Primary School News
Kindergarten Hospital Incursion, May 2021.
From the Head of Primary, Tracey Rogers
As always, the Primary continues to be full of energy and busyness. A welcome visit from Paul Litherland last week challenged and informed students in relation to their online use and behaviour. House Meetings on Friday afternoon last week saw everyone get a little competitive with their House chants in readiness for Cross Country later this term. Swimming lessons are off to a great start with our Pre Primary to Year 2 students. Despite the chilly weather, the children have loved the excitement of the bus trip and getting into the warm pool!
In this edition of the Wrap, I would like to share the next steps in relation to our review of certificates in Primary. I encourage you to read the information below and take the opportunity to have your say in this process.
Certificates Review 2021
As mentioned in the Week 2 Wollaston's Wrap, we have a terrific opportunity to reshape the way we acknowledge, celebrate and support students to continue striving in their development as learners and people of good character. Our current system of Be Proud and Honour Certificates is to be reviewed. This review is part of a larger review which encompasses the wider Awards Policy in Primary. We do not want to make significant changes to any of the policy or procedures without consultation and collaboration with our learning community, including students, parents and staff.
We will begin this process with a review of the Be Prouds and Honour Certificates, but it helps to have some sense of the broader goals for students in order to frame the work going forward.
Some of the key thinking in education today centres around what students really need to learn and develop at school. At a national level, we know it is time for change. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is currently reviewing the curriculum and staff from John Wollaston have been part of the WA consultation on these changes. However, as an IB World School, we are already taking steps in the right direction. And that direction is towards developing agency.
“Students demonstrate agency when they influence and direct their own learning, make choices, voice opinions, ask questions and express wonderings, communicate understandings, construct new meanings and participate in and contribute to the learning community.
Primary Years Programme: The learner, 2018
Our approach to learning here at JWACS already offers many of these through how teachers work with students in the classroom. We now have an opportunity, as a learning community, to contribute to how we celebrate and acknowledge learning. Students, staff and parents will all have the chance to voice their ideas so that we find a meaningful and manageable way forward.
Our goal is to find a meaningful, manageable, and authentic way to celebrate learning where students have greater agency.
Parents are invited to use the link below to access a simple survey designed to capture the parent voice.
Students and staff will also be surveyed, and all ideas will be workshopped at the Think Tank event on Friday 11 June at 9.30am. Thank you to those parents who have already volunteered to be involved.
Take care.
Tracey Rogers
Head of Primary