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Dear Parents / Guardians, Letter from the Editor Form teacher Guidance Period (FTGP) Education & Career Guidance Feature Article : School Refusal 1 1 2 2-3

Supporting Your Child at 4 home with Learning Parenting Style That Suits You 4

With this issue, the team would like to gather some feedback from you. Do let us know of Once again we meet in another issue of Straight from the Heart. I hope that you have found what you think of the articles and what else we can the earlier issue useful and have been able to try out include in our future issues. Please visit our one or two tips that you have picked up from reading schools website and click on the link provided to give us your responses online. For those who may the articles. not have easy access to computers, hardcopies are We have come to the second half of the available upon request. We look forward to receivyear 2011. Your children, our leaders, have already ing your feedback. completed six months of work and have just comHappy reading! pleted their mid-year examinations. The academic year is not over and theres much to be done. We Mrs Noras Sohaimi encourage you to push-on and persevere to provide Editor the best education possible for your children. Advisor : In this issue we are sharing with you more Mdm Tan Lee Ching Elis (Principal) tips on parenting to help support our leaders and some information on programmes initiated to de- Editorial Team : velop them in various aspects of character building. Mrs Noras Sohaimi (HOD SD) It is our hope that through the information, you will Miss Syafiqah (AED LBS) have a better understanding of some our efforts and Mr See Siang Hua (AED Counselling) thus be better able to complement the programmes Mr Hamzah (Part-time School Counsellor) Miss Joyce Lee (SH CCE Covering) initiated by the school.

The Form Teacher Guidance period (FTGP) is initiated by MOE to enhance teacher-pupil relationship. Yu Neng began FTGP early this year starting at the foundation levels of Honesty 1 and Respect 2. In our school, one period within the curriculum has been set aside for form teachers to conduct SEL (Social Emotional Learning) based lessons with the leaders. These lessons help to equip our leaders with lifeskills and social skills and are conducted in a non-threatening environment that enables the young leaders to articulate their thoughts and feelings. Leaders are guided through their reflections documented in worksheets or the pupils journals. For the Honesty 1 and Respect 2 levels, lessons are alternated between mass teaching in the hall and classroom-based interaction activities. Teachers have found these lessons very fulfilling as they are able to bond with their leaders and form a more holistic understanding of them.

For the upper levels, lessons and activities are conducted by the form teachers. Selected lessons and activities are conducted between 2-4 times in the term depending on the level. No matter what the approach is, the programme complements the schools effort in SEL. To know more about the content of FTGP lessons, you can take a look at the journal that all Honesty 1 and Respect 2 pupils have bought. As FTGP is still in its initial implementation stages for the upper primary levels, journals for these levels are currently not being used. In the year 2012, the programme will be rolled out more extensively to all levels.

School refusal occurs when a child does not want to go to school, or refuses to go to school. When it happens, it can be very stressful for all involved. Parents, it is not your fault if your child is not willing to go to school but there are some things you can do to help your child to go back to school. Children who dont want to go to school usually; Want to stay at home with family members. Feel very comfortable staying at home with a lot of freedom. Enjoy playing computer games, watching TV programmes, etc. Get upset about going to school, complain about not feeling well without any physical cause. Dont have any sign of physical or behaviour problem. Affected by family problems such as parents marital issues. Computer/ game/ internal addiction. Reasons for school refusal Some reasons for not wanting to go to school are: Separation anxiety this may be due to them having experienced unhappy separation in the past for example; fear of losing a parent due to broken family. Fear that a parent might leave him or her when the child is in school. Jealousy of the elder or younger siblings who stay at home, having a good time with parents at home while she/he is in school. Being bullied in school. Unable to catch up with lesson due to learning difficulties. Not getting along with a teacher or afraid of a teacher. Parents unable to pick their children up on time after school, resulting

