Teaching and Learning

Powerful Learners

This 'Teaching and Learning' page of the school newsletter provides information to the school community in relation to the on-going improvement to teaching and learning at West Beach Primary School. Regular articles, videos and links will enable the community to gain a deeper understanding of our efforts to 'build powerful learners'.

Conditions for Learning

having a strong sense of belonging and feeling safe and supported by peers and adults is a prerequisite for powerful learners. We need to have high expectations of learners and so challenging learning a 'low-threat environment' is vital. adults must promote the idea that mistakes and failure are a part of the learning process. 

While positive relations are crucial we must also make sure that this does not lead to 'rescuing' whenever learning becomes difficult or when things do not go to plan -this lowers the persistence and resilience of our learners. 

Learning Through Play

Play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine. When children play with other children they create social groups, test out ideas, challenge each other’s thinking and build new understandings. Play provides a supportive environment where children can ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking. Play can expand children’s thinking and enhance their desire to know and to learn. 

Play can promote positive dispositions towards learning. Children’s immersion in their play illustrates how play enables them to simply enjoy being.

Early childhood educators take on many roles in play with children and use a range of strategies to support learning. They engage in sustained shared conversations with children to extend their thinking.They provide a balance between child led, child initiated and educator supported learning. They create learning environments that encourage children to explore, solve problems, create and construct. 

Educators recognise spontaneous teachable moments as they occur, and use them to build on children’s learning. Early childhood teachers work with young children to promote and model positive ways to relate to others. They actively support the inclusion of all children in play, help children to recognise when play is unfair and offer constructive ways to build a caring, fair and inclusive learning environment.