• Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy holidays.
                   
  We say it every year, and it seems to be more true each time around... How quickly the year has flown! 
  
  We all seem to be busier and more rushed as each year passes, so it's all the more important to slow down for the holidays and spend some time and thought on what really matters. Family, friends. Loved ones.
  
  No matter how you say it or how you spend it, please accept our very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year.
  
  
  

• Thanks to our fantastic friends in the Western Region
                   
  We've been fortunate to have been welcomed in lots of places this year, some familiar, some new to us. To everyone in:
  Bourke, Baradine, Brewarrina, Bathurst, Cowra, Coolah, Coonabarabran, Condobolin, Dubbo, Grenfell, Goolma,
  Lightning Ridge, Orange, Raglan, 
  Trundle, Sydney, right through to Wellington, Walgett, Wanaring and all stops in between, have a fantastic Christmas.
  
  
• iKiLives - Wello and Coona. These are the schools that have been iKiSchools the longest and dare we say, are favourites. Watch Wellington and Coonabarabran in action!

•  Christmas, Holidays and New year of course! We're taking a decent break and will be back in the office on the 23rd of January. If you want to do some iKi at home you can still log on to the Learn Online for free by clicking here! 

•  We have some great ideas for next year - but we'll talk about them then! 

• Something I've noticed in my several years teaching is that when learning new things we tend to focus always on what we still can't do and therefore undervalue the distance we've come. Now is a good time to slow down and take stock, not of what we haven't yet achieved, but of what we have. 
  
  
Thanks to all the great people I've been priviliged to work with in 2011. I'm looking forward to a very exciting 2012.

• Nutritionist Erin with a Christmas Tip:
  
  Christmas and the holidays are a time when it's very easy to overindulge in the sweet and fatty foods that are everywhere. It's really easy to overindulge and end up feeling  lousy. But there are some simple steps we can take to keep some balance. Try these tips:
  
  
• Before every meal have a big drink of water.
• Fill you plate with fresh food first;- lots of salads, fruit and vegies help fill us  up and keep us feeling great.
• Never start or finish a meal with a sweet. Think about that last one. Start with savouries, salads fruits and finish with nuts, cheese, fruit. It works for me.
• Enjoy good food. 
  
  To see what Erin does every day, have a look at http://www.foodvitality.com.au/. 

• Only 4 weeks till Chrissy. I hope everyone has achieved at least some of their goals for this year. Everyone I talk to has the same message; - It has been a tough year, busy and demanding.
  So the agenda now is to get as many things finished as possible by Christmas and then take a well earned break. I know that when I think about all the things I want to get done, it can get a little panicky - till I remember a simple tip. Write a list. It's always surprising how it makes for calm. And it feels great to tick them off.
  
  
• Baradine iKiLive. We've always said we come home from Baradine tired but happy - and that was certainly true a couple of weeks ago after two big days that culminated in an iKiLive Concert. Baradine Central School has a number of young people who are showing great leadership skills. Check out Brieanna Watson, Mikaiyla Currin, Erica Carlson and lots of others. See here for photos and vid.

• Bourke PCYC. We have had a couple of trips to Bourke in recent weeks - to train the trainers at PCYC, and present to the DEC schools Principals Conference. The PCYC Workshop was small but high quality. 
  
  
• Jake Chatfield and partner Tareka Whaleboat have really got the PCYC on the move. We hope to spend a lot more time in Bourke next year. Check our gallery for photos coming soon!
  
  
• Meet Joe Williams. Many of you will already know Joe. He moved to Dubbo about 12 months ago with his partner and is pursuing a number of interests including football, boxing and music, as well as moving towards a teaching career. Joe is currently working with Mission Australia and raising a young family. Joe is an inspiring young leader, and a great bloke. He recently auditioned for the new music show 'The Voice,' Click here for a sneak preview.

• We missed Nutritionist Erin last month but she's back with a simple food Tip for morning tea or recess.
  
  It’s so easy to choose packaged convenience foods like chips and snack bars for recess but there are much healthier choices for fueling your body at recess. Throw away the rubbish and keep it fresh with fruit, yoghurt, custard or veggie sticks. Try crackers or crisp-bread with cheese, dips or spread, or make your own crackers out of toasted pita bread. My top pick for packaged foods: try low fat muesli or fruit bars, packet sultanas, or individual packets of Rice Wheels, Potato Stix, Vita Weat grain snacks, Sakata or popcorn. Yum!
  
