Head of Junior Years

Junior Years Twilight Family Picnic 

It was great to see so many families meet for the 2023 Twilight Picnic. It was a fabulous opportunity to catch up with College family friends as well as make new ones.

Thank you to all the staff who assisted with the evening and special appreciation to the Middle Years Band members who provided background music. The School Photographer captured some images of the night which you can view below.

Supporting our students as learners 

It has long been recognised that students learn best when they are cognitively, behaviourally and emotionally engaged in their learning. Learning environments that are calm and orderly with few interruptions to teaching time provide a strong basis for this to occur. Effectively managing the classroom environment is a core element of teaching.

Unsurprisingly, the evidence suggests that effective classroom management has positive effects on students' academic, behavioural and social-emotional outcomes (Korpershoek et al. 2016). The importance of classroom management is perhaps reflective of its complexity. It is more than a ‘bag of tricks’ teachers use to address inappropriate student behaviour. Classroom management is a complex and sophisticated skill, that teachers develop through professional learning and experience. 

At Good News ‘classroom management’ has many parts.  Setting up predictable routines and procedures helps students to be prepared for the learning to come.  Establishing class Essential Agreements, as highlighted in the previous newsletter, makes expectations clear to all.  Providing strategies when incidents occur gives students a set of steps to work through to solve problems or reflect on what has taken place.

Some examples of this include: 

• The IB Learner Profile is a set of 10 attributes reflecting an internationally-minded student, ready to actively participate in society. 
• IB Approaches to Learning – a set of skills encompassing social, research, thinking, communication and self-management that are taught as part of the taught curriculum, as well as social and emotional learning. 
• The use of Zones of Regulation to enable students to describe their emotions and work towards a state of calmness and alertness ideal for learning. 
• High 5 – a five-step problem-solving strategy that can be used in the classroom and the playground. 

A focus on the College’s values of grace, respect, integrity and courage as well as our mission to: 

Live Christ’s Mission, Empower Inquiring Minds and Prepare Global Citizens are also fundamental in achieving this.

The actions teachers take to create an environment that supports and facilitates both academic and social-emotional learning, in other words, classroom management has two distinct purposes: It not only seeks to establish and sustain an orderly environment so students can engage in meaningful academic learning, it also aims to enhance students’ social and moral growth. 

Evertson & Weinstein 2015