Issue 5 2012.pdf - St George Christian School

Senior School
Parents for a Weekend
St George Christian School recently purchased three state of the
art “RealCare Baby” infant simulators which will be used by students
participating in the Year 12 Community and Family Studies course.
During a simulation the “RealCare Baby” cries for care at all hours,
day and night. The caregiver has to figure out what the baby needs:
feeding, burping, rocking or diapering. The caregiver wears a unique
tamper proof wireless ID to ensure accountability and the “RealCare
Baby's” computer tracks its care and safe handling over the weekend.
The detailed data is downloaded after the simulation, including exact
times of missed care and specific mishandling - shaken baby, head
support failure, wrong positioning and rough handling.
Students in the Year 12 CAFS course take the simulator home for the
weekend to complement their learning in the Parenting and Caring unit.
Throughout the weekend, they need to maintain a diary detailing their experiences, including when the baby cries,
how it is soothed and their thoughts and feelings at the time.
On completion of the weekend, the baby is returned and the care data downloaded to give an overview of their
caring performance. When the baby is returned, the students are given reflection questions related to their experience
and areas covered in the course.
So far two students have experienced a weekend as a parent. Their initial thoughts about the experience included:
“It was a good learning experience but I wouldn’t want to do it again, I won’t be having a baby any time soon.”
When they were asked to sum up the weekend in a few words they said:
“Stressful! I had no time for myself, the baby impacts everything, every choice revolves around the child.”
Their final thoughts were:
“I have a new respect for parents, especially sole parents.”
Over the next four weekends, other Year 12 CAFS students will be given the chance to experience what it is really like to
care for a child. Look out for future newsletters to see how other students found the experience.
I would like to thank the school for purchasing these “RealCare Babys”,
they will provide invaluable learning opportunities for our students.
Mr Jason Munro
An Intimate Evening of Fine Music
On Wednesday evening 13 June 2012, students in Year 9 and 10
Elective Music classes will be performing pieces they have been
working on throughout this term.
When: Wednesday 13 June 2012
Time: 7pm
Where: The Hall
Please come and support them, and enjoy some beautiful Music.
WANTED FOR
SCIENCE
EXPERIMENTS
The Science Department is in need of
empty, 110gm baby food jars to be
used in Science Experiments.
If you can help, please drop the empty
bottles off at the Senior School or Main
Office.
Thank you for your help.