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Happy Holidays!
With the holidays so close you can almost see them, I hope you have the chance to have a break and access some recreation leave. If you do I hope you rest, relax, restore and do many things that bring you joy. I look forward to working with you in term four.
Looking after yourself
I recently meet with staff from Be You and was reminded about all their amazing resources. Be You is a national initiative for educators, aimed at promoting and protecting positive mental health in children and young people. Be You provides educators with knowledge, resources and strategies for helping children and young people achieve their best possible mental health. We will continue to work with them to ensure resources and professional learning meets ours need. They have an extensive website that is worth exploring:
They encourage ‘You Do You’, and offer the following as food for thought:
While others determine much of your work environment, individually you can take steps to protect and enhance your mental health and wellbeing. Managing your stress levels, maintaining positive social interactions and asking for help when needed are all helpful actions to support your wellbeing.
Doing things for yourself to make you feel better
You need to practice self-care in a way that works for you. It might include maintaining a healthy lifestyle by eating well, getting enough exercise and cutting back on alcohol.
Some other strategies which you might find helpful in managing stress:
- Monitor your stress – recognise your own signs of stress and identify situations you find difficult, so you can be pro-active about managing stress during these times.
- Learn how to manage your stress in positive ways – such as through exercise, relaxation, breathing, yoga, positive self-talk.
- Be aware of your thinking habits – challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts.
- Schedule ‘time out’ for yourself – pursue your hobbies or interests.
- Connect – foster and maintain your personal relationships. A sense of belonging and connection is important for your wellbeing.
- Relax – learn and use breathing techniques, progressive relaxation, visualisations or meditation to consciously relax your mind and body. Practice mindfulness by focusing your awareness on the present moment.
- Be mindful and self-aware – focus on how you are feeling and how you act, and the impact that can have on your colleagues and your students. Be supportive of others without passing judgement.
- Consider making specific times or days of the week for activities which support your wellbeing, so they become routine and are less likely to drop off at times of increased work demands or other competing priorities.
- Reflect – find a mentor through your workplace or professional networks to help you grow professionally. Take time to engage in reflective practices about your work and professional development.
- If you have spiritual beliefs, make time for regular spiritual practice, or relationships with others who share your philosophy.
Ask for support
If you feel that you aren’t travelling as well as you could, it’s important to reach out for support. Most of us wouldn’t try to treat a broken leg ourselves, but when it comes to our mental health we sometimes think we can fix things on our own, or hope the issue just goes away by itself.
That’s where our support networks, mental health organisations and health professionals come in. There are plenty of effective treatments for mental health conditions and the sooner you seek support, the sooner you can recover.
EASA contact details:
https://ntgcentral.nt.gov.au/quick-guide-provision-employee-assistance-programs
The Department is once again providing a wellbeing grant for all leaders. There are many ways this could be spent one of which includes professional reading.
Professional reading is an important part of our job. It stops us from using experience alone when making decisions. As a leader, being well read in the field of education can also help us in gaining support and trust from our staff.
You could use your wellbeing grant to add to your professional reading library or create a reading library if you don’t have one.
If you are anything like me, you are devoted to learning so hopefully you will enjoy looking at our suggestions. I am happier and achieve more when I find the regular time to build in professional reading.
When choosing books it is important to also select text that are from outside education. This is for 2 main reasons:
- We tend to suffer from industry group think
- Leadership is leadership. It doesn’t matter where you lead; it matters how you lead. Let’s learn from the best no matter where they are.
We would like our members to share:
If you could have only one book on your professional bookshelf, which would you choose? Please provide it here:
The Advantage
Author: Pat Lencioni
Reason to Read: This is a go-to strategy guide for how to optimize your organization for success. Pat teaches how to run an organization that is emotionally healthy. That is The Advantage.
Creativity Inc
Author: Ed Catmull
Reason to Read: Ed ran Pixar for many years. Learn his out-of-the-box approach to leadership. If nothing else, read this text to learn about The Brainstrust and imagine how you could apply to your school.
Good to Great
Author: Jim Collins
Reason to Read: Collins studied what companies to do to take their organizations to the next level. This book is where the idea of “Getting the right people on the bus” as well as many others comes from. A seminal leadership book.
The Third Space
Author: Dr Adam Fraser
Reason to Read: How to use life's little transitions to find balance and happiness.
Every day we undertake dozens of different roles, tasks and experiences. Most of us habitually carry our mindset and emotional state from one of these activities to the next - and all too often this has negative, occasionally disastrous consequences.
For years we've been told it's getting the 'big' stuff right that gives us balance and makes us happy: the holidays, the audacious goals, the pay rises. But in our hearts we know it's really the small stuff: a great result at work, our welcome home, an absorbing conversation, a game with the kids.
This book is all about getting the small stuff right - not 'sweating' it, but making it much more rewarding, much more often. It's about using the 'Third Space' (that moment of transition between a first activity and the second that follows it), to mentally 'show up' right for whatever comes next. Gaining control of the Third Space will empower you to do this any time and every time. You will consistently be your best for your work, your family, your friends and yourself - and you will find that the key to balance and happiness was always there waiting for you in the Third Space.
Please stay well.
Warm regards,
Britany Roestenburg
ph. 0409386744
President Email: ntpa.admin@ntschools.net or ntpa.president@ntschools.net
NTPA TRB Representative- Thank you Karen
Karen Blachfield fulfilled the position on the Teacher Registration Board Steering Committee when it was first established.
With the establishment of the Board, Karen was NTPA’s nominee as one of 12 Board members.
