The NPS Way:
Curriculum, Assessment, Reporting
Our most recent Parent Opinion Survey data shows many of our community are unsure of assessment methods as well as how curriculum is taught at NPS. Thankyou for your feedback, we hope this new page will give you a better idea of how we do things. Welcome to the NPS way.
Differentiation
Differentiated teaching refers to methods teachers use to extend the knowledge and skills of every student in every classroom, regardless of their starting point. The objective is to lift the performance of all students, including those who need extra support and guidance, as well as those ahead of year level expectations.
To provide differentation among a composite class, we use a method called Low Floor High Ceiling Tasks. These are ones that all students can access but can be extended to high levels where required. LFHC tasks allow students work at different paces and take work to different depths at different times.
You might hear the phrase "I did grade .... work today" referring to lower year levels in the class. This is common for kids to say, but often the differentiation and extended challenge can be subtle and nuanced within the task for various students. Everyone is taught at the level of challenge required, while still being able to expose all students to similar tasks to promote a culture of collective discussion and collaborative learning.
Benefits of this:
- Allows learners to show what they can do, not what they can’t
- Promotes positive classroom culture
- Offers many possibilities for learners to focus on more sophisticated process skills
- Mirrors real life learning
In a maths session, tasks like this really emphasise the process of students thinking. At NPS we've worked on "praising the process" and placing an emphasis on critically working through these problems, eplaining your thinking and justifying responses. See below instructional model (how maths is taught).
