Happy, Calm Students Learn Best! We all want to thrive!  It is a fundamental belief that the staff and students all want to lead happy, healthy, engaged, purposeful lives.  We want our students to be connected to other people, to learn and grow, to prosper and to do good in the world.  We recognise that most of the students will struggle at some point in their lives.  This is okay.  It is called living and is a normal part of ‘life experience’.  The staff have become aware of the variety of needs our students and community members have as everyone is at a different stage along the continuum.  Some struggle with a homework issue whilst others thrive. The staff have commenced looking at the research into Positive Psychology (mentioned in my article a number of weeks ago) to determine what is helpful to those who are doing really well and also what may be helpful to those who are struggling.  At its heart, Positive Psychology and Positive Education is a number of key themes:  We (students, parents and staff) need to ‘do the work, to reap the benefits’.  Another way to look at this is – we should live it, teach it and embed it in all aspects of the school.  Just like a garden, we need to look after all aspects of our wellbeing constantly  Prevention is better than cure.  Improving protective factors helps strengthen wellbeing and reduce poor mental health from occurring.  Mental health is a continuum.  Mental health, positive education practices and wellbeing can and must be improved, re-assessed and spoken about.  We must use a range of tools.  We want to equip our community with a range of tools to use when they are feeling down or struggling rather than having a ‘one tool fits all’ attitude. Where is Caloundra City Private School at now?  The other day at a Senior School staff meeting, I placed all the school’s processes, procedures and policies under an umbrella that I drew on the whiteboard.  I spoke about how umbrellas are protective, strong when held into the wind, flexible, powerful, provide shelter and have dignity.  Our symbolic umbrella is also very colourful.  I stated that the ribs of the umbrella represented what Caloundra City Private School stood for and that one of these was Positive Psychology, Positive Education and Wellbeing.  Soon, we will look at what the other ribs represent.  This ultimately will be part of the strategic planning that we will go through.  Now we are looking at what makes up Positive Education, Positive Psychology and Wellbeing at the school.  This is an important road to be on at the moment and I look forward to many, many conversations with students, staff and parents on these topics. Athletics – Field Events and Track Events The Principal’s of the Independent Schools of the Sunshine Coast have decided to hold a two-day ‘friendly, non-competitive’ Athletics Carnival late in Term 3 at the University of the Sunshine Coast.  This is totally dependent on whether government restrictions are relaxed in time.  Our school will decide whether we will be involved early next term.  We would still like to have a ‘stylised’ Athletics competition for the students to be involved in without taking students out of classes due to the amount of time they have already been out of them. The Physical Education department cannot take a trick with the weather and our carnivals this year.  On Tuesday we were going to hold the 100 and 200 metre races for Year 7 – 10 and right on cue it began to rain very heavily.  Postpone to another day was the call! Our plan now is; 8 – 12 years 100 and 200 metre races will be held during sport this Friday 19 June. 8 – 16 years field events will be done during HPE classes this week and next week (Week 10). 13 – 16 years 100 and 200 metre races will be held during sport next Tuesday 23 June. 17 years and Open Field Events will be held during lunch recess next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 17 years and Open 100 and 200 metre races will be held Week 2, Term 3. Let’s hope the weather is kind to us for once this year. Go gently. Peter McMahon