of self-discipline, or any habit at all, there are three steps that need to be clearly enunciated. Habits (good and bad ones) consist of a cue – routine – reward.  Boys need to set goals that are detailed and to outline: the trigger (cue), the steps to complete their goal (routine) and the payoff (reward). They also need to plan what to do when things do not go as planned or when the routine can’t be completed.

We look at problem solving in relation to personal relations at Newington with our 2nd step program. When there is a problem we use the STEP routine which outlines a pathway to finding a solution.

Use Routines

It is best for our boys if we have set routines (habits) which help them with their self discipline. It may be that they always start their homework at 5pm (cue), it may be that they do a certain amount of homework and music practice (routine) and then they get to watch some T.V., kick the footy or play Xbox (reward).

It is also important to come up with a plan B for when problems arise.  For example, if you have sports training after school and don’t get home until after 6pm, rather than abandoning the routine (homework starts at 5pm) work out a plan B in advance.  Maybe you do the homework routine in the morning on that day. Practice your plan B to make sure that when something does arise it is not going to break the routine.

Choice

If you want your son to develop self-discipline then you need to discuss with him the reasons for doing so and get his ideas on how to make the routines and habits work. It is shown to be far more successful when children have ownership over the process.

The process is fantastic for us adults as well. We all have habits we would like to break and others we would like to start.  Self-discipline is one the most important attributes our boys need to develop. Following this simple set of ideas can help them on their journey.

Duhigg, Charles. (2012) The power of habit :why we do what we do in life and business New York : Random House

Junior Primary UOI

Kindergarten enjoyed their fifth unit of inquiry where they inquired into the transdisciplinary theme, How the World Works. They investigated the central idea, ‘Understanding materials and their properties determines how people use them’.

In this unit students explored the concepts of form, function and change. To explore the concept of form, the Kindergarten boys inquired into different types of materials and their properties. They explored how materials are used for specific purposes (function) and they looked at the changing properties of materials. Hands-on experiences, such as conducting a variety of science experiments helped formulate understanding of the properties of different materials and how they change.

The boys developed their thinking and research skills by observing and recording and they communicated knowledge and understandings orally and through writing and drawing. One of the attitudes that was developed in this unit was ‘curiosity’.

Stage 1 boys have explored the same transdisciplinary theme – How the world works, and they have done a number of experiments to learn about light and sound using torches, shadows and prisms, just to name a few that we completed. They have learnt how light and sound are a form of energy and how it is used in our everyday lives. The boys have conducted surveys to discover the lights and sounds used at school. The Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 boys had the pleasure of seeing the Jollybops Science Show where they learnt about the different types of energy and how it is used. The show was a wonderful introduction to scientific literacy and terminology.

Belinda Smallhorn, Sam Watson, Leonie Russell – Junior Primary Teachers

Mandarin

I have always believed that it’s a privilege to be a teacher – being able to learn with the students and watch the joy and excitement on their faces when they obtain the knowledge.  What a privileged time I have had!

For the kindergarten students, they have learned colours in Mandarin. We conducted a little survey in Mandarin and found out that the boys’ favourite colour is 蓝色 (lánsè) blue and the least favourite is 橙色(chéngsè) orange. We have learned about the three primary colours: red, yellow and blue. We did a simple colour experiment using the food dyes to make the secondary colours of orange, purple and green.

To accompany Stage 1 Inquiry lessons, we talked about the lights and shadows (光和影guāng hé yǐng) in Mandarin, the moon, the Moon Festival and the story about the Goddess who lived in the moon called Chang Er (嫦娥 cháng é). We also applied our knowledge of the light and shadows in a form of entertainment and we attempted our first shadow puppet show. Although we encountered some technical flaws we had a lot of fun.

Who doesn’t like food? Lucky Stage 2 students have learned about procedural writing by reading and understanding two easy recipes in Mandarin. They learned how to make Chocolate Strawberries and Popcorn. I have had fun teaching and discovering the boy’s cooking talents.

The Stage 3 students worked hard on discovering their feelings and emotions. At the end of the unit, the boys analysed their study techniques:

“I achieved this by assessing myself and taking my time and making sure I carefully read the question.” Nicholas (Yr 6)

“I did well because of the learning to type in pinyin. It really drilled the answers into me so I knew them off by heart.” Connor (Yr 6)

I would also like to thank all the parents who encouraged the boys to apply their Mandarin skills at home. I have had Year 4 boys tell me that they were teaching their Mum, Dad or even grandparents Mandarin either in person or via Skype. Learning languages is not about the test scores in the test – it’s all about applying it in real life situations. I am extremely proud of those boys who made it happen.

Eva Angel – Mandarin Teacher

Developing Engineers

On Wednesday 19 October I was given the opportunity to join students from other schools at a “Developing Engineers” workshop.  There were about 30 students from schools across the North Shore, from Years 1, 2 and 3.  There were boys and girls from Abbotsleigh, Pymble Ladies College, Roseville College, Masada College, Hills Grammar and Knox Grammar. 

It was an awesome day, where we investigated many engineering principles.  We had a theme for the day focused around the book character, Geronimo Stilton, and had to design ways to help him navigate and get to his destination.  We made our own model boat using the engineering principles we had learned, as well as using computers for coding to program Geronimo across the water.  My friend from Newington, Alex Hurl from Year 1 also attended, and we both had a great time learning about design and engineering.  We also made new friends from other schools.  I am very grateful to be chosen to attend.

Maks Saravanja – Year 2

Sport Sport Sport

All boys in K-6 are participating in a Swimming and Water Safety Program in PE this term. This program has 3 areas of focus – stroke development, fitness in the water and survival and rescue skills. The Junior Primary boys are practicing basic reach and throw rescues, while the older boys are learning about more complex scenarios including saving an unconscious person.

