From the Principal 

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Konnichiwa!

Visiting teachers and leaders from Singapore

Over the next two weeks here at Grange we are hosting a group of 5 teachers and leaders from Singapore. The South Australian Department for Education has established a strong collaborative relationship with the Singaporean education system, focusing on mathematics. As you may know Singapore is widely acclaimed as world leader in education and other education jurisdictions worldwide are keen to learn from and alongside them.

A member of State Office Learning Improvement Division recently participated in a study tour of Singapore, visiting primary school sites with a focus on Mathematics. In a reciprocal arrangement, two primary sites, of which Grange is one were identified as leaders in Mathematics learning are now hosting the Singapore teachers and leaders.

Earlier this year some classes of year six students in Singapore and Room 32, Susan Wilson’s Year 6 class back here at Grange all did the same Mathematics assessment task. The results of this task showed that while the Singapore students had a higher score in mathematics fluency, our students achieved higher as mathematics problem solvers and applying their mathematical understandings. These results strongly demonstrated the opportunity of learning from each other to enable all students to be even better at Mathematics.

At Grange we welcome the opportunity to learn alongside world best educators, some of whom are teaching right here at Grange. The ability to problem solve in mathematics is a fundamental skill, that is becoming even more critical in our rapidly changing world. Of course being fluent in mathematics is also essential.

The visitors will spend 4 days at Grange, observing in classrooms across Foundation to Year 7, teaching a lesson and learning alongside our teachers and leaders. This is a great recognition of the excellence of Mathematics teaching and learning at Grange and also of the passion of our teachers to continue to learn and be an even better teacher of Mathematics.

Thank you so much to our teachers for so willingly sharing their mathematics practice and showcasing the outstanding mathematics learning of our students.

Fantastic mathematics learning!

Regards, Grant

Grant Small

Grange Primary School