Here are some ways that parents can give positive support:

1. Encourage a healthy balance. Studying for hours on end and getting emotionally worked up is not helpful. Encourage your teen to continue to play sport or do other exercise, engage in drama, music or drawing, and have downtime by themselves or with others - away from their studies and digital devices.
2. Support your teen to have a smart and healthy study routine. Good exam study routines don't just happen. They need to be planned. It is helpful for parents to be supportively involved in discussing and negotiating an effective and healthy routine. Have one-on-one and whole-family discussions about how to make things work best for the person doing the exams. Discuss and draw up a 'workable' study schedule that covers every subject well. Agree on how to limit distractions and interruptions. Keep in mind that studying is best done in blocks (e.g. two 45-60 minute blocks with a 15-minute break).
3. Ensure the home environment is calm and supports your teen to feel comfortable, concentrate and think clearly. Help to eliminate distractions like TVs, music and mobile phones from study areas, and to ensure the physical conditions support concentration (e.g. good lighting, a cool temperature, a table and chair). Offer suggestions to declutter the study area and keep study resources in order. Encourage your other children to be quiet during study times and to appreciate their older sibling's needs, anxieties and frustrations. Make a commitment to yourself to be calm, supportive and tolerant.
4. Keep perspective: remember that while you want your them to do their best, these exam results will not define their future. The end of secondary school is the start of a new chapter in their life - and yours! When the exams are over, celebrate their end, and the end of schooling. By doing this, you will help your teenager to keep things in perspective while they wait for their results and after they get them.
5. When the results arrive, support your teenager to keep things in perspective and really weigh up their options. Your teen may or may not achieve the results they were hoping for, and this can obviously affect their job prospects or their likelihood of being accepted into a particular course or university. Talk with them about their feelings, and the choices and options available to them. Let them know that you want to support them in their decision-making but that you also trust them. Let them know you care and are there for them. Help them to see the bright side and to have a laugh. 

There are many support networks available if you ever need help, and the two web sites below offer helpful information. You might also check with your school about the counselling services it offers, and encourage your teen to download the Smiling Mind or Headspace App to help them to 'chill out' and so something to make them feel good.

Children often mirror parents and so when we learn and practice better skills to deal with stressful situations, they can also benefit. Many schools are now supporting students to improve their wellbeing and resilience through mindfulness and meditation, and we can do this at home too. Practicing relaxation, creating storytelling around special places to get away, playing calm music and doing simple stress-busting muscle exercises can actually be quite engaging activities for parents and children of all ages to do together.

Like adults, children can get stuck when they feel anxious, worried, disappointed, scared or really stressed out. They go over and over things in their head and of course this tends to make things worse. These three strategies can work as circuit breakers.

Grab somes Stress Balls and Keep them Close

This cheap and simple activity really is quite amazing. It relieves physical tension and stress, and by distracting you from your worry, usually improves your mood.

What to do?

Relax your body and, with your arms apart and a stress ball in each hand, squeeze the balls as hard as you can.

When you can't squeeze any tighter, hold your grip and count to 10, then slowly release your grip and relax. Repeat 5 - 8 times.

If you want to challenge yourself a bit more, when you can't squeeze any tighter, hold your grip and count to 20, then slightly release the tension and count to 20 again. Do this once more and then slowly release your full grip and relax

While completing the steps, take notice of everything physical: the tension of your hands, wrists and fingers, and any sensations of heat and blood flow

Practice at least once a day and whenever you feel stressed or need mental clarity.  

Grab a Chair and Find a Wall

For this activity, put a straight-backed chair up against a wall. Sit upright, place your hands loosely on your thighs or in your lap and focus your eyes on a distant point.

Now, push your feet flat on the floor and, att the same time, push your body into the back of the chair. Count to 10 slowly and then release the tension in your body slowly. Repeat 5 - 8 times.

Practise Dual Awareness

Dual awareness is about paying attention to different experiences at the same time to help calm down when you're feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

It involves taking notice of your emotions, body sensations and thoughts around what is causing you distress, and at the same time, taking notice of where you are by observing things around you.

Have a go by yourself and then try it out with your children. Here's how:

We have previously shared some tips to help parents communicate well with teachers, but what about communicating well with our children? In the daily juggles and struggles of life, we can be guilty of only half listening to them, and expecting them to understand what we mean even when what we said wasn't very clear. They often demand our attention at the most inconvenient times, and can be rather unforgiving when they don't get it!

As a parent who used to get easily frustrated, I've found a small solution. When my children want my undivided attention, they now know to ask 'Mum, can I have your attention?' This gives me a cue to 'red flag' them as an immediate priority, and when I give my attention now, they are confident to say what's on their mind because they know I really am listening. The result is less frustration and guilt and more listening and understanding. Sitting down together at meal time also helps everyone in the family to practice and improve their communication skills.

However, getting the basics right by creating time to talk and being patient is only the first step. The next is to listen well and not just hear.

Listening well means understanding what someone really means and how they really feel. 

This article outlines the skills of active listening for parents and carers.

Earlier this year, the Federation signed a new three-year funding agreement with the State Government for parent and family engagement initiatives in our school communities. The first round of funding in July saw over $29,000 awarded to 17 schools.