in them feeling that they have been forgotten. What parents can do It is important to get the child back to school, because the longer he is away the harder it is likely to be. If the problem has just started, try to find a possible cause. Here are some strategies for consideration; Let the child know that you believe that going to school is really important. You need to believe that your child will get over the problem and let your child know that you believe in her/him. Listen to your child and encourage him/her to tell you about his/her feelings and fears. Show empathy to your child, let him/her know that you can understand how he/she feels and provide emotional support to your child. Check with the teacher what is happening in school. It is important that you develop a good relationship with your child's teacher and let your child knows this as well. Getting help from the School Counsellor Encourage your child to take part in school CCA Give guidance and support for his/her homework, let your child go to school without stress of homework issues. It was noticed that some school refusal are also associated with disorders such as anxiety and depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. Management of school refusal requires a collaborative approach that includes parents, family members, teachers, school counsellor, and a mental health professional.

Education and Career Guidance (ECG) is a developmental process which helps our leaders become more aware of their strengths, interests, values and be more motivated to work hard and do well in school. ECG will help them to explore their dreams, find a suitable educational pathways and develop to become confident and motivated individuals who are ready for decisions and transitions in the 21 st century. In Yu Neng we offer ECG lessons for all levels of students but there are different emphasis for different levels to meet varying developmental needs. For levels Honesty 1 to Helpfulness 4, nonportal lessons will be used to let our leaders to explore to different types of occupations. For Teamwork 5 and Resilience 6 leaders, lessons will be carried out via e-portal. With this web-based portal, students will be able to explore the industrial landscape and discover occupations, find their favourite secondary school, explore

schools and Singapore education landscape. At the end of the lesson, leaders need to complete a simple worksheet that captures their learning. Every leader will have a personal account when he is in Primary 5 upwards. They can log on to e_portal at www.ecareers.sg to gain a better understanding of their interests, abilities and future aspirations. As a parent, you are encouraged to navigate the portal together with your child. You can play a crucial role to help your child discover his interests and develop his strengths, and to guide him to make informed education and career choices that will impact his future significantly.
Reference : ECG brochure

Apabila anak anda enggan bersekolah, perkara ini boleh menyebabkan satu tekanan bagi ibubapa. Apa yang perlu anda tahu ialah, anda bukanlah penyebab terjadinya perkara sedemikian. Bagaimanapun, banyak yang boleh anda lakukan untuk menangani masaalah ini. Beberapa punca anak anda enggan ke sekolah ialah : Keinginan untuk bersama ahli keluarga yang tidak bersekolah Keselesaan serta kebebasan ketika berada di rumah Perasaan senang bermain komputer atau menonton televisyen Kerunsing apabila ke sekolah dan mengadu sakit apabila perlu ke sekolah Gangguan emosi ekoran masaalah keluarga yang mungkin di hadapi Penyebab utama kanak-kanak enggan ke sekolah : Masaalah berpisahini mungkin kerana perasaan takut kehilangan ibu atau bapa (perceraian)

Perasaan iri terhadap adik atau anggota keluarga yang belum atau tidak bersekolah Masaalah dibuli oleh rakan-rakan di sekolah Tidak dapat memahami pelajaran yang diajar di sekolah Tidak dapat menyesuaikan diri dengan keadaan di sekolah umpamanya tidak suka dengan guru yang mengajar sesuatu subjek Yang penting, anda harus berusaha mendapatkan anak anda kembali bersekolah. Anda harus menerapkan pada anak anda akan peri pentingnya pelajaran dalam menjamin masadepan yang cerah baginya. Cuba memahami perasaan negatif yang mungkin dirasai oleh anak itu. Anda seharusnya berjumpa dengan guru sekolah anak anda supaya dapat memahami dengan lebih mendalam tentang masaalah yang di hadapinya dan bagaimana ianya dapat di atasi. Anda boleh juga berjumpa dengan kaunselor di sekolah. Salah satu penyebab anak anda enggan bersekolah mungkin berpunca dari gangguan kebimbangan atau kemurungan. Walau apapun sebabnya, masaalah yang di hadapi oleh anak anda akan dapat dihuraikan melalui kerjasama antara anda, pihak sekolah, kaunselor serta para karyawan yang berkaitan.

