Teaching & Learning

Learning Behaviours

Over the past 6 months teachers have been working hard to establish learning behaviours that will underpin academic achievement in the classroom. Developing learning behaviours is a way of helping students understand exactly what is expected of them during different types of learning experiences. It also assists students to be able to discuss and reflect on their learning in order to celebrate or create goals for the future.

There are 3 elements within our Learning Behaviours model; Teacher Led, Guided and Student Led.

Last week we looked at Guided Learning behaviours and this week we will have a closer look at Student-Led learning opportunities.

What is student-Led Learning?

Student-Led learning is when a student is working independently to practise or apply a piece of knowledge or a skill. It usually occurs during the middle stages of a lesson after explicit teaching has occurred.

During Student-Led learning students are asked to show self-motivation, persistence and  reflection skills in order to complete set tasks. The Student-Led tasks could be independent or in small groups.

Some examples of Student-Led learning tasks could include problem solving tasks, book work, independent reading, writing or project work.

Self-regulation plays a major part in students being successful during a Student-Led task, it is a time that allows teachers to see if students can truly be leaders of their own learning.

Book Week

Attendance Notes and Unexplained Absences

This week’s Compass tip is to look at how parents can submit an attendance note and clear unexplained absences.

When ever your child is away from school an attendance note is required. This allows the school to submit up-to-date attendance data to the department.

Submitting an Attendance Note:

There are 3 ways to submit an Attendance note for your child:

1. Use your Compass portal to submit a note (see video below)
2. Ring the Buninyong Campus office.
3. Send an email to the Buninyong office.

Clearing Unexplained Absences: (check out the video below)

Every time your student is absent from school without a note an Unexplained Absence will be recorded against your child’s name. An Unexplained Absence is also recorded if you drop your child off late for school and do not accompany them to the school office.

You can add attendance notes to any Unexplained Absences by doing the following:

1. Go to your Compass portal.
2. Click on Attendance next to your child’s name.
3. Click on the Unexplained Absences tab
4. Choose the absences and click on Add Attendance Note.
5. Choose from the choices available.

If you have an Unexplained Absence that is in accurate, that is fine, please just contact the office at the Buninyong Campus and we will clear the entry for you.

To help with this process, please check out the video below that shows the process to follow.

Bicycles for Humanity

Becoming filmmakers and investigative journalists

Last week the students in 6C, Jarrod Morgan's,  were learning about what it takes to make films and documentaries and how different equipment can be used to achieve more professional results. They explored the use of microphones, different camera equipment and film editing techniques to make a video on what we are doing at Buninyong Primary School in terms of waste. To see some of the results, check out the video below.

eSmart Week

On Friday the 6th of September we will be celebrating national eSmart week. Des Hudson will be coming to speak with our grade 5 & 6 students during the day on what it looks like to be safe online. Des will also be speaking at assembly briefly and he will then be running a session for parents straight after. There will be plenty of time for Q&A during this time also. Des brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on this topic and it’s always a valuable experience for our community.

Digital Detox

On Thursday the 29th and Friday the 30th of August we will be encouraging students, teachers and parents to take part in a two day digital detox. Although technology can be a great learning tool and provide amazing new learning experiences, it’s also often good to spend some time without technology. We would love all families to commit to putting devices away at home (phones and tablets) and to keep BYOD devices at home over these two days, or they can be left at school in a locked location. 

ICT review

Thanks to all parents who completed the ICT review survey on Compass last week. We will now take the results back to our team and go over the feedback along with the staff and student survey results.