5 minute read
Giving students space to learn, create and grow.
from KIDDO Mag Issue 26
by Kiddo Mag
With a comprehensive academic program that is designed to challenge and inspire students, we use a variety of teaching methods to ensure that all students can achieve more than they thought possible.
Our highly qualified teaching staff are dedicated to the growth of every student, with specialist teachers taking specific subject lessons, including Music, Art, PE, IT, Languages, and Religious and Values Education (RAVE), while others provide support and extended learning for individual students, across all subject areas.
Our extensive co-curricular program offers a wide range of activities that all add to the Westminster experience. Held on the School campus, before and after school hours, these activities include a variety of sports, running club, visual and creative arts, debating, chess, dance, music, and more.
Both our Preparatory and Senior Schools are located on one spacious campus, not only allowing students to share outstanding teaching resources and access to all our new purpose-built facilities but also creating a seamless journey from Early Learning to Year 12.
We invite you to join us on one of our personalised campus tours to fully experience Westminster and see firsthand how our vibrant School and community can truly benefit your child and your family.
Learn more about everything that Westminster has to offer and book your tour by visiting our website.
If so, congratulations!
You are most likely then, to be familiar with Baby Brain, that doughy, hazy confusion that sees you walk into a room and forget why you’re in there, put your car keys in the fridge and reply “good thanks” when someone simply says “hello”.
Scientists have apparently conducted studies that have found no evidence to back up such a condition. But mothers know it deep in all of our many fluids to be true. A lot of facts may fall out of our brain to be replaced with Wiggles lyrics, but this one remains.
And I’m here to break it to you that Baby Brain transitions into Mother Brain and that, I’m sorry to say, appears to be a permanent, incurable condition.
Wil Anderson recently came into the SAFM studio for an interview during the Fringe and I confessed to my co-host Soda that I was feeling intimidated by Wil’s well-known intelligence and wit.
“Why?” he replied. “You’re smart.” (He’s being overly kind as it’s a new working relationship).
“I used to be smart” was my sighed response. And it’s true. I was quite smart.
I mean, I wasn’t on the debating team or in the orchestra but I did all the hard subjects at school. Maths, Physics and Chem. Now I use the calculator on my phone to work out simple discounts on sale items.
I got High Distinctions at university and then joined the ABC where I watched Four Corners and Q&A so I could smugly keep across politics. Now I watch Wednesday and White Lotus so I can smugly keep across pop culture references and trending memes.
I used to read books before bed and the newspaper when I woke up.
Now I pick up my phone and aimlessly scroll Instagram. Maybe I’ll get sucked in by a sneaky pop-up ad and do some online shopping for a plug-in car vacuum and under-eye masks. (Sadly these are actual purchases).
If I do pick up a newspaper I find my attention drifting midway through an article.
I have always prided myself on spelling and grammar and now sometimes I find myself looking at a word and wondering if I’ve spelled it correctly. Next minute I’m self-diagnosing early onset Alzheimer’s and wondering whether Wordle is enough to keep my mind active or whether I need to take up Sudoku and adult colouring books as well.
I have mental blanks with people’s names daily. Every Dad at school is either Mark, Paul or Nick and sometimes I’ll just take a reckless stab at it. What has happened to me? And how can I reverse the decline?
Did a small part of my brain pass out through the placenta during the birth of my three children?
I suspect it’s a combination of factors. The primary culprit… fatigue.
Four years of breakfast radio has me wandering the streets in a constant brain fog.
Then there’s social media. The short attention span I accuse my children of having after being constantly glued to Tik Tok, I am also guilty of. As I write this, I find myself mindlessly picking up my phone every five minutes for no good reason.
And then, I must confess, there’s just plain laziness, which can be a by-product of the relentless parenting/career slog.
It’s just so much easier to pick up a phone than a book, to watch a mindless series on a streaming service than an ABC doco.
But I don’t want to be this person. I want to be good at the Brainwaves quiz in the paper and be well-informed at dinner parties about subjects other than Olivia Wilde’s secret salad dressing and how Kendall can’t cut a cucumber.
I’m going to put myself through a Brain Boot Camp.
I’ve already started reading more books this year and I’m trying to get my screen time down.
I’m also going to prioritise sleep, at the risk of losing my current charming state of disorientation during conversations. And I’m going to start live-tweeting #QandA. Or at least watching it.
Now what did I come into this room for again?
Hello Emma Memma!
Everyone’s favourite former yellow Wiggle, Emma Watkins, is back with a new character that's sure to have the kiddos breaking out their dancing shoes! Since leaving The Wiggles, Emma has created a brand new character for kids to get to know and love - Emma Memma!
We chat with Emma about the evolution of Emma Memma and the importance of inclusivity in children’s entertainment.
What inspired you to create the character and incorporate her into your children's music and performances?
I’ve been engaged with my PhD area of sign language and dance for many years and essentially, she was created from some of that research. The character really is the vehicle that we use to share joy and play with our child audience. However, I have had some people mention to me that they see ‘Emma Memma’ as an extension of myself and being able to bring myself to the character has been intriguing. As in, people tend to know my hobbies in dance and movement and my love for animals and so it feels natural to include them in the character’s profile.
Talk to us about the inclusivity in your performances and songs
Our show is for everyone, it really is for the whole family. Sign language, gesture and movement are embedded in the show. We have a national sign language in Australia, Auslan, and we do not support the language or the culture enough here. It feels imperative to incorporate sign language into a preschool show, especially when children are not speaking yet, or maybe will choose not to or are unable to. We use visual language even when we are speaking so our show is enhancing those features to create awareness of sign language in our society. How does it feel when you encounter families who engage with Emma Memma using sign language? We have met so many families engaging with the sign language, dancing and music in the show. Interestingly, when we performed the songs live in our small meet-and-greet settings, multiple sets of parents mentioned to us that they also felt included in the ‘dancing/signing’. They described feeling ‘less awkward’ because they didn’t have to dance in an exaggerated way or stand up in front of other people; all the signing could be done sitting down next to their child.
What do you hope children will take away from the message and values that Emma Memma represents?
That they can express themselves however they choose to. We do hope that Elvin, my co-performer who is profoundly Deaf, can be a guide for young children that may have a hearing loss, perhaps they love to dance and that this fosters more creative thinking in our community.
How do you see Emma Memma evolving in the future?
So many things! We are about to embark on developing our very first TV series and we are looking forward to sharing this with everyone soon. We are so excited to have released our very first book, ‘Hello, Emma Memma’ and we’ve just finished our Twirly Tour around Australia! It was so great to see everyone there!