This has naturally raised the question: How much scheduling of a child’s time is too much?

In the last few years, the debate about the merits of enrichment versus the negative impact of overscheduling a child, has moved back and forth. In truth, everyone has an opinion, and those opinions vary greatly. For many, it is a situation borne out of necessity with both parents working longer hours. For others, it is to make sure their child has as many opportunities as possible as their peers so they don’t ‘fall behind’.

Where do you stand on the following questions?

- If your child starts off doing ballet or piano in Kindergarten, is it okay for them to give up on activities like these even if a great deal of time and money have been invested in them? 

- If your child doesn’t want to do these activities anymore, do they have to choose ‘new’ activities to replace them so they are still engaged in something? 

- Is it ever okay to just come home and play in an unstructured, child-controlled way?

In her 2014 Psychology Today blog, Marilyn Wedge PHD summarised the debate for and against the scheduling of activities for children. Alvin Rosenfeld, author of The Overscheduled Child, says “that there's nothing wrong with enrichment activities as long as parents make sure children have enough down time with no activities.”

Suniya Luthar, a psychology professor at Columbia, has done extensive studies on the role of extracurricular activities in children’s lives. She says, “It’s good for kids to be scheduled. It’s good for them to have musical activities, sports or other things organised and supervised by an adult. Outside activities make a child well-rounded. The problem comes, when parents overscrutinise their children’s performance in the activities, and they no longer become fun for the kid.”

Wedge goes on to quote Michael Thompson, a clinical psychologist and author of The Pressured Child, who raises an especially good point: “Is the motivation for the activity coming from the parent or from the child?”

All of this debate has informed Tara’s approach to cocurricular activities. In the 2021-2025 Tara Strategic Plan, under the pillar of The Tara Experience, one of our goals states: Tara offers outstanding cocurricular opportunities that foster development beyond the classroom and encourage positive student wellbeing.

We already have an extensive cocurricular program through the Tara Enrichment Centre (TEC). To further build on our cocurricular offering, lunchtime activity groups were introduced a number of years ago in the Junior School as an additional way of reaching every girl, appealing to her interests, and maximising her opportunities during the school day. 

In late Term 1 this year, we surveyed all students in Year 2-6 about their experience and feelings towards playtime in general, and lunchtime clubs, in particular. A snapshot of the results appears below.

I enjoy play time at Tara

I like making up my own games to play with friends

I like being busy during play time by participating in a lunchtime club

I wish there were more lunchtime clubs offered

I am too busy at school and have no time to relax

Anecdotally, as educators, we know that within the school day, children need time to run around and relax. They also need time to socialise with peers, organise plans for what they will do during breaks and negotiate rules for games. Our challenge as your daughter’s teachers, is to allow space for her to do this. Author, Robert M Pirsig, famously said, “Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity.” Are we creating the right conditions for students to invent and create for themselves?

With this in mind, we have designed a lunchtime activity / enrichment program at Tara which:

• Covers a wide spectrum of physical, intellectual and spiritual domains

• Provides students with new experiences 

• Is completely optional with the child deciding if she wants to attend

• Often allows students to refine / build upon existing skills

Our Term 3 program includes:

• Crusaders (Cru) where girls learn about Jesus

• Debating

• Tournament of Minds

• Lego construction

• Bushwalking

• Knitting

• Gardening

• Jump Rope

• Cartooning

• Coding

• Leadership

Not every year level has an activity every term as we want to ensure there are opportunities for students to design their own experiences during break times. Some activities such as debating and band, run throughout the year and require a significant amount of work outside of the scheduled times. In all circumstances, we are always mindful of our strategic goal to offer outstanding cocurricular opportunities beyond the classroom. There is still more work to be done but we are confident that we have the balance right and that what we are offering is positively contributing to student wellbeing.

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/fashion/over-scheduled-children-how-big-a-problem.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/suffer-the-children/201408/overscheduled-kids

As someone who really enjoys cooking, I have found Dignity Dishes such a delight to be a part of. It is a thoughtful and enjoyable initiative which my friends and I always look forward to attending fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons.

Supporting Dignity Dishes is a great way to enjoy quality time cooking with friends after a day at school, creating a feeling of fulfillment knowing that this program provides meals to those less fortunate. I’ve forged closer bonds with people I hadn’t talked to much previously, whilst cooking meals for people who are less advantaged. Dignity Dishes is a great opportunity to give back to the community and make a difference to the people around us, as well as providing an opportunity to develop new skills in the kitchen! 

The school has enabled all students to be a part of this program - not just by cooking but through financial support as well. I’d like to encourage everyone to be involved with Dignity Dishes in any shape or form, as it’s been an excellent opportunity that I have really enjoyed. 

At our new venue there was an excellent vibe, with the teachers and girls enthusiastic and bubbly. It was especially satisfying to finally have the presence of parents and friends back supporting the girls. Thank you to all who came. May your presence continue! 

The conditions on the day allowed us to (almost) run the full program of track and field events. Only occasionally did the girls have to dodge boggy patches in some of the lanes on the 100m straight! All the girls did their utmost to participate and to run, throw, jump and to laugh to the best of their abilities. I think we all especially enjoyed the yummy sausage sandwich lunches provided!

Special congratulations go to the Sub-Junior Champion, Eloise; Sub-Junior Runner Up, Anneliese; Junior Champion, Ruby and Junior Runner Up, Ashleigh.

While circumstances allowed the Houses to sit together again, various issues had conspired to prevent all students from coming together to learn a new chant for this carnival. The House Leaders are just itching to get all their Houses back to their loudest and most inspirational for the upcoming Gymnastics carnival! Congratulations go to the girls in Crawford House, who just pipped Walker to gain most points on the day.

Thank you from the Junior PE staff to the Property, Catering and Sports departments and coaches and to all the Staff, parents and girls who made the Carnival such a wonderful day. We wish the selected Tara team of 25 all the best as they prepare to compete at IPSHA Athletics on Monday, 29 August. 

The program started with the opening event, with the Governor of NSW, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC in attendance, alongside the President and Deputy President of the Physics Foundation. The theme of this year’s Science School was ‘looking forward’, and the Governor gave an inspiring speech about how science is not only the present, but also the way of the future. It greatly encouraged me, and indeed , every student present, to pursue my passion for science and seize opportunities in the STEM field. Similarly, Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, highlighted the progress that has been made so far regarding women in STEM, as well as the value and depth of knowledge we can learn from the First Nation’s people – the first scientists of the world. 

Over the next few days, there was an impressive line-up of lectures including Elaine Sadler, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Jacinta Cleary, Anita Ho Baillie, Adrienne Fairhall, and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. 

The program also included two ethics lectures, and I left them with more questions than answers. However, I also left with a more nuanced, perceptive understanding of how the world is, and could be, viewed. Particularly, the theory of consequentialism vs non-consequentialism was explored and multiple views on morality were discussed. 

One of the highlights of the program was a Q&A with Derek Muller (aka Veritasium!). A main takeaway was how science is ‘a lot of wandering about in the dark’ and more about the ‘why’ than the ‘what’. One of my favourite quotes is ‘If you never get to the point where you lose understanding, you are not working hard enough’. However, Derek Muller also added that science can also make good things possible – think animation, medicine and technology.

For our workshops, we made fake beef patties, investigated particles under the microscope, constructed a galvanic cell and investigated argumentative fallacies as a group. Interspersed were various socials including games night, movie nights, trivia and scavenger hunts. One of the most exciting opportunities was connecting with like-minded people all across Australia, and indeed across the world. It truly was an informative, rewarding and enlightening experience and I highly recommend all girls in Year 10 or Year 11 to apply as a scholar next year. 

Parents and friends got to enjoy a great night at the Tara Snowsports Dinner at Kosciusko Hotel where they met with other families and shared many of their stories on the snow. Such amazing skills were learnt in the Development Squad teams and we look forward to seeing which girls will give racing a try in future years. 

So many of these girls have been given the opportunity to continue on to the next level and compete at State level in Perisher later this August. Some of Tara’s very proud team achievements include our Year 11 and 12 girls competing Division 1 Snowboard GS placing 1st, several Year 7 and 8 girls competing Division 3 placing 1st in their Alpine team and 3rd in their Ski Cross team. 

Some outstanding individual results include Elaine, Year 12 who received 3rd place in Snowboard GS and Lexi, Year 8, who received 2nd place in Snowboard GS and 3rd place in Snowboard Cross. We can’t wait to see what these girls achieve at the State Championships. 

This week would not have been possible without the amazing work of Ms Musto and Tara old girls Annie, Carla-Ann and Adele. It as been a great joy and privilege working with these girls as Snowsports Captain for 2022.  

We snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef; the world's largest and most diverse coral reef system and one of the seven Wonders of the World, and the snapshot we saw showcases why. We also explored the Daintree, the oldest rainforest and the second most biodiverse place in the world. 

At the start of the trip, we journeyed to Fitzroy Island where we visited the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. Afterwards we went snorkelling in the inner reef where we got our first glimpse of the magical underworld beneath the seas. We saw a whole forest of beautiful earthy coloured coral, and many species of fish.

This continued when we ventured to the outer reef with a marine biologist. During the boat ride we were kept busy with facts about the reef and exciting new species that we would get to encounter. Once we arrived, we were not disappointed - the long boat ride was definitely worth it. We saw parrot fish, pineapple sea cucumbers, clownfish and even turtles. It was an incredible experience seeing the underwater sea creatures that inhabit the Great Barrier Reef .

As an introduction to the Daintree Rainforest, a scientist presented us with information on the geography and nature of the rainforest as well as how it played a vital role in its survival of 180 million years. We learnt how it houses the most endemic species of plants and animals in the world. Through the view of birds, we observed the beauty of the Daintree on the Skyrail ride. For many of us, it was the first time seeing this spectacular world wonder. Some girls visited the canopy crane to view the rainforest from above while others went to the Daintree Discovery Centre, walking through the rainforest where we really got to immerse ourselves in the beauty and spot magnificent creatures like a cassowary, an ancestor of dinosaurs. 

To wrap up the trip, we were guided through Mossman Gorge by an Indigenous guide who provided us with knowledge passed on by natives who lived in this incredible place for thousands of years. We learnt many things about their culture, how they use plants for food and medicine and how they manage this environment. We even participated in a traditional cleansing smoke ceremony. Our education of the Indigenous community is important as it helps keep their culture alive. 

On our last day, we took the time to give back to the Cairns community by creating sanitary service packs to be passed on to those that are less fortunate than us. 

Overall, this trip greatly boosted our knowledge of the environment and surrounding ecosystems. We bonded so much as a group and created lifelong memories that we will never forget.