Junior School News

From the Acting Head of Junior School

Week 3 is one of the busiest weeks in the School calendar, with the swimming carnival and parent teacher interviews.  If the walls of our classrooms could talk, they would be screaming with joy about how well our Junior Staff already know their students and how united the parents, students and teachers in our school community are in their determination to make 2023 a successful year where students develop academically and emotionally. We place equal value on building the academic and wellbeing profile of our students and we thank our entire community for having and supporting the same values. 

Changes to the end of day (Kiss and Drop)

We can’t thank you enough for your flexibility and support transitioning to the new pick-up times for Junior School students. We sincerely hope that this small change has made the 3:20 pick up less stressful for our entire community. There will be times when a class is held up for an unforeseen reason and this will cause a ‘backlog’. 

We request that all parents remember to arrive on or after time. Parents and carers who arrive earlier than the time of their oldest child occupy the important spaces leading to a queue forming.  Parents and carers who arrive early will be asked to drive around the block from next week. 

Manly Sea Eagles Visit

Students were very excited to have Brad Parker, Ben Trbojevic, Kelma Tuilagi and Gordon Chan Trsome from the Manly Sea Eagles deliver their NRL Inspire program to Pittwater House Junior School on Tuesday.

The theme for 2023 will be Resilience, Support and Gratitude and was directly aligned to the PDHPE curriculum. The program aims to help inspire young people in primary schools to build resilience, develop a positive support team and have a positive mind approach to life. The assembly visit is targeted at students in Years 3-6 but we invite all of K-6 to attend. 

We know the students thoroughly enjoyed the session and enjoyed the important messages. 

Youngest ever U10s Rep Softball Player

Enormous Congratulations to Lincoln (P1), who won the Softball NSW State Championships last weekend. At the age of 6, Lincoln is the youngest player to make the Manly Warringah U10s boys representatives softball team. He’s been training since October and plays with boys ages 6-10. Last weekend, he played 8 games of softball across Saturday and Sunday and played against Orange in the Grand Final. Lincoln’s team won the game 25-17 to take home the State Championship. We are very proud of him!  Mr and Mrs Hobbs also wanted to give special thanks to Mrs Stephanie Layton who coaches Lincoln on the Pittwater House Teeball team and encouraged Lincoln to trial for the representative team. Without her, we would have never embarked on this journey. Mrs Layton dedicates a lot of her time to the development of young softball enthusiasts and has put many students onto a representative pathway. 

Basketball Fever

Bridget (C12) and Levi (G12) (in consultation with Mrs Abby Jeffery) invited the Junior School to watch the Sydney Flames play basketball.  Imaan (J6) and Zahra (J1) and Scarlett (J6) attended the basketball on Sunday night and had a wonderful time.  We have so many talented young female athletes and I think it is important to support women in sport.

Please contact Mrs Tickle amy.tickle@tphs.nsw.edu.au  if you would like to be considered for tickets to watch the Sydney flames play basketball in the future.

Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival

Pittwater House Swimming Pool was filled with the colours of Red, Blue and White. House spirit was at an all time high and the 2023 Years 3 to 6 Swimming Carnival was thoroughly enjoyable with a school full of water babies and highly competitive and talented swimmers.

Mrs Grigg, Mr Whisson and Mrs Mellis organised the most fun filled and action-packed day. One of the highlights of the day was having so many parents back on campus to come and watch the carnival; many joining in with the dress ups and supporting their children’s houses.

Have a lovely week! 

From the Acting Assistant Head of Junior School

Pittwater House Junior School is proud to be a Deep Learning school. For the past 4 years, we have developed our programmes to embed the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning pedagogy so that all learners contribute to the common good, address global challenges and flourish in a complex world. We design learning experiences with the end in mind and respect every student as agile, creative problem-solvers. To do so, we consider the six key competencies of Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical Thinking.

Teachers at Pittwater House Junior School are now experts in designing units of work with consideration to the 4 key elements:

Learning Partnerships – 'Relationships between students, teachers, families, and the wider communities' By deliberately considering our network, we assist our students to develop voice, choice, agency, and leadership.

Learning Environments – 'Fostering a culture of safety and belonging socially, emotionally, physically, and virtually'. We integrate our HEROIC values and wellbeing programs to create safe spaces that encourage our students to become the best version of themselves.

Leveraging Digital – 'If pedagogy is the driver, technology is the accelerator'. Done well, technology will accelerate a student’s access to knowledge beyond the classroom, cultivate student driven learning and foster collaboration.

Pedagogical Practices – 'Selecting the best way for students to learn based on strengths, needs and context'. We see students as changemakers and work in partnership with them to create the future they desire. 

Children are busy trying to make sense of the world and their place in it. One of the greatest joys of teaching through Deep Learning is the renewed optimism, passion, and energy of our students. Our classrooms are full of curious children who are encouraged to ask questions of each other, of teachers, families, and experts. There is a constant buzz of collaboration as they investigate ideas to solve a problem. Our students can articulate what they are doing and why and they often lose track of time because they are so deeply immersed in tasks as they unleash their potential.

From the Junior School Curriculum Co-ordinator

'What if doing well in school and in life, depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?'

Educator, researcher and social psychologist, Angela Lee Duckworth has spent decades researching the way that we, as humans, navigate challenging situations. She has worked in education, private companies, and in the military to understand students and learning from a motivational, psychological perspective. Her observations consistently have centred on ‘Who is successful here and why? 

In each of these very different settings, one characteristic immerged in Duckworth’s research as the greatest predictor of success in both children and adults. The answer was not social intelligence, IQ, good looks or physical health.

The answer was Grit.

Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance for very long term goals. It is having stamina. To have grit means to stick with your future, day in, day out for a long time. As she expresses, 'Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.'

On 24th February, Stage 2 came together to dive into their Deep Learning Number Unit which amalgamates the Number and Algebra strand of Mathematics with the Character competency and its dimension of grit, tenacity and perseverance.

Students listened to some of Duckworth’s Ted Talk to define what grit is and what it isn’t. They listened to Dan Santat’s After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again to consider how characters can show grit in the face of adversity. After a robust discussion, students engaged a reflective task, considering which ‘grit mountain’ they are on at present, as part of the Deep Learning Progression.

Students journaled in response to the prompts:

Which statements reflect how gritty I am in my learning?

What is my evidence for this?

What is a suitable target for me? How might I achieve this target?

The power of ‘yet’.

As the Stage 2 students set to work on their Addition and Subtraction unit over the coming weeks, they will continually return to this metacognitive exercise to understand ‘grit,’ within their broader character and how it relates to their learning. In moving between the mountains and tackling new numerical concepts, they are reminded of the most important word in learning; yet. 

From the Junior School Wellbeing Co-ordinator

URSTRONG Parent Subscription

Supporting your child through the ups and downs of friendship!

There are times when all parents will find themselves at a loss for advice when their children come to them with their friendship issues. Our wonderful URSTRONG program provides us with a free family subscription. You too can access resources to support your children with simple but meaningful language and skills to open up a dialogue with your kids.  If school and home are using the same language and strategies, the chances of your child being able to navigate the exciting but complex world of relationships is dramatically increased. 

UR Strong Link: https://urstrong.com/parents/

Parent Information Session

Please also put 6pm on the 9th of May into your diaries for the ‘Language of Friendship’ parents workshop.