From the Head of Teaching and Learning

I often marvel at Term 2. It’s a short but industrious term for all members of our HEROIC Learning Community from Pre-K to Year 12. It’s a term marked by Parent/Teacher evenings, Subject Selection evenings and of course assessment a plenty. Term 2 also signals the pointy end of the first semester of learning for the academic year, and as such, it is critical for you and your child to know how learning is progressing and what the next steps are. 

Your child’s teacher(s) are best placed to give you and your child this feedback and thus you will find that in conversation with your child’s teacher at Parent/Teacher Information evenings this term and on reading your child’s Semester 1 Academic Report, you will know;

What​ your child has done well.

Why your child needs to keep trying.

How​ your child can grow their learning.

For students feedback​ ​can​ ​clarify​:

• how their knowledge, understanding and skills are developing in relation to the syllabus outcomes and content being addressed.
• how to recognise their strengths, as well as their areas for development to identify and plan with their teacher the next steps in their learning growth.

Thus, reflection on feedback is a critical skill for students to learn to make a regular habit. Reflection assists students to build depth in recognising the essential meanings, significance, and relevance of their learning. It engages quiet attentiveness, self-questioning and emotional intelligence to ensure that a disappointing mark does not equate to a disappointing term of learning. An ‘episode of learning’ (assessment task) provides an opportunity to truly practise the Deep Learning Competencies of Character and Critical thinking. One way to look at a disappointing result is through a negative lens, a more HEROIC way forward, is to look at a disappointing result as a FAIL - a ‘First Attempt In Learning’. It is through this hope filled lens that we wish all our HEROIC learners to view these reflective opportunities, with your support as parents, to ensure your child's learning progresses. 

Below is a snapshot of how a Deep Learning Progression looks to a student, as part of our Deep Learning Framework, and more importantly bounce back from temporary setbacks in learning to flourish ‘HEROICally’. 

As Winston Churchill quipped;

‘Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.’

HEROIC Heights

Across the Junior and Senior School, we continue our focus on our School Goal - Literacy and Numeracy and the recent preliminary School NAPLAN results, exclusive of Writing (yet to be published) indicate most domains in all years have approximately 75% or greater in the Strong/Exceeding Band thus far. These preliminary insights indicate that once again Pittwater House is on the improve, with most of the domains in Reading, Numeracy, Grammar and Punctuation and Spelling in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 indicating 75%+ in the Strong/Exceeding Band. Please note individual Student Reports will be available at the start Term 3. 

As part of this commitment to continued literacy and numeracy success at Pittwater House, we are ensuring that we continue to raise the bar on the importance of short, sharp episodes of writing in learning K-12 - our HEROIC Heights. Please enjoy a wonderful snapshot of these ‘Heights’ from our Kindy Students write up to Year 9 English Class.

HEROIC Headways

Finally, after careful discernment and much conversation with our new Head of Junior School - Mr Glenn Stephenson, we have identified a Literacy/Numeracy intervention that is aligned authentically with our HEROIC Learning Mode and grounded in our Deep Learning pedagogy. More information will be forthcoming, but we are thrilled to be able to launch the ‘HEROIC Headways’ program - English and Mathematics groups across Years 4 – 6, which provide students with opportunities to develop their skills across the six global competencies: ‘Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical Thinking’ igniting a path of progressive learning. 

As a staff, we recognise that each student is unique and brings their own level of knowledge and understanding to these two subject-specific lessons. We also know that this will change over time, and it is therefore important for our staff to be responsive to the individual development students make, whether that relates to extra support or extension. As such, these groups will be fluid and students may indeed change classes throughout the course of the year to ensure they remain in the best learning environment possible to continue their HEROIC journey.