Message from the Vice Principal

Following our mission to get active and off their screens, Junior Phase students returned to school after Christmas to find new toys awaiting them! Last term they gave their suggestions as to their offline games preferences and now each tutor group has a great supply – including Top Trumps, Blokus, Connect Four, and even table tennis equipment!

Moving onto outdoor pursuits, the success of our inaugural lunchtime Downball tournament was celebrated in last week’s Junior Phase assembly. Congratulations to Riku Kato and Jj Torejo in 7D, and Giovanni Lucchini in 8W, who were all winners in their respective competitions. Thanks also go to senior students Darren Fee, Lumiere Ng and Ryan Tan who organised and led the event. They’re now planning the next one for 22 January and I’m delighted that this will become a regular monthly feature of campus life. All students are welcome, especially those who have never played but are keen to learn and just have some fun!

Teachers 

For the second year running, Island School teachers are benefiting from Positive Schools training with Dr Sinead Devine-French and John Shanahan from the Positive Group. The ‘Worry Filter’, ‘Brain Breaks’ and ‘The Emotional Barometer’ are just some of the tools, colleagues are introducing school-wide to positively impact the emotional literacy and self-management of students. The current group of 12 teachers undergoing training will soon be starting on their Micro Studies. These will be designed to evaluate and improve our positive practices at a community level, within the Thrive programme, and in other areas of teaching and learning.

Parents

Worry and stress is something we all experience to a lesser or greater degree. For students the pressures of school work – especially around exam time – can heighten this. Just like teachers, parents play a key role in helping young people to find strategies to manage these emotions positively and find balance in their lives. With the expertise and experience of John Shanahan and Positive teachers, we will be organising a parent session to raise understanding about ‘worry’ and explore ways that parents can support their children with this in the home context. This will be open to all parents, and will take place on Tuesday 3 March at ESF Centre at 6.00pm.

Please save the date and await further information!

Jenny Hodson
Vice Principal