When I was a student, particularly in my primary school days, my parents were part of the P&C Committee, were active participants in working bees and my Mum came into school and helped out with reading in class. I ask myself, were my parents involved with the school or engaged?
The terms parent engagement and parent involvement describe how parents and families support their children's academic achievement and wellbeing. Parent involvement usually focuses on school-based activities such as attending events or volunteering in class. Parent engagement encompasses children's learning at home, at school and in the community, recognising the cultural and social diversity of families and communities. There is strong and mounting evidence linking parent engagement with improvements in academic achievement and wellbeing for children of all ages.
Under the guise of parent engagement, I wish to look at two particular aspects – learning at home and family-school and community partnerships.
Learning at home is essential in building children’s confidence, motivation, capability and competence as learners. Schools and teachers with a partnership mindset can value and support learning at home by communicating effectively, building trust, and sharing information and resources with families. The connection between learning at school and learning at home should be seamless as this is where the continuity for student learning takes place and connectedness for deeper learning is achieved.
Family-school and community partnerships are an effective way to support and empower positive parent engagement, as it brings together family and community resources to enrich student learning and wellbeing.
There are some core principles which are considered to demonstrate effective family-school partnerships. These are:

• parents and families are the first and continuing educators of their children
• learning is lifelong and occurs in multiple settings
• partnerships, schools and school communities flourish when the diversity and strengths of families are valued and leveraged
• community engagement expands responsibility and resources
• partnerships grow from mutual trust, respect and responsibility
• partnerships need committed, collaborative and creative leadership.

• Junior School Parent Information and Social Evening – Tuesday 11 February
• Senior School Parent Information and Social Evening – Wednesday 12 February
• Banjo’s Games on Taylor Dostal Oval – Friday 14 February from 3.30pm.

In the Junior School, 2020 will see renewed emphasis on wellbeing, utilising research-based and proven tenets of positive education. All Junior School students have the opportunity to learn this content and skills through their weekly SELF (Social and Emotional Learning Fundamentals) lessons.
Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson’s pioneering study, ‘Character Strengths and Virtues’ (2004) continues to provide a practical foundation for the teaching and learning of positive character traits across the College. In the Junior School each year level focuses on one of the 24 strengths each term. So, whilst Prep students will focus on the strength of kindness this term, Year 3 students are learning more about social intelligence, and Year 6 students are delving into leadership. Years 4-6 also review one of the character strengths each week, as shown in the Student Planner. The strengths are recognised often by teachers in the classroom, celebrated in assembly and communicated with you via recognition slips in the Student Planner.
There are a multitude of benefits to this ‘strengths-based’ approach. Seligman and Peterson found that, whilst there might be some fluidity in how an individual demonstrates the 24 strengths, one’s signature strengths (top 5 strengths) are unlikely to change. Knowing, and then leveraging these strengths has great benefits for children in school (and adults in the workplace!). Helping your child identify their signature strengths and begin to understand how to utilise them is a wonderful conversation to have at home. You can visit viacharacter.org to help you facilitate this conversation. Lea Water’s ‘The Strength Switch’ (2017) offers practical and simple advice for how to implement strength-based parenting techniques in your home.
Carol Dweck’s ongoing research into one’s learning mindset also continues to guide learning in Junior School classrooms. Dweck’s research focuses on the continuum of learning attributes that helps one to recognise their capacity for learning and learn the skills necessary to be the most effective learner that one can be. The continuum moves from a fixed mindset (one who sees intelligence as fixed and absolute) to a growth mindset (one who sees potential to improve their intelligence).
The emphasis in the lower Junior School (Prep to Year 3) is to conceptualise what fixed and growth mindsets are. Children learn to understand the difference between fixed and growth mindsets through a variety of activities, multi-media presentations and visual resources. In the upper Junior School, the emphasis shifts to knowing how and when to use growth mindset across a variety of characteristics, such as encountering difficulties and obstacles, effort and accepting feedback. Any parents interested in finding out more can look at James Anderson’s mindfulbydesign.com.
A multitude of other concepts are also explored during SELF lessons, including service learning, mindfulness, peer communication, personal safety and cyber-safety. It is through rich and varied learning experiences such as these that A.B. Paterson College students are supported to act with purpose and character.
We plan for, and greatly encourage community engagement in developing, a culture of wellbeing, not only for the students of A.B. Paterson College, but for our parent community too. With this in mind, there are two upcoming events that are highly recommended for Junior School parents. The Junior School Parent Information Night on Tuesday, 11 February gives you the opportunity to hear from your son or daughter’s classroom teacher about the year ahead, including more details about the SELF program and our culture of wellbeing. Parents can also hear Rachel Downie (recently voted the 2020 Queensland Australian of the Year) speak about cyber safety and personal safety. Rachel will also speak at the Senior School Parent Information Night on Wednesday, 12 February.
Junior School parents are also encouraged to attend the Triple P workshops (dates to be confirmed via letter and the College Facebook page). These workshops help to affirm positive parenting strategies and give you the opportunity to hear how the College is aligned with these concepts through our SELF programming.
I look forward to discussing A.B. Paterson College SELF learning with students and parents alike during a prosperous 2020.
Steve Clacher - Deputy Head of Junior School: Pastoral

