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.

Assessment and Reporting

At GGLPS, student learning is reported through the following platforms:

• Seesaw
• Student-Led Conferences
• Teacher/Parent Interviews
• Written Reports 

Our written reports meet the requirement to report against the Australian Curriculum. The reports provide a mark against each of the subjects in the Australian Curriculum. Some important questions and answers related to reports are:

• What does satisfactory mean in the report?

A student receiving ‘satisfactory’ means that they are working at their year level. Teachers assess students against the Australian Curriculum standard and they use this when considering the knowledge, understanding, and skills that students have gained in a learning area. Achieving 'satisfactory' means your child is exactly where they need to be.

• Why might a student receive a partial or minimum mark?

Teachers look at the evidence of every child’s learning. In a case where a student receives a partial or minimal, their learning in this subject is yet to meet the standard as stated in the report. There are a variety of reasons for not yet meeting the standard including learning difficulties, learning readiness/maturity, or the need to further practise a skill or process, or think more about something to bring understanding.

• Why is a mark for effort included? 

An important part of our reporting is informing students and parents of the effort the teacher sees a student put into their work. Some children find specific areas of learning difficult and while their effort may be extremely high, they may not be at year level. There may be underlying reasons for this, or a child may need more time to practise a skill or understand a concept. A high effort grade shows a growth mindset and indicates that students are doing their best.

• Why are units of inquiry reported on in Seesaw?

Posting student work on Seesaw can show the evidence of learning, showing growth in skills, knowledge, and/or understanding. This evidence of growth is of great value because it not only shows that there has been growth in learning but also shows how and where growth has occurred. This form of reporting in many ways is of greater value than just a mark, as it provides more information and allows students and parents to understand more about their learning. It should be noted that the learning within subjects in a unit of inquiry is reported on in the written report.

I am completing this newsletter article after returning home from the first night of Student-Led Conferences (SLCs). The value of the students sharing their learning is evident in SLCs. As students discuss their learning, they reflect on and grow their understanding of themselves as learners. We thank the students for the responsible way that they have gone about sharing their learning with their parents. They demonstrate many of the attributes of the learner profile as they showed themselves to be communicators who are knowledgeable, reflective, courageous inquirers. 

We also thank parents for the curiosity and commitment they show in interacting with children to understand what and how they learned. We are very proud to be a part of the GGLPS community as we celebrate the hard work and success of our students. 

Finally, I wish to acknowledge and thank our teachers for the dedication and commitment that they bring to assessment and reporting to support student learning. 

Jayne Zadow                                                                                                                                               PYP Coordinator