by Syafiqah Md. Faiz

Children may be overwhelmed with homework and revision. This is especially true for pupils with learning difficulties (i.e. in reading, writing and spelling). Here are some tips that you may follow to support your children in their learning at home. Creating an everyday schedule for your child can help provide a visual reminder for them so that they know what work to complete for the day. Below is an example of a simple schedule you may want to use for your child. Children put a tick when they have completed each task. This schedule gives them a sense of achievement and provides feedback on what else they have to do. Some children may find it difficult to learn and memorise spelling words. As a result, they may give up and not learn at all. We can use the computer as a tool to encourage them to learn spelling. For example, the following website (http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ ambleweb/lookcover/lookcover.html) allows you to key in your childrens spelling words for them to learn. Another way of learning spelling is to use different colours to break up the different syllables (e.g. use red marker for cro, use blue marker for co, and use green marker for dile, to form the word crocodile). This method is especially useful for visual learners. For children with weak vocabulary usage, you may want to go through certain words to be introduced in subsequent lessons in the class. This will prepare them prior to lessons conducted by teachers. There is no perfect method or solution for each child. Do not give up if one method does not seem to work. Find out from your child the difficulties he/she is facing and modify the methods accordingly. Communicate with your childs class teachers to find out more about his/her learning style and what methods have been working for him/her in class so that you can continue using the methods at home.

Every child learns in a different manner. Some may learn best by drawing mind maps to summarise a topic, by viewing videos, or by reading and referring to pictures. They are known as visual learners. Some learn better by primarily listening to their teacher in class. For these auditory learners, you may want to encourage the use of tape recorder to record summarized points, which they can later listen back to revise. Others may be kinaesthetic learners. This means that they learn best when moving about and doing activities, rather than just listening. For these children, try to use objects to assist them in their learning. For example, you can allow them to rearrange letter tiles or cards when learning spelling. Explore the different ways of learning to see what works best for your child.

by Hamzah Abdul Rahman

Although parenting styles can be grouped broadly into three categories, there are many other ways of bringing up our children. A likely method which many parents in Singapore may adopt would be the method their own parents used on them. No matter what method is used in bringing up our children, the ideal parenting style would be the one which leads to positive outcomes for our children. This ideal parenting style must take into consideration how decisions are made and communicated to the children. In the authoritarian style of parenting, the parents simply tell the children what to do all the time and make the children obey them without giving them options, choices or explanations. These parents are also less tolerant of disobedience and tend to resort to punitive measures if the standards set by the parents are not met by the children. Warmth, affection and trust are usually lacking. Children from such families may turn out to be adults who are docile and unable to think for themselves. They tend to be compliant and submissive and have low self-esteem. The permissive or indulgent parents who let their children do whatever they want, on the other hand, have almost no control of their children. Rules within the family are very few and rarely enforced. These parents tend to be accepting of their children's behaviour no matter how their children behave. They do not set clear boundaries or expectations for their children's behaviour. The children are allowed to make their own decisions even though they may not be ready to do so. At times they appear to be condoning the negative behaviours of their children. Such children have the tendency to be aggressive and difficult to manage and, at times, may question authority figures. The democratic or authoritative parents not only make demands on how their children should behave but also respond to the children's views and opinions. They guide their children to learn to be responsible and to consider the consequences of their actions and behaviour. These parents are clear and reasonable with their expectations of their children. They provide explanations as to why they expect their children to behave in a certain manner. They monitor and discuss their children's behaviour to ensure that the rules and expectations of the family are fully understood and observed. There is always warmth, understanding and love in the family environment. Good behaviour is always reaffirmed and reinforced. The democratic parents help in the social and emotional development of their children by providing them with choices based on their children's ability. The emphasis on their children's development and well being is on guiding their behaviour by teaching; not by punishing. This will result in positive outcomes for their children who tend to be thinking adults who are responsive to the needs of others around them. As parents we should know what is best for our children although at times we may need to seek help from external sources through reading or consultation. It must be remembered though, that no parenting style will work unless we build a loving bond with our children..