Junior School

Learning is a complex thing – remember the days when it was understood to be children with small blackboards, teachers with large blackboards and drilling of the three R’s? Thank goodness those days are behind us! We know that with the academic subjects we teach alone, there is complexity. We don’t just teach Mathematics – at the same time children are learning social skills – how to work in a group, take turns, share ideas. How to negotiate and compromise. We know that we are also teaching reasoning and communication skills – how to articulate and explain the series of steps that happens in our minds so that others can understand and learn.

Our students need to learn many skills within the Social-Emotional Learning space. In particular, skills in:

• Self awareness
• Social awareness
• Self management and self regulation
• Relationship skills
• Decision Making

This learning happens in a variety of contexts. It happens explicitly in our PDHPE programme, in assemblies and in the many conversations we have with children about their own behavior and how they interact with their peers. Our explicit teaching times give us the opportunity to share the same language among our students – for example, in assembly at the moment our students are talking about play and then teachers are using the strategies the children learn when we talk in our classrooms and the playground. Our camps and Wild Ed times are especially useful for learning some of these skills. Time spent in co-curricular activities is also a helpful time for building understanding in these areas.

This week, our Stage 2 and Stage 3 students at Wentworth Falls had an extra assembly. Some of our Year 6 girls have taken the initiative to spread kindness and work with me to highlight some areas where the children can work together to grow and learn. Eva, Abigail and Zoe helped to lead a girls assembly about self esteem and body issues. The girls presented to their peers with a focus on being thankful for the things our bodies can do and the girls pledged together to always speak positively about bodies.

Mr Carr and Mr Forbes led a boys assembly on a similar topic and the boys too, thought about these important issues. Eliot and Kane helped lead this. From time to time it’s great to break into smaller groups and have students be involved in leading their peers.

The well being of our students is paramount at Blue Mountains Grammar School. Young children are learning socially and emotionally constantly, and our teaching staff are absolutely aware that the academic teaching that they do is only part of what children need to learn at school. 

I am currently planning a couple of parent workshops for the year that focus on well being and hope that parents will be a part of the learning that happens in this space. Stay tuned for information on those. As always, please speak with classroom teachers about issues around well being – our staff want to know if our students and families need help. Our school counsellor and chaplain are often involved with giving extra support too, and remember that this avenue can be really useful, usually for a short time, in helping to navigate tricky things for our students andv families.

Kind regards,

Mrs Rachael Newton

Assistant Principal - Head of Junior School

You're Invited

Parents are warmly invited to attend the Commissioning of Mr Steven Coote as our Principal.  Please follow this link to RSVP by 22nd May, 2023.

Netball Gala

On Tuesday, a wonderful group of junior school students from Springwood and Wentworth Falls campus attended an open schools Netball NSW gala day at Jamison Park. All students represented Blue Mountains Grammar proudly as they participated in a competitive round robin competition in the Year 3/4 and 5/6 division. 

It was absolutely wonderful to see every student participating positively and showing great sportswomanship. I was particularly proud of the students that played in the competition who haven’t before and pushed themselves out of their comfort zone. The level of teamwork and passion on the court was excellent to see. 

The two most outstanding students in the Year 3/4 division were Poppy her exceptional defensive skills saved many of the oppositions shots. Madeline scored the most goals during the day and her accuracy when shooting was phenomenal.  In the 5/6 division, Rose was outstanding in her ability to strategically control the game and mentor other students. Hayley and Hana were outstanding in their ability to galvanise the teams and successfully shot at goal. 

A special mention to Rose P for umpiring the  majority of the games and for going above and beyond to help. 

Mrs Amy Spohr 

Stage 3 Teacher

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