Learning & Teaching
Parent Partnerships and Learning
Parent partnerships play an important role in enhancing a child's learning experience, fostering a collaborative environment between schools and families. It is beneficial for parents to stay informed about their child's progress and learning goals, as this awareness empowers families to provide targeted support at home.
To further strengthen this partnership we are introducing regular learning updates through Essential Assessment's Parent Portal. This application allows parents to receive timely and detailed insights into their child's progress and current learning goals in literacy and numeracy. With access to real-time information, parents will be able to gain a deeper understanding of their child's learning.
See the link below for details on the Essential Assessment Parent Portal, this will open in a new tab. Log-in details will be shared with families as we work towards enhancing parent - school partnerships.
Yr 3/4 Inquiry: Bridging Creativity and Structure in Our Design Challenge.
To kick off our Innovation and Design unit, our Year 3s and 4s dove headfirst into a design challenge this week. Immersed in the world of engineering, the children embraced the design process, collaborating to solve a challenge: Who could build the bridge that holds the most weight?
The children engaged in problem-solving as they faced the task of constructing weight-bearing bridges. The challenge also sharpened their analytical skills, requiring a close examination of their designs to determine their effectiveness. Although some bridges did fall down, it was an uplifting experience for all.
Tiny Engineers: The Teddy Bear Biscuit Package Challenge!
Design Challenges aren't just for older children at Holy Cross. Our Preps, Year 1s and Year 2s faced a design challenge of their own. The children were set the task of designing a protective packaging for a teddy bear biscuit. This couldn't just be any old packaging. This fancy casing needed to protect the teddy bear biscuit for a full week, all the way home and back to school again! Throughout the challenge the children made considered choices around the materials they used and made estimations and informal measurements around package sizing. The children were very excited to reveal the condition of their teddy bear biscuits this morning. Well done to all our little engineers at Holy Cross.
"Mine was absolutely demolished!" - Ari
Prep - Year 2 Discovery: Material Marvels
Discovery learning for 2024 began this week, with much anticipation from the children. As innovation and design is the core focus of our inquiry unit this term, the children will have a more in depth focus on materials. You will notice a wide variety of materials for the children to use and explore. Through play, our influencing teachers will invite children to consider the properties of various materials and how these properties determine the material's uses. Some of the materials the children will explore include clay, wire, pebbles, shells, water and transparent prisms.