Minasan, tatte kudasai. KONNICHIWA! (Everyone, please stand up. HELLO!)
These were the very first words our Prep Japanese students heard last week in what was, for the majority of them, their first exposure to the Japanese language. When asked what Japanese things they already knew, every Prep class student replied SUSHI, with big sheepish grins on their faces.
This term, our students will learn greetings, bowing etiquette, saying one's name, the meaning of cultural celebrations, such as the bean throwing festival called setsubun, among many other exciting things with Barriga Sensei.
Our preppies will also sing many songs and do lots of modern and traditional dancing.
So Prep parents you are forewarned, if your child starts randomly singing Twinkle Little Star in Japanese, don't be too alarmed.
Michelle Barriga - Assistant Head of Languages

Following an outstanding performance at the Queensland School Sport State Championships in October, Emelia Surch was selected to represent Queensland at the National Titles.
The National All Schools Athletics was held in Perth in the first week of school holidays and Emelia competed exceptionally well, competing in an older age group, placing 7th in the 400m hurdles and 3rd in the 100m hurdles.
Over the break, Emelia continued her intensive training with Olympic Gold Medalist, Glynis Nunn-Cearns to prepare for the Australian Combined Event Championships in the Heptathlon. Emelia will compete in Brisbane over the weekend of February 15 and 16 and we wish her the best of luck in the competition.

Come and join the fun!
It’s not too late to join A.B. Paterson College Swimming Club or to at least come and give one club night a try for free. We still have five more Friday Club Nights this season.
7 February, 21 February, 28 February, 20 March & 27 March
Just a reminder that members must be at least six years old and be able to swim 25 metres and at least one stroke competently and without assistance. Have a chat to Peter Gee (Pool Manager, Squad Coach and Swimming Club President) or Ric Cashman (PE Teacher and Squad Coach) if you would like to find out more - or just come along to a Club Night and chat to one of the committee members.  Club Nights start at 3.30pm with a warm-up, followed by races around 4pm. Please note that all swimmers must have a parent or guardian in attendance.

2020 Swimming Gold Coast Sprint Championships
15 members of the A.B. Paterson College Swimming Club attended the inaugural 2020 Swimming Gold Coast Sprint Championships at Gold Coast Aquatic Centre on Saturday 1 February. Out of 51 events, nearly every swimmer achieved at least one Personal Best time - across the whole team a massive 27 PBs were recorded.
Unusually for a non-State meet, finals were held for the top ten swimmers in each event for those aged 10 years and over. We had entrants in 19 finals.

Special mention to the following swimmers:

• Hudson Dilkes for qualifying for the finals for all three of his events and achieving 3rd place in the 11-year 50m fly finals.
• Savannah Maddison for qualifying for the finals in all four of her events and achieving 4th place in the 11-year 50m breaststroke finals
• Georgia Coward for qualifying for the finals in all four of her events and achieving 4th place in the 13-year 50m breaststroke finals
• Cate Ellwood for qualifying for the finals in three of her four events and achieving 4th place in the 13-year 50m fly finals
• Jonas Longhurst for qualifying for the finals in three of his four events and achieving 4th place in the 13-year 50m breaststroke finals

• Ashton Coward achieved 2nd and 3rd places (with 2 PBs)
• Bennet Longhurst achieved 3rd place (with 1 PB)
• Tyler Walmsley - 2 PBs
• Charley Chapman - 1 PB

The Planeteers have launched a new initiative inviting parents to help us on our mission to reduce single use plastic and cans from ending up in landfill.
Each Tuesday morning during term time, between 7:45am and 8am we will be in the Marble Arch car park near the big red recycling bin. The Planeteers want you to donate to us your 10c plastic bottles and cans. We can now also accept empty, rinsed alcoholic 10c drink containers. They will then be taken to be recycled into other goods, with the proceeds to go towards our community garden.
There are a few things we need your help with, to make the process a little easier.

1. Ensure that the containers you bring in have the 10c logo on them and are non-alcoholic bottles or cans (see ‘Yes’ image)
2. Remove all contents inside and give them a rinse so they’re clean.
3. Remove any lids from bottles as these cannot be recycled yet. These can be put into your recycling bins at home (or if the lid is made of number ‘2’ or ‘4’ plastic keep them for potential projects starting in 2020).
4. Bring your items in a bag to the red bin where a friendly Planeteer and Miss Moore will be there to collect them. Feel amazing that you’ve helped reduce landfill and helped the Planeteers raise money towards building our community garden.

One full red bin for our Year 6 Planeteers! That's a whole lot of cans and bottles that won't be going to landfill, and a good start to
community garden fundraising. Thank you to our families for supporting #10cTuesdays. Keep up the good work!
We look forward to seeing you on 10c Tuesdays!
Remember, the Power is Yours!  #10cTuesdays.
If you are interested in participating, please print off the logo below and place it on your dashboard for the traffic guides to help direct you into the right lane to minimise any congestion.