Curriculum

Primary Years Program at GGLPS

GGLPS teaches the Australian curriculum using the Primary Years Program (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate as a framework to impart this. There are many different aspects to the Teaching and Learning program of the school and these are some of the rich learning experiences in which the students are involved.

Growth

I take delight in looking at one of the door frames in our house. The heights of our children at a variety of ages are recorded here. These marks and labels show their growth over the years, and our children often discuss their growth spurts and their slow-growing times. A child’s height doesn’t grow at a steady rate – it is sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Sometimes, we may be able to identify what has influenced the growth and at other times, we may have no clue – it just is.

The teachers are currently finishing the collection of evidence of your child/ren’s growth over the year. They consider growth against the map that the achievement standards of the Australian Curriculum provide. The achievement standards consider age appropriated standards of knowledge, skills, and understanding. Sometimes, there are very strong indicators that provide evidence of growth. Teachers often use rubrics to identify the evidence they are looking for in student learning. You may have seen the use of rubrics in reporting of your child’s learning in Seesaw. At times, students self-assess their own work using a rubric that has been either given to them when they begin a task or is created with them. In this way, students can identify the criteria that will allow them to be successful in the learning task they are given.

Sometimes, teachers make ‘on balanced judgments’ on growth. This means that they collect evidence that is available but, because of the nature of the subject or the evidence gathered, they need to decide about how a child is progressing. This is particularly true for our Semester 1 reports when teachers are reporting student progress against an achievement standard that is only expected to be reached by the end of the year. Teachers may also make ‘on balanced judgments’ in relation to things that may not be easily measured. 

When learning something new, we work with children to determine what they can already do and what they already know and understand. This provides a starting point for their learning and teachers design learning experiences from these starting points. As students approach the end of a section of learning, they can reflect on where they started and where they are now. This was particularly evident in Exhibition last week. The Year 6 student reflections were particularly powerful in reflecting their growth as learners over the Exhibition process. 

Through assessment and reporting, parents can gain an understanding of their child’s growth and development as they complete a year of learning. It may be that this year has seen great growth, or it may have been a slow-growth year. Reflecting on why this is will be important for the year to come. Sometimes, as mentioned, things that influence growth can be easily identified, while at other times identifying influences is more difficult. I hope that through information on Seesaw and reports in the coming weeks, you can reflect on your child’s learning so that you can identify and celebrate their growth. 

Jayne Zadow

PYP Coordinator