In the Saturday Sport program the boys are working closely with both Newington Staff and the Kickstart coaches to improve their basketball and cricket skills. We have also been fortunate enough to have the support of the Sporting Schools Program where we have been linked to local coaches through NSW Basketball and Cricket NSW to further support the boys in their skill development. A change in structure to the school training program has seen all boys training at school on a Monday afternoon. This has seen the reintroduction of the bowling machine for our cricketers which has been a very popular inclusion.

Already this term there have been Lindfield boys out representing the school individually in a sporting capacity. This week Nathan Sharp competed at the IPSHA Gymnastics Competition. Nathan was in the Men’s Artistic Gymnastic Level 2 Competition with 12 boys from other schools. His best apparatus was the Vault with an amazing score of 9.8! Congratulations Nathan.

Following their successes at CIS and PSSA Sport in Cricket and Cross Country running, Edward Timpson and Charlie Burt attended a Gifted and Talented Workshop early this term which focused on training and preparing for particular sports or events. There was a focus on sport science with the boys considering energy systems and the way that they impact performance.  They did a number of tests using Heart Monitors to study resting and active heart rates and how to assess their fitness.

Eliza Monaghan – Sports Mistress

Faith Matters

Faith says … “It is so!”

Tony Evans writes: “A practical definition of faith I like is, acting like it’s so even when it’s not, in order that it might be so, just because God said so.” Maybe you’re saying, “That sounds like I’m supposed to pretend something’s real when it isn’t.” No. We’re talking about believing that what God says is true, even when there’s no evidence available. And the way you know you believe – is when you act on it.
Maybe you think people like Noah and Moses had it easier than we do because God spoke to them directly. True, God did speak to them, but that didn’t make their obedience any easier. Moses didn’t get to see The Ten Commandments movie and find out how it all ended. Actually, we have the advantage because we have God’s completed Word. But we still experience the turbulence of life. Ever been on an aeroplane when it started shaking or dropped? Remember how you felt when the captain spoke over the intercom, calmly explaining that this was no big deal. Your options were to have faith in the captain – or believe what you saw and felt. Depending on your choice, you either white-knuckled the rest of your flight, or relaxed and enjoyed it.

Faith takes you beyond the limits of your logic, reason and senses. It enables you to believe that if God said it, it’s true. Simply put, faith is acting as if God is telling the truth.

Rev Peter Morphew – Chaplain

STEM Symposium 2016

This year has seen a move from an initial ‘Maker Movement’ focus across the school to an emphasis on the process of ‘Design Thinking’. Our initial spark for the move towards incorporating Maker Spaces into our school environment came after seeing Gary Stager give presentations on the Maker Movement as part of an EduTech Technology Conference in 2014 and Vivid Workshops in 2015. The staff members involved were initially inspired to introduce a more structured Maker Movement to the school, which resulted in the introduction of several Maker Spaces and Coding Clubs.

The student uptake and engagement in these clubs in the latter half of 2015 was very high and this encouraged us to pursue this goal. However, we soon realised that there was greater potential to be harnessed by embedding ‘making’ into our existing curriculum framework. This led us to explore the process of Design Thinking. We have used the methodology of Design Thinking to explore our built environment, the states of matter, using responsible design to address important issues and to fly drones. We are proud of the journey that the school has undertaken and we are looking forward to where Design Thinking takes us.

For this year’s AIS STEM Symposium Sam Eddowes, Saxon Krause, Conor Sheehy and Tristan Henry represented the school by sharing their Design Thinking experiences and solutions with the state-wide AIS community.  They explained the Design Thinking Process that is specific to Lindfield and reflected on how this process has assisted in structuring their thinking when solving a problem.  Sue Gough, Sam Watson, Pascal Czerwenka and Carol Peterson led a workshop on our journey in developing a design thinking culture in our school community.

Carol Peterson – Year 3 Teacher

Year 6 – PYP Exhibition

In the final year of the IB Primary Years Programme, students conduct personal and group inquiries into an area of their own choosing. These student-initiated inquiries are the culmination of the student’s growth and learning during their time at Newington Lindfield. The inquiries should be transdisciplinary in nature, crossing all subject areas and synthesising the essential elements of the PYP. The students share the process and conclusion of their inquiries at a final exhibition, to which the wider school community is invited. Our PYP Exhibition was held on Tuesday 25 October.

In Term 3, the Year 6 boys took their own personal interests and passions as a starting point to help guide their inquiries. Over the following weeks, the students inquired into and reflected on their passions and interests, and thought about if and how those passions and interests shape them and how they connect to the wider world. The students thought about how, through their exhibition, they could share their learning during their time at Lindfield Newington, and how it relates to how the world works.

Throughout the exhibition process, we saw the boys living the IB Learner Profile and demonstrating the essential elements of the PYP as they worked collaboratively in their inquiry groups to pull their work together and make their learning visible for others.  When our community came together it was clear to see the independence and focus with which the boy worked, and the support, encouragement and empathy they showed to each other.

After much hard work, the Year 6 boys were excited and well prepared to share the knowledge, skills, attitudes and deep understandings that they had developed during their time here at Newington Lindfield.

After the exhibition, the Year 6 boys spent time with their Year 5 peers to help them prepare for their learning journey during the exhibition that is now less than 12 months away.

It has been an absolute pleasure supporting the boys during their learning journey.

Jackson English – 6W ClassTeacher

SRC Thank You

On behalf of the Newington Lindfield Student Representative Council we thank all parent and students for their generous donations to our Christmas Shoebox Appeal.

The response has been amazing (photo of a small sample below) and all donations will be boxed, wrapped and delivered to the Shoebox Appeal via St Albans Church, Lindfield.

Eva Angel, Eliza Monaghan, Katrina James and the SRC Representatives