Every four years since then, Karen has been renominated by NTPA. Unlike most other regulatory authorities, where the Chair is appointed by the Minister, under NT legislation the Chair is elected by Board members. Karen fulfilled the role of Deputy Chair from the establishment of the board. When founding Chair Jean Memery left the Board, Karen was elected Chair.
After retiring as Principal at the end of 2017, Karen continued in the position as Board Chair on avoluntary basis. This year Karen made the decision not to re-nominate for another term on theBoard.
It is an end of an era for NTPA and we are very grateful for all of the time and expertise Karen has shared over the years.
Karen provided the highlights below of some of the changes that have been introduced during the life of the Board that have been positive to the profession include:
• Renewal of Full Registration and the requirement for teachers to have currency of practice
and demonstration of ongoing professional learning, with a manageable audit process
• Management of the HALT process and maintaining the register of applicants
• Requirement of teachers to have current National Police Checks
• More extensive Mutual Recognition processes that also now includes WA, ACT and NSW
• An increase in notifications that are beyond professional conduct and now more often
include teacher competency issues
• Improved online resources and registration forms including payments on the website
Some of these changes are the result of national initiatives and the need for greater consistency
throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Issues of national importance that the Board is currently working on include:
• Provisional to Full Registration - is there consistency of decision making by school based
panels and how could this be improved?
• English Competency Requirements - how do we ensure that registered teachers reflect the
diversity of the community without reducing the high standards of English expected, and
are tests such as IELTS the best measure of capability?
• Best Practice Framework for Strengthening Child Safety - as a result of the Royal
Commission with the focus on the protection of children
Karen would also like to highlight to our members that over 3000 NT teachers will need to renew their Full Registration in the next couple of months. Timelines and processes have already been emailed to those affected, but it is certainly in the interest of NTPA members to ensure teachers do what is required as they can not work in schools at the start of next year if they do not complete the process.
Thank you Karen, we wish you all the best.
Congratulations to Susanne Fisher who will be the new NTPA representative from October 2020.
Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey reminder
If you haven't got to yet, stand down would be a great opportunity.
Survey is open until the 4th October.
2020 School Leader wellbing grant
This is a reminder that we have until the 23rd of October to complete the simple online process for your 2020 wellbeing grant.
Below is the grant-fact sheet :
We would love to hear how you plan to use your grant.
BTS Sparks have provided the below 2 courses if you are after any suggestions.
Personal Resistance
Sometimes in our leader work, we encounter challenges to our wellbeing in the form of negative incidents or conversations. These can play over and over in our mind, become intrusive and interfere with our work and thinking. These intrusive thoughts can be described as ‘tumble dryer thoughts’ or rumination.
In recent years, studies have shown that playing Tetris can disrupt this unproductive thinking pattern and have positive mental health benefits.
Tetris is a tile-matching video game created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. Tetris uses up brain space and stops us thinking about anything else. A Queensland University of Technology and Plymouth University study found that “playing a visually interesting game like Tetris occupies the mental processes that support that imagery; it is hard to imagine something vividly and play Tetris at the same time.”
In another study by Emily Holmes at the University of Cambridge, it was shown that flashbacks following a traumatic incident could be reduced by playing Tetris for 12 minutes, and within a specific time frame. “Since it takes about six hours for the brain to cement a memory, the key is to play the game soon after trauma or within six hours of re-activating the traumatic memory.” The team concluded that playing Tetris helps because it soaks up a person’s visual processing capacity, making it harder for the brain to consolidate the visual parts of a traumatic memory.”
So, if you experience an event or interaction that is distressing, as well as seeking help if you need it, try playing Tetris within 6 hours and for 12 minutes.
Links to other Professional Learning Opportunities, Publications, and Professional Reading:
Sound Scouts have made hearing screening even easier for schools by creating an interactive online guide.
This simple and effective booklet details everything a school needs to plan and carry out a hearing screening session using the Sound Scouts app.
It also explains what to do if a student fails the test and takes you step-by-step through the referral pathways
Click here to launch the interactive Screening Guide
Accessing support |
If you need assistance please visit the dedicated Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service .Trained mental health professionals are available to talk to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via our phone support line on 1800 512 348 |
Day for Daniel 2020 – Register today!
On Friday 30 October join the Daniel Morcombe Foundation for the national day of action for child safety education ‘Day for Daniel’. The day aims to empower Australian kids to ‘Recognise, React, Report’ if they ever feel unsafe. Every year, schools and early learning centres around Australia ‘Wear Red, Educate and Donate’ to remember Daniel Morcombe and educate children about their safety.
With a suite of over 20 Keeping Kids Safe Resources including activities and fact sheets, educators and parents are encouraged to teach their children about their personal safety in physical and online environments. Plus, everything is free and easily accessible online! Over 3,500 schools are currently registered to participate in Day for Daniel, so get your school involved!
To register or find out more visit www.DanielMorcombe.com.au
Daniel Morcombe Foundation launched our latest educational program, Changing Futures.
Changing Futures aims to provide educators and frontline staff with the tools they need to identify and respond to harmful sexual behaviours in pre-teens. Through national webinars, state and territory specific workshops, the program aims to build competence and confidence in the prevention, identification, and early intervention of these behaviours. Webinars and workshops start from next month, and are completely free of charge.
Click below for the Digital Promotion Kit has been developed to assist in sharing information about the Changing Futures program.
Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of
Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and one of Fortune’s “40 under 40.” He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek and Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. The Observer and other media have called Tim “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 100 million downloads. It has now exceeded 500 million downloads.
We would love to hear of some of your favourite podcasts or reads that we can share with the members.