Growing Gracefully

This year at Arlington we have more children than we have had for some years and, in fact, one of our classrooms is close to our agreed capacity. The current number means the School has a buzz and vibrancy without the rooms or the grounds ever feeling crowded.

We have now had to establish a waiting list and, while it is satisfying that there is this significant demand for places, we monitor the growth of our numbers very carefully. Both the child and the parents seeking an enrolment into Preshil need to demonstrate a commitment to the values and the expectations of the School as well as understanding our particular approach to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. Ideally, we look for families whose children will remain at the School for their whole education.

Our stated goal is to have an optimum number of 18 children at each grade level, with a capacity to extend that to 20 to accommodate siblings and allow for the natural flux in numbers across the two-year class composition. Our current staff ratios are actually one teacher for 15 children and three teachers in our largest class of 32.

Even at capacity Arlington, by any standards, is still a small school. When built, the large classrooms were designed to have as many at 50 children in each and I understand there were 60 children at one stage – a number still not uncommon in many open-plan classrooms in schools today. At Arlington we believe that 50 children in one space is too big for any child to navigate comfortably, regardless of how many teachers are in the class.

The standard ratio is for one teacher to 25 children and in some schools it is closer to 30. For one adult to manage a large class of children there is little room to deviate from the conventional system of teacher at the front, rows of desks, and highly-disciplined behaviour management, strict rules - all resulting in a passive approach for children to ‘get on with your work’ and preferably in silence. Uniformity and compliance are essential components if order, safety and control are to be maintained.

At Arlington we have the wonderful opportunity to offer every child active, individual and collaborative learning. There is choice, variety and movement. The child who simply cannot keep still, who learns by doing, the children who need to ask questions or need to practise their understanding aloud, these legitimate learning approaches are not treated as misdemeanours or behaviour problems, but rather accommodated and fostered.

In combined classes with more than one teacher children are actively encouraged to learn from each other. We know this is a natural, comfortable and accessible process; the set-up of our rooms and spaces, with teachers easily able to move around as necessary, enhances opportunities for children to build their understanding and skills by observing the actions and responses of their classmates as well as receiving direct instruction and assistance from their teachers.

In traditional classrooms children are restricted from interacting, discouraged from ‘copying’ and often prevented from talking to each other, which supports an orderly class for the teacher, but does not encourage active, differentiated and independent learning.

Perhaps the most powerful and outstanding characteristic of the Arlington model is the highly-developed expertise of our teachers to team teach.

I wrote about this in the newsletter last year and I would encourage families to learn more about the benefits of this approach. Teams comprising two or three teachers in each class are further strengthened by our specialist teachers who contribute to the planning and richness of the program we can offer the children.

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Later in the year we will look to temporarily replace Victor Toufas, who is going on leave for a term; whether we do this directly or have a current teacher step into his role and backfill that place is yet to be decided. We will be guided by a consideration of the best interests of the children as the first priority and, having plenty of advance notice, will be able to keep families informed.

Marilyn Smith

Principal

marilyn.smith@preshil.vic.edu.au

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