Excitement is building as the year six students prepare for Camp Ngaruawahia

Over the summer I joined an online well-being group.  Knowing we were facing another disrupted covid year at school and having a bereavement at the end of 2021, my goal was to build up my personal toolbelt to start 2022 being the best person and leader I could be.  The part I have found the most fascinating from all of the learning so far is the psychology behind the habits that we build up over time in reaction to our life experiences, and the stories we tell ourselves to reinforce these ideas.  Sometimes these stories are helpful and sometimes not eg I'm going to feel great after that workout vs I'm too tired and stressed to squeeze in exercise today.  Hand in hand with telling ourselves new more helpful stories is the psychology of enacting small changes that become new habits in life and in our thinking.  Our minds and the way we speak to ourselves are very powerful tools!  Covid has certainly shaped a few unhelpful stories in the past few years.  

Growth does not usually come from sitting within our comfort zones and telling ourselves our existing stories. When we are challenged or challenge ourselves, we create new ‘landmarks’ to hang new stories and future challenges on. Our comfort zone grows: what was once scary or too hard, becomes moved into the comfort zone, ready to be built on.

The question “How do you eat an elephant?” springs to mind here. The answer is “one bite at a time”.   How do we set our children up for success?  One challenge at a time.  When we encourage children (and ourselves!) to just take one bite at a time, accept one challenge at a time, or plan one goal at a time, great things can be achieved.  Like any muscle, the more we open ourselves up to new challenges, the more our resilience grows.  If you'd like to explore this idea further, there are wonderful resources on SchoolTV. 

I believe that the past two years have sometimes created a smaller comfort zone for all of us. Things were out of our control and staying in our comfort zone was a way to cope. Times are finally beginning to settle and we are learning to step back outside our comfort zone - to be challenged, to learn, to grow. As we wave our year sixes off to camp on Tuesday 20th September we will do so with excitement, as we know that through the magic that happens on camp, the stuff that happens just outside the students' comfort zones (wherever that may be) will mean that we will greet stronger, more confident and more resilient BBP tamariki on Friday 23rd September.  I look forward to hearing all their stories of bravery and am sure we will see some published in the next newsletter.  Thank you to the year six teachers and parents running camp - I'm sure you will have a few stories to share on your return also.

Office Update

We are getting very close to being allowed to open up the admin block again and will let you know when we are moving back in.  Thank you for both parents and the staff's patience as the end date keeps getting pushed out, with covid contributing to many of the delays.  

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Kelly Slater-Brown

Tumuaki / Principal