On Tuesday evening, Wilderness hosted a Wait Mate information session for our own families and for parents from schools across our community. Thank you to everyone who attended and to the Wait Mate team for a thought-provoking evening.

There is growing research showing that our children face significant challenges to their wellbeing and that social media and smartphones can play a role. In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt describes “the great rewiring of childhood”. Since the early 2010s, as childhood has shifted from play-based to phone-based, we have seen a marked rise in anxiety and depression among young people.

Haidt calls this a collective action problem. Most parents have doubts about giving a young child a smartphone, yet standing firm alone against “but everyone else has one” is genuinely hard. It becomes so much easier when we stand shoulder to shoulder. When families in a year group agree to wait together, no child is left out and waiting becomes the collective choice rather than the isolating one.

Schools cannot do this alone, so I warmly invite you to work in partnership with us. Talk with the families in your daughter's year group and join Wait Mate together at sa.waitmate.org.au.

Childhood is short, and it is worth protecting. Let us give our girls the gift of time: time to play, to be bored, to build friendships and to grow up at the pace childhood was always meant to have.

None of us can do this alone. Together, we can.

Reception Assembly

This week, our Reception girls presented a wonderful assembly item, sharing what they have enjoyed most about their first year of school. They spoke with such confidence and joy, and it was a delight to hear their reflections on the friendships, learning and adventures that have filled their year. The girls made us all so proud. Thank you to our Reception teachers, Mrs Menzies and Miss Thiele, for preparing them so beautifully.

Years 3–6 Swimming Carnival

I wish to express my gratitude for the patience, support and good humour that was exhibited by our Wilderness community as we navigated what was quite a memorable way to conclude our Swimming Carnival, with a power outage at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre! The girls all followed instructions beautifully and this was only enhanced by the calm that our staff and parent community brought to those moments. It was lovely to see everyone taking very good care of one another. As much as we wouldn't have chosen and couldn't have predicted ending our day in this manner, the Carnival itself was a great success up until that point. This will stand out as not only memorable, but as yet another occasion where I feel truly proud of our Wilderness community. 

Conclusion

As we move further into Term 4 and engage in all it brings, including camps, excursions, musicals, New Girls Day and our usual classroom learning, I encourage the girls to be gentle on themselves and each other. Activity and novel experiences bring enthusiasm and excitement, but also a level of tiredness. Taking care of one another so we finish the year together well will be an ongoing focus in our Junior School. I look forward to seeing you at our many upcoming events in the coming weeks.