Dear Friend of PLC Lighthouse

A Message from Linda Malone, Head of Service & Community Partnerships

‘Friendship with oneself is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.’

Part of being a friend to yourself is giving yourself time to look after your wellbeing; listening to mind and body; learning new skills and feeling good about the food you are eating to fuel your body; and being kind to yourself.

Spring for me is about new beginnings and a chance for us all to check in with ourselves and reset if needed. Once we are looking after ourselves, we have the ability to look after each other better. The United Nation states that friendship is about ‘defending a shared spirit of human solidarity’. Understanding that we are all in this together helps extend our thoughts, and hopefully our actions, to support people who need a lift up. If you feel that you have more to give, please look around your community and lead from the front with one of the family service projects or individual options that are available for you at the PLC Lighthouse.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind you of the Term 3 Co-Curricular activities on offer at the Lighthouse. I encourage you to find one that interests you and enrol online.

- Linda Malone, Head of Service & Community Partnerships

Let's Talk About Sexting

The high-quality drama depicts a teen sexting scandal that rocks four families across two schools. It tells the story of two teenage girls, who unwittingly become targets of public humiliation and cyberbullying after taking and sharing sexually explicit images of themselves. The series pulls no punches and makes viewers wonder whether this could happen in their own families, how they could prevent it, and how they would react in similar circumstances.

According to a 2017 eSafety survey, one in three respondents, aged from 14 to 17 years, had experienced some form of sexting in the previous 12 months. This included sending, receiving, asking, being asked, sharing or showing intimate images. 15% of teens had been asked specifically to send a nude or partially nude photo or video of themselves in that time, with girls being more than twice as likely as boys to have been asked. 

At PLC, we are working together to continually develop students' skills and understandings in relation to safe, smart and responsible online behaviour, in partnership with parents and carers.

To better educate yourself on the topic and access helpful resources for parents, I encourage you to click the link below.

- Kelly Curran, Senior School ILT Integration Specialist

The Importance of Friendship

• Function well - Friends can help us to develop a stronger sense of meaning and direction in our lives. They can help us plan and come up with strategies to improve our lives.
• Do good for others - Helping our friends is enjoyable and satisfying. Having a wide network of friends gives us plenty of opportunities to help other people, which is good for our mental health.

- Emily Lockhart, Head of Lighthouse Curriculum

Four Steps to New Habits

Step 1. Preparation

• Your 'why?' statement - Why do you want to commit to your new behaviour? Keep coming back to your why statement to increase your feelings of purpose and progress.
• Overcoming obstacles - The biggest obstacle we encounter is often our own thoughts – our mind gives us reasons not to take action or try to make changes. A useful method for overcoming obstacles is the ‘if…then’ planning technique. For example, 'If I feel unmotivated to exercise... then i will take action by putting on my exercise clothes and running for 10 minutes'. 
• Accountability - Consider whether you want to use accountability practices to help you cultivate your new habit. Finding an accountability buddy where you can support and encourage each other is one option which might help you develop your new habit quicker.

Step 2. Trigger

Like motivation, memory is fallible. We cannot rely on our memory to remind us about our new desired behaviour – science shows that habits require a trigger. Triggers can be time, things you do every day (like brushing your teeth or making your bed), a location, an emotional state (like boredom or anxiety), or other people. 

Step 3. Behaviour

The next step is planning the action itself... 

'Make it so easy you can't say no.'

Start with a minimum viable habit and build up from there. For example, instead of planning a 20-minute daily meditation, starting with a habit of five minutes daily is likely to be more effective.

Step 4. Reward

We know habits are formed quicker when we’re able to pair that behaviour with stimulation of our brain’s reward centre. Our brain detects that if a behaviour is desirable and then changes the neural pathway in a way that makes the behaviour more likely to occur in future.

Reflections With Sue Tredget 

As I gazed at the colourful pages, I was transported to far flung lands, captivated by the exotic sights and interesting looking people. I marvelled at the vivid pictures; I still have this book and it still stirs the same wonder in me today. While we now have an infinitesimal number of images and photographs at our fingertips, we should never underestimate the beauty of a book. How amazing, I thought, to be able to visit these places one day and talk to their inhabitants. 

I have often been asked if I have a French or Spanish background (I have neither) and how I came to be a language teacher. I grew up in a little town in Northern Ireland, decades before computers and the internet became part of our lives. No languages were taught at my primary school, no-one in my family spoke another language and I had no way of hearing anyone speak anything other than English.

O2 Active Class of the Month: Teen Yoga

That place of calm is where we feel content and create authenticity. It is where we act with compassion, cultivate a resilient spirit and feel gratitude. This is where we think and act our best.

Yoga is run at the PLC Lighthouse on Thursday’s from 3:30 pm – 4.00 pm (yoga bears) and 5.00 pm – 5:55 pm (teen yoga).

Community Conversation with Dr Susan Byrne

Dr Byrne is a Clinical Psychologist with extensive experience in the treatment of eating and weight disorders and is internationally recognised. She has studied and worked at Oxford University, developing and trialling leading treatments for eating disorders and obesity.

Dr Byrne is coming to PLC to help us implement a Media Smart Program and will share her expertise and help parents navigate issues such as body image, eating, dieting, and health and wellbeing of teenage girls. 

Later this term, our Year 9 students will be participating in the The Media Smart program, which will teach our girls about stereotypes, media advertising, psychological pressure, and looking after themselves and their peers. The program is evidence based and comes highly regarded from Dr Byrne. Research has shown teaching young people to be critical of media messaging and influences, can provide protection from body image disorders and eating disorders.

The Parent night is open to all parents so please come along to learn more about how to support your daughter to grow and thrive through their teenage years.

Date: Tuesday 27 August
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: PLC Lighthouse Community Room
Cost: Free

Cyber Safety Seminar  

Does your child play Fortnite or other online games? Are you aware of incidents of cyber bullying in your school? Do you know what a healthy amount of screen time is?

Join three of Australia’s leading experts on cyber safety and internet awareness for a seminar on how to ensure your child is safe online. 

Date: Wednesday 14 August
Time: 6.30 pm - 8.30 pm
Venue: Main Auditorium, Telethon Speech & Hearing, 36 Dodd Street Wembley
Cost: $35 per person, with all proceeds supporting Telethon Speech & Hearing