From the Leadership Team
ELC OVERVIEW
To all our ELC children and families, we welcome you to our 2016 kindergarten year.
Parent/child meet and greets occurred across last week. It was such a pleasure and privilege to catch up with our returning families and our new ELC families. We truly are blessed to have such gorgeous children attending our ELC.
This week, the children started their transition week. The children attending 4 year old ELC have jumped straight into it while the children attending 3 year old will take a couple of weeks to transition into full sessions. We have had tears (more from the mums!!) – which is all part of the journey. But across all groups the children have settled really well and have loved engaging in their new environments.
The Year Ahead
All children throughout the ELC year will develop a strong sense of identity and this is about Who am I? Where and how do I belong? What influence do I have in my world?
Children with a strong sense of identity look for and are open to new challenges. They ask questions and try new things