  To see what Erin does every day, have a look at http://www.foodvitality.com.au/.
  
  
  

• The New iKiYellow and Green DVDs. They’ve been in the making for a long time, we know - but it’s taken us longer than we thought (doesn’t it always?) to get the look, feel and content right, blah blah blah. But FINALLY they are here - and because it's Christmas we have some special deals in the iKiStore.
  
  
• Don't forget the The Learn Online now includes Energiser Classes. These make it so much easier to learn all the moves in fun, bite size chunks - perfect for a morning wake up, a mid day pick-me-up or an evening wind down. Each class is around 12 minutes and makes it simple and fun to learn the moves and progress at you own pace.

• Don't forget, we're now working on more content for the Learn Online. On that point have you checked out Emma's Song at the end of the Yellow Learn Online? We would love for you to share your favourite exercise routine, dance or martial arts move. Please have a think about it over the Christmas break.
  
  We have quite a number of new songs that need to be choreographed as well....hint hint!

• It's iKiLive season; iKiLive at Coonabarabran on Dec 1st and Wellington on December 6. Click here for more!

• Wow, Christmas is just around the corner and we're all flat out getting as much done as possible before the silly season. One of the projects we are working on is creating new songs and activities for the Learn Online section.
  
  The first of these is up. Meet Emma-Jane Trudjett, a fantastic young dancer and teacher form Dubbo , You can learn some great Hip Hop moves from Emma by clicking here! Please note, you will need to click the Introduction link at the extreme top-right of the Player and you'll see Emma's Song at the bottom of the list.

• it's iKiLive season - we are back at Wellington Public for a few iKiBlasts in the lead up to the iKiLive on December 6. That will be a great day. iKiLives are also scheduled for Coonabarabran and Baradine (keep an eye on the Upcoming Events on the home page)
  
  
• We are at the National Field Days in Orange on Thursday 20. We are a part of the Health Promotion exhibit. If you're there please come along and see us.

• Life has it's ups and downs for all of us, that's just how it goes.
  
  There are lots of things we can do that help us to cope; good diet, regular exercise, time out with friends and family, hobbies, maintaining loving relationships all help us get over the bumps and through the valleys of life. However, sometimes we just have to Suck It Up. Check out our video on this subject. By the way, if you didn't have a look at Emma, our first fantastic Online Guest Instructor on the Learn Online section, you'll meet her in this clip.

• The New iKiYellow and Green DVDs. They’ve been in the making for a long time, as well – but it’s taken us longer than we thought (doesn’t it always?) to get the look, feel and content right.
  They’ll be available in the iKiStore next month- so watch out for them. 
  
  
• The Learn Online now includes Energiser Classes. These make it so much easier to learn all the moves in easy, bite size chunks - perfect for a morning wake up or evening wind down. Each class is around 12 minutes and makes it easy and fun to learn the moves and progress at you own pace.

• I am excited to see reports and evaluations being released that show how engagement and behaviours of students are greatly improved with the use of clear, consistent, and fair guidelines. I'm sure we all know this but it's great to see it in writing. We know also that publicly making Positive affirmations is very empowering. Check out some iKiCrew from Brewarrina.
  
  
• Sydney University, in conjunction with the Dubbo School of Rural Health is conducting a landmark longitudinal study into adolescents and need subjects- young people in Years 5, 6 or 7 at school. It actually sounds like a lot of fun (seriously) and rewarding. It involves a total commitment of only ,a few hours per year over 3 years, but includes cool rewards such as movie tickets, phone charges and other stuff that the kids will love. If you would like to get involved, or would like more info go to www.archerstudy.org.au.
  
  
• As I mentioned in the Latest news section, we're now working on more content for the Learn Online section and will have some more to announce in next months Newsletter. Meanwhile, if you have a great, simple exercise routine you would like to share, please let us know.

• iKiFit is proud to announce that iKiTrainer Amy Stanley has taken the next step on her journey to become a school teacher, having recently accepted a job as a teachers aid in Narrabri. Amy, who has worked part time for iKiFit over the past several years, recently moved to Narrabri to be with her boyfriend.
  
  Check out Amazing Ambitious Amy!
  
  
• Have you checked out the new Learn Online player yet? There are new songs and energiser classes on the Yellow and Green Levels. We are about to put all of this content behind the secure zone - click here to subscribe for free!

