The Learning Page

Supporting students to achieve academically...

How We Challenge Children

Every year, we are in awe of the interests, knowledge and skillsets of our students. They are incredible. Academically, this poses a wonderful challenge for us. As our school has grown and students have been exposed to our curriculum and teaching for longer, the number of children working well above the expected level has sky rocketed. In last year's NAPLAN, over 80% of Year 3 students and over 70% of Year 5 students were working well above the expected level in Reading. Ensuring that we continue to progress children, who are usually working well above their expected year level, requires regularly reviewing our practice and adapting when something doesn't work.

Previously, we created Extension Individual Education Plans (IEP) for children working well above the expected standard. An Extension IEP set out 1-2 goals that a child would work on over the course of 6 months. Through this model, we quickly found that creating individual plans with 1-2 goals for these children over 6 months was not sufficient for their needs. The goals were either too broad and reliant on generic long-term strategies, or they were so specific that a child was determined to learn the concepts related to their goal as soon as it was set and found the 6 month spacing too slow!

Over the last 18 months, we have been working towards a better model. We have invested significantly in developing our curriculum to challenge all students and provide multiple opportunities for support and extension. Last year, we had a focus on this within English, Humanities and Science. In particular, we embedded a balance between knowledge and skills. This year, we are focussing on Mathematics. We have put in place a range of strategies to ensure that we are progressing every child, and believe that these strategies are already leading to far greater improvements than the previous 'extension IEP' process.

What this looks like:

Complex topics and texts	Students learning about complex topics and texts, rather than just learning a skill. From Mesopotamia in Year 1 to Frontier Wars in Year 6, students are immersed in topics that take them outside their immediate experiences and comfort zones. Example: At the end of Year 1, students are expected to form correctly structured sentences that include adjectives, whilst they demonstrate an understanding of Mesopotamia. Instead of being limited once a skill is mastered and saying "I can already write sentences", there is endless knowledge for high-ability students to engage at deeper and deeper levels with increasing sophistication.
Documented adjustments	Documented adjustments for students requiring support and extension in every lesson plan. This is a responsive practice that allows for children to be continually challenged and caters for differences in skill between topics (e.g. a child may be stronger with addition than they are in subtraction). Adjustments may look like: Support: Child X to use a number line to 20 to support counting and 'jumping back' to subtract Extend: Children X and Y to work in a small focus group with the teacher during independent practice to extend their use of subtraction strategies Extend: Children X and Y to apply their learning to create 2 worded subtraction problems for each other to answer
Digital learning programs	Digital learning programs to work at the individual level of every child. Example: In one of our Year 4 classes, we have a student working on Year 10 maths as the child next to them is getting some extra practise with Year 2 maths. The use of technology and the systems we have set up ensure this level of individualisation is consistent and effective at moving all children forward with their learning.
Opportunities outside the class	Additional opportunities outside the class for students to engage in. Whilst some of these are parent nominated, such as ICAS, others are determined by academic results. Most result-driven opportunities are based on NAPLAN results. This is because NAPLAN is the first national standardised tests that all students sit, so there is a common scale across all schools. Example: We have a different group of students in Years 5 and 6 each term who engage in weekly lessons with Virtual Schools Victoria. They complete Writing or Maths classes with other high-ability students across Victoria. Students then apply these enhanced skills in their regular classes.
Learning Specialist	A Learning Specialist (Maddy Morrison) employed full time to develop curriculum. Maddy is also our High-Ability Practice Leader.
Learning partnership with AERO	A learning partnership with AERO (Australian Education Research Organisation) where a coach works at SMPS to support staff in delivering lessons that align with research of how students learn best.
Work shared openly	Work shared openly during Family Fridays and on Seesaw with feedback given fortnightly in Prep - Year 3 so that parents can see what their child is engaging with in class.
Suite of videos	A suite of videos produced by the Department of Education about how SMPS supports high-ability students. These will be released this year to support other schools and may be of interest to some families. They will be a helpful tool in ensuring that all new staff joining SMPS are aware of how we cater for student needs.

We are really excited by the way our curriculum is developing to support the large number of high-ability students that we have. We hope that you can see the benefits that this model has over our previous set up. If you have any questions about ways that your child's abilities are being supported or extended in class, please reach out to your child's teacher.