Friendship, peer relationships and getting along with other people is an important part of any child’s development. For many students making and keeping friends seems to be quite effortless, but for others it can be a challenge. Research by Psychologists Gladys Williams and Dr Steven Asher for the national network for child care found that […]
You have probably heard that praising children is beneficial. However some types of praise may actually be detrimental. Praise that identifies innate qualities about the child such as talents or strengths, for example, ‘You’re really good at maths’, ‘What a good artist you are’ or ‘You are so clever’, may be causing children to under […]
The beginning of a new term can provoke anxiety for some children. Some children will cope with this anxiety by refusing to go to school. When a significant number of school absences occur that are not related to illness, this may be described as ‘school refusal’. School refusal is a more serious condition than separation […]
This week saw the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The extensive media coverage, reporting of these events, and the repetition of images and stories over the past week means that many children will have been exposed to what occurred on September 11 2001. Experts say that repeatedly viewing […]
This week we officially launched Psych4Schools twice! Two launches to acknowledge staff from several schools who have trialled and supported Psych4Schools across Victoria during the last two years. The week prior Murray also shared the website with primary principals on the south coast of NSW. Milton Public School Principal Mary Lou Barclay who assisted with trialling […]
Should teachers raise the issue of weight with the parents of overweight or obese children in their classroom? A recent study of over 5000 preschool children has found that often parents are not aware that their child is overweight or obese. This has implications for teachers when talking to parents about their child’s weight. The […]
The most effective whole school behaviour management plans are carefully thought out, based on all of the information available about the student and communicated well to other staff. Understandably schools need behaviour management plans to be written quickly. However, an afternoon spent gathering information about the child before writing the plan will help to build […]
Are you about to follow up hours of student report writing with parent-teacher interviews? These interviews offer a great opportunity to build partnerships with the parents of your students. To maximise short interview times you need to be highly organised. Make notes for each child. It can be helpful to create an index card or […]