While all successful applicants put forward excellent proposals, we were especially impressed with the St Joseph’s Education Centre's initiative. Part of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College in Enfield, this centre supports young mothers to complete their SACE through individualised learning programs that are typcially designed to also enhance their employment prospects. The PIE grant funding is being used to develop real-time learning journals that directly connect the mothers' classroom learning to their children's learning and cognitive development in the creche. The journals will provide ongoing information about the children's activities, routines and milestones and facilitate exploration of the vital role of positive parenting in children's physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. This highly innovative initiative incorporates community engagement through mother-child excursions (e.g. to local library reading sessions) and will see the extension of the character strengths approach (PERMA model) into the creche.

We advise that applications for 2019 funding are now open and will close on Monday 26th November, with successful applicants to be advised by the end of the school term. 

The maximum funding for any single application is $2,500.

The Federation of Catholic School Parent Communities is an affiliate member of the Australian Parents Council (APC), an apolitical, non-profit organisation representing the interests of parents and carers of children at non-government schools at the federal level. We believe it is vitally important that the voices of all parents are heard, especially with a federal election looming.

The APC wants to hear more about what the education and school issues are that most concern parents. What do parents really care about? What education choices have they made and why were these choices made? Do parents care more for opportunities, funding, fairness and/or choice? Or are parents worried that there is too much technology in the classroom? Are kids prepared enough for the world of work? Or is your major concern your child’s stress and well-being?

Whatever your opinion is and regardless of where you child goes to school, the APC wants to hear from you. The survey findings will assist in the continuous advocacy for parents across the political landscape.

This survey should only take a couple of minutes to complete, but you are welcome to add more detail and comments. All responses will remain anonymous.

Like many surveys, the more responses received, the better. Please feel free to share the survey link on your own social medias and for schools and various parent committees, on your social medias also. 

So along with the APC, we thank you in advance for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Australia now has some new guidelines for how early childhood educators in particular, but also families, can support young children to safely develop and thrive in our digital world. Produced by Early Childhood Australia in consultation with the Australian eSafety Commissioner and leading academics, the Statement on Young Children and Digital Technologies was launched in September.

"It's a much broader issue than just thinking that we've got to get children off screens, children learn from adult behaviour and our own use of screens is something they constantly observe," said the statement's co-author Professor Susan Edwards of the Australian Catholic University.

Emphasising the importance of helping children to develop a healthy ‘digital mindset’ from an early age, she also said "We really need to put our effort into helping children learn to self-regulate and manage their own digital technology, know that 'now I need to put [the device] down, now it's time to concentrate on this task that doesn't involve technology'."

The statement discusses the need to be very mindful of security and privacy issues, especially when posting photos and information about young children on social media and apps. "Some apps used by children and educators in early childhood education and care settings - even those that appear to operate offline - can record large amounts of data about children without user knowledge ... to directly target children for continued play and/or advertising and promotional material."

It also identifies the best technology uses to encourage children's motor skills and cognitive and social development, plus the health risks to vision, sleep and physical wellbeing that excessive device use can cause.

It is virtually impossible to completely escape technology and, of course, technology has many positive benefits in learning and living. So, like everything, the goal is to teach - and model - to our children what a healthy 'digital mindset' looks like in daily life. Onse small bit of advice from Early Childhood Australia? "It is unhealthy to use technology as a reward or treat".

The Foundation for Young Australians has been tracking the changing world of work and young people’s experiences in this for some years now. Its recent research shows that young people:

* May have as many as 5 different careers and make 17 changes in employers over their working lives.

* Now take an average of 2.6 years to transition from leaving education to full-time work (excluding gap years).

* Lack confidence about their working futures, with 28% experiencing anxiety and 40% experiencing stress.

* Believe they lack necessary career management skills like job application (25%) and interviewing skills (26%), or the technical skills (50%) required to get full time work.

* Are increasingly more likely to achieve full time work (35+ hours per week) through multiple jobs rather than a single job. These may be permanent part-time, casual or a combination.

Looking at the circumstances and experiences of young people who had obtained full time work by age 25 and those who hadn’t, the Foundation found four factors that can accelerate young people’s transition from education to work:

* An education that builds enterprise skills (e.g. problem-solving, teamwork, communication and creativity) which are transferable across jobs and in high demand can accelerate transition by up to 17 months.

* Undertaking relevant paid work while studying can accelerate transition by between 5 months (where 2,000 hours had been worked) and 12 months (where 5,000 hours had been worked).

* Finding paid employment in a sector which is growing – or a ‘future focused job cluster’ can accelerate transition by 5 months.

* Having an optimistic mindset about career prospects can accelerate transition by 2 months.

The Foundation says there are seven job clusters in the Australian labour market and three of these are more future-focused than the others. It names these the Carers, the Technologists and the Informers. You can access more information about these in the report The New Work Reality (go to page 21 and scroll through to page 25).

Note: The Foundation’s research on the experiences of young people is based on an analysis of data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth which has been running since 1995 and follows young Australians over 10 years from their mid-teens to their mid-twenties.

Lord,

Help us to be patient with our children, to give them time when they need it;

To listen to their views, however much they may differ from ours.

Help us in our conversations together, that we may always trust each other.

As our children search for knowledge, help us to learn with them.

Lord of Life,

As we try to help and guide our children, we realise how much we need help and guidance ourselves. 

We call upon you, as our Father, and ask for the help of your spirit. 

It was said, "If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

Lord, 

Fill us with your spirit, for our sake and for the sake of our children.

Amen.