“Children are the rainbow of life. Grandchildren are the pot of gold.”
~UnknownDear Parents
We were blessed with lovely, sunny weather last week, after the gale force wind and heavy rain of the week before. Even a family of geese seemed confused by the early spring weather and paraded around the school with their goslings.
The Pre Reception and Nursery girls learned about people who protect and help us and the Reception girls learned about farm animals.
We enjoyed belated birthday treats at school for those girls who celebrated their birthdays during lock down.
DIANE VILJOEN
Head Preschool
Dear Junior Primary Parents
We hope and trust that you and the girls are coping better with the current hybrid approach. The vast majority of pupils are attending school on their relevant days and are experiencing the routine and structure of a ‘covid’ learning environment. While there are many limitations to their day, the delight of hearing their happy voices on the playground has been such a joy. We are nearing the end of our second cycle and we hope that some teething issues have been addressed. The teachers are doing their best to accommodate those at school as well as those at home. Trusting that if there are any challenges that you bring them to the attention of the class teacher or me.
I came upon this reflection over the weekend and knew I had to share it with you. Something to place on the fridge for a little while…..
Your presence is a present to the world.
You're unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days just one at a time.
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You’ll make it through whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.
Don’t put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to chance.
Reach your peak, your goal, your prize.
Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.
The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.
Don’t take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.
Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot...goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life’s treasures are people….together.
Realise that it’s never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health and hope and happiness.
Take time to wish upon a star.
And don’t ever forget….for even a day…
How very special you are.
With gratitude
GILLIAN STUBBS
Head of Junior Primary
Dear Parents,
It is true how Covid has caused much disruption in our communities and relationships in our lives. It has affected our classrooms, teachers, sport teams, places of worship, friends and extended families. These are the connections we need to feel safe, to cope with stress, and to overcome this crisis, including the crisis of trust.
Persistently high levels of stress can become toxic, affecting attention and memory. “Relationships that are strong and positive cause oxytocin’s release, which helps produce feelings of trust, love, attachment, and safety,” Dr Pamela Cantor writes. “This not only helps children manage stress,and produces resilience to future stress.” Our role as parents and teachers is to assist and protect our children’s lives at present and to be mindful of a shift and focus on the new take of the “Three Rs”.
Relationships: Relationships that are strong and positive helps produce feelings of trust, love, attachment, and safety.
Routines: Our brains, writes Cantor, are “prediction machines that like order, and when our environments are orderly, the brain is calmer.” Physical, emotional, and identity safety are the necessary precursors to academic work. We need to establish predictable routines at home and at school to help promote this.
Resilience: This skill is built over time and it begins with learning how to regulate emotions and behaviours. The girls have certainly impressed me with their level of resilience. We remain committed to creating a safe, supportive environment to grow relationships, skills, growth mindset and academics. This in turn promotes wellness, and protects children from the damaging effects of stress. (Abridged-Sarah Gonser)
I got gifted a beautiful bunch of daffodils the other day. It was accompanied by a message most reflective and relevant and speaks so perfectly to the point of resilience above. “One of my God Minute messages years ago drew the parallel between sunflowers always turning their heads to face the sun and how much strength we draw if we do the same in life: always turning ourselves towards God, especially in adversity. Although daffodils aren’t the same, their resilience and bright yellow remind me of the same thing.”
Wishing you well in your shift in mindset as you tackle the new take on the “Three R’s”
KAREN SMITH
Head of Senior Primary
Dear Parents
People are creatures of habit, and routines offer a way to promote health and wellness through structure and organization.
Having a routine can greatly improve our children’s health and productivity and many children who don't have sufficient structure in their daily lives, risk suffering from elevated levels of stress and anxiety. Routine helps productivity, which in turn feeds motivation. Lack of motivation is dangerous as it leads to many other complications - when one feels that you haven't accomplished much, feelings of frustration, uselessness, and despair can set in - and it's a difficult cycle to get out of.
Routine anchors children and provides a compass or map for their day - pre-COVID this was naturally structured by bells, starting times, ending times, and the rituals of sport and extramural activities. With those gone, we now have to work extra hard as parents and teachers at providing the structures that they thrive in.
Routines make children feel safer, because they know what to expect. This is particularly important during this unpredictable, haphazard time we find ourselves in. We need to accept that where we are at the moment is the new normal, for as long as it lasts. While it’s tempting to allow our children to work from home when the weather is dreadful, or they feel sad or homesick - this is unhelpful in terms of maintaining routine - for the girls, their classmates and particularly their teachers.
Routine at school:
Please send your girls to school on the days they are supposed to be at school (bar ill health and comorbidities). They need to feel part of the learning process and their teachers need them onboard. Each time a child who is supposed to be at school stays at home, their teacher's sense of predictability, their planning of tasks, marking, managing the at school vs online ratio, assessments that we are working so hard on, is rattled. This is difficult for teachers who are stretched to capacity as it is.
Routine at home:
Please develop routine for your girls on the days when they learn at home. This doesn't need to be military like, but predictability and structure on their days at home will go a long way in terms of strengthening them in the long run. Set a schedule for rising, meals, work time, rest time and bedtime. Planning the day together with your child will help the day feel more tangible, secure and productive.
Try to include something physical ( run, walk, cycle), something creative (a board game, or hobby) and something social (connecting with a friend or a relative outside of your home.) These all contribute to physical and mental well being.
The valuable personality traits of resilience and grit thrive with proper routine. When we teach our kids to show up in difficult times, they learn to pull in and contribute when the going gets tough - a valuable trait to have in the workplace when they are adults. Our children will have many difficult and uncomfortable experiences in their life times. How we respond to COVID is a wonderful opportunity to build and role model resilience and grit in our children. They imitate us all the time. Grit is defined as having courage and resolve and the strength of character to push through difficulties. It can be seen as a muscle - the more we exercise and work that muscle, the stronger we get. This is a great time to work that muscle!
Should you need help or support, please don’t hesitate to contact me at gcloete@springfieldconvent.co.za.
With love and strength to you all
GABBY CLOETE
Junior School Counsellor
Thank you Springfield Families for your incredible support during Mandela Month:
We collected enough teddies to give to the Grade 1 and 2 children at St Augustine’s Primary School in Witteboome and had enough for the Grade R class at Siyazama Creche in Imizamayethu in Hout Bay.
The grocery collection (which was enormous!) was split between The Haven Night Shelter in Wynberg, Holy Cross Orphanage in Parow and the feeding scheme run from Siyazama Creche, Hout Bay.
Children’s clothing, bedding and towels were given to Holy Cross Orphanage.
Toiletries and masks were given to The Haven.
Thank you for emptying your pockets, wardrobes and grocery cupboards - the response was overwhelming and heart-warming!
This group of Springfield girls packed 7000 Ndihluthi packs over Mandela Day weekend!
Ndihluthi is a project developed by two Noordhoek women in response to hunger in the time of COVID. Each pack is made up of rice, split peas, fortified soup powder, seasoning and spices and when cooked feeds a family of 4 for R10. Just R67 feeds 25 people!
Should you have missed out on Mandela Day and would like to still contribute, you can donate at the following snapscan code 👉 which will take you to the JDI Foundation website. For more information click on www.ndihluthi.co.za
Springfield Convent is a Google school; we use Google Apps to teach, set tasks and the Apps are used by our students to access and hand in their work. Our school emails accounts are all Gmail accounts, even though our domain has been created to be Springfield specific.
Due to our new way of schooling, all our students are using the Google apps regularly. Google Classroom is the main app being used for all subjects. And, as you many have noticed, Classroom email notifications can flood an Inbox quite quickly. You have the power to turn it off or leave it switched on. Just follow these instructions to make the decision that best suits your and your child's needs.
You can decide if you want to get email notifications about updates to your child/ren's classes.
Go to classroom.google.com and click Sign In. Sign in with your Google Account. ...
At the top, click Menu .
Scroll down and click Settings.
Next to Receive email notifications, click the switch Off or On .
Kindest regards,
MERRILL VELENSKY
Junior School IT Teacher
Dear Staff, parents and pupils
We are excited to introduce a fun and challenging series of events that involve participating against other Schools on a National level in various forms of physical activity.The event will take place over a number of weeks and all pupils, parents and staff are invited to take up this challenge on behalf of Springfield Convent Senior and Junior Schools.
Each week the organisers will set a new challenge which will be sent out to you.
For more information and to sign up click here and follow the prompts. This is an opportunity to be physically active and productive for our beautiful school and to get our School spirit going.
Kind regards
LINDY HARDIMAN
Head of Sport