News Archive

2008

Tuesday 11th November, 2008
Simon presented to parents and staff at the Rosefield Playgroup, Highgate at 7.30pm.

23rd Sept, 2008 - Westminster Preparatory School
Simon presented a talk to parents and staff at a coffee morning at 9am.
He spoke about the importance of optimism and resilience skills in Primary School aged children.
Thank you to the Preparatory School Chaplain, Liz Collins, for the invitation.

11th Sept, 2008 - Healthy Inspirations, Frewville
Simon gave a talk on the Optimistic Kids program to members and staff of the Healthy Inspirations gym.
He emphasised a couple of simple hands-on resilience skills that can be easily put in place at home.
Thank you to Nola Bellenger for the invitation to present.
 
22nd July, 2008 - Planet Teal Positive
Simon delivered his first of four sessions at the Port Adelaide Football Club.
Simon has developed these talks in association with Power Community Development Manager, Darren Adamson.
Playing a key role in the talks is up-and-coming defender Alipate Carlile, who has demonstrated a good understanding of the subject matter and a great rapport with the kids and parents attending.
This is the second project that Optimistic Kids and the Power have collaborated on, and we look forward to continuing this relationship in the future.

July, 2008 - Port Adelaide Football Club talks
Starting in July, Simon is delivering a series of talks to members of PAFC and their kids.
These talks are available to Planet Teal members only and will take place in the lecture theatre at Alan Scott Headquarters, Alberton.
Entitled "Whatever it takes to inspire your kids" Simon will be talking about how to identify kids' personal strengths and how to use those strengths to their best advantage.
The talk will be followed by a tour of the Power headquarters.

2007

21st September - Rose Park Primary, 9.30-10.30am
Simon presented to the parents and teachers of Rose Park Primary School. He has spoken there before, and run courses as well, and is looking forward to returning.

29th May - Big Brothers Big Sisters at the YWCA
Simon presented to the Big Brothers Big Sisters at the YWCA. The BBBS are a group of adults who provide mentoring and life skills to children and adolescents.

15th May - Clarence Gardens Kindergarten
Simon gave a talk on Optimism and Resilience in Families to the mums and dads at Clarence Gardens Kindergarten.

17th February - Gifted and Talented Children
Simon presented to upper primary students at the Gifted and Talented Children's Association of SA.  He has spoken to this group previously, and enjoys meeting with them . Thanks to Belinda Howarth for the invitation.

2nd February - Leadership Day at Woodend Primary School
 Simon and Chris ran a Leadership day for the Year 6 and 7 students at Woodend Primary School on Friday, February 2nd.
This day focused on activities that have been specifically designed to encourage and equip students to:
• evaluate their attitudes, by evaluating goals and values essential for successful life long learning such as: respect, including integrity, fairness and responsibility.
• develop positive self-esteem based on respect for the individual and on the importance of personal identity.
• understand that essential to achieving goals is the capacity to build relationships and develop as a positive individual.
We are very pleased that some Port Power players joined us for one of the sessions to discuss 'leadership' on the field and in everyday life. There was also a guest presenter who discussed how young people can be leaders in helping the environment and addressing climate change.

2006

2nd November - Braeview Primary School
Simon, Chris, Edwina and Amanda were at Braeview Primary School for a series of three presentations to all of the school's year 6 and 7 students. Thank you to the Principal, Graeme Hambley for the opportunity to communicate lasting skills and ideas to the students.

24th October - Whitefriars Primary School
Simon talked to parents at Whitefriars on 3 occasions this term. He covered areas of positive psychology and resilience as well as much of the material from the Optimistic Kids course. Edwina was at the first session to talk about research into the area of optimism, and Chris provided repeat sessions during the day for parents unable to make the after hours ones with Simon.

11th August - Free Talk at AMCAL Norwood
Chris talked about the OK course at AMCAL Norwood on Friday 11th August at 11am.

24th June 2006 - APS Talk
Simon presented on 'Positive Psychology' at the Australian Psychological Society's SA Clinical Conference, on Saturday 24th June . He spoke about an area of psychology that he is passionate about!

11th June - Kids at Power match get the first look at the 'Find the Power Within' activity book
Optimistic Kids were invited to develop some content for a kids activity book for Port Adelaide Power. The exercises engage the kids while they watch the Power in action!

Here is an overview :

Coach Williams says...
This exercise introduces the link between thoughts and feelings - specifically that our thoughts cause us to feel and act the way we do. We show how Coach Williams motivates his players using ‘facts’ rather than the first thought that comes into their head. This leads to the Power player feeling excited about the upcoming game.

Your Teacher says…
Then we show how a teacher or parent can do the same with their kids in an everyday situation. Instead of having ‘scared’ or ‘nervous’ faces, we hope that the kids can use facts to change to a smile, and enthusiasm for the upcoming challenge!

Footy Faces
Here we demonstrate that emotions (illustrated here by faces), happen on the football field. We want kids to be able to take an emotion from the play, and think about when they too feel this same emotion. Ideally kids will maximise their opportunities for positive faces.

Put Yourself in Power Boots
We all know how important empathy, and insight are – the ability to understand how other people are feeling, and what they may be thinking. In this exercise, we ask the kids to think back to how they felt on their first day at a school. This is then compared to how a new Power player feels. Kids may then come to understand that even big Power players start off as ‘new kids’! We then ask the kids to think of someone at their school or class who they haven’t talked to much, and how they could be more welcoming to that person.

25th May - SAAB Systems Talk
Simon presented to the staff at SAAB Systems on 'Optimism and Resilience' and enjoyed the experience. Thanks to Angela McGregor for the invitation.

21st May - Day out at the footy
The recent OK 'graduates' from the Term 1 OK course and the staff from OK attended AAMI stadium to see Power v Brisbane on Sunday 21st May. Despite the result for the Power, we all enjoyed the day! Thanks to Port for the tickets and their support.