• It’s a little scary how quickly the year has flown - we’re already into iKiLive Season and in no time at all it will be Christmas.
  
  It’s only a little over a week till the first iKi Concert for 2011 at St John’s Primary in Dubbo. This year we will have more students playing and singing with the band on stage and running all elements of the show. Click here to have a look at last years’ Live at St John’s.
  
  
• Watch the iKiEvents panel on the iKiFit home page to find an event near you.

• Our iKiTip this month is a new one and a message we think is important. Being thoughtful isn’t just about being nice, sometimes it’s about teaching lessons we need to learn. A bit like the concept of tough love. Click here to check it out and tell us what you think.
  
  
• A tip from this month's guest writer, Encouraging Erin!
  
  Your day is really not worth starting unless you've made sure you've had breakfast. My top tip for fuelling your day, is that you don't walk out of the house without at least a mouthful of food in your belly. If you're stuck for ideas, my favourite choices include cereal, toast, pancakes or crumpets, or even fruit, yoghurt or a glass of milk are good ideas.
  
  To be the best you can be, make sure you've had breakfast!

• Power Person Steve Hodder says very clearly something we believe in - That education is Power. 
  
  
• Wellington Primary school has been the biggest supporter of the iKiFit Program to date, assisting us in so many ways as we have developed the program. Check out some of the fantastic students at Wello on the new look Power Names pages.

• We are excited to introduce our first guest writer this month – Nutritionist Encouraging Erin! Check out her website after reading her piece in the iKiTips section.  
• Well, we are now at the point where we think we have got the website functioning well - thanks Bosweb, Mitch and everybody else who has been involved. We’d love your feedback, suggestions, advice or comments please. Please contact us with your thoughts 

• iKiFit Behaviour Management Evaluation
  A big thanks to Wellington Public School, Coonabarabran Public School, Baradine Central and CSU’s Dr Libbey Murray for their assistance in evaluating the iKiFit Program in schools. The data shows conclusively what we already knew - iKiFit empowers students and teachers and helps engage schools and communities in positives behaviours. If you’d like to read the report contact us and we’ll send you a copy.

• VC
  We are really excited to be commencing regular classes on Connect Classrooms, starting Monday 21st August. Please contact us for more information. 

• Live Life Well at School
  Progressing our partnership with GWAHS we are excited to be linking in with the Live Life Well at School Program. We’ll be doing presentations at Orange August 16 and Dubbo August 24. If you’d like more information about this program please click here.

• Workshops
  We recently ran an iKiTrainer Workshop at Cowra, with teachers and community workers from as far afield as Blayney, Eugowra, Condobolin, Wyangala Dam, Koorawatha, Woodstock and Grenfell. It was a great day and we’ll be heading down South again soon.
  
  We also did a Workshop for Mission Australia staff from throughout the Western Region. I was very impressed with their passion for helping our communities and are looking forward to working with them more in the future.

• Check out “Start Something Today”. Yes I know, it’s definitely not our best iKiTip, but it does make a good point; getting started is often the hardest part of any journey. We have tools to help you on your empowerment journey - iKiChallenge, Learn Online.
   
• We all know how hard it can be to get ourselves doing the things we need to do to have the lives we want to have. Please check out the FREE DOWNLOAD. Don’t put it off, do it today - ‘It’ll be alright tomorrow”
• School of the month vid - Brewarrina Power Positives

• Positive Pete is off to Lake Eyre next week for a well earned break. It will be a lot of time on the road but a great bonding opportunity as he’s going with family and friends. Pete is also Staff Member of the Month. To see why, just click... PETE'S POWER POSITIVE

• Thank You
  This month I simply want to take a moment to thank the people who have been so supportive over the years. In no particular order: Anthony O’Leary, Darryl Thompson, Lyndal O’Leary, Kerry Smith, Tony Spiller, Steve Hodder, Jackie Wright, Dr Libbey Murray, Wez Thompson, Nick Learg, Pauline Freeburn, Mel Hancock and of course my family and the fantastic iKiTeam. There are lots of others who have helped in many ways. You know who you are. Thanks to you all.  

iKiBlast your school;- We are launching the new Schools Empowerment Package;- we call it the  iKiBlast. To see a new video of what it looks like go to http://www.ikifit.com.au/

Contact us to send you a full ebrochure—or if you prefer we can mail you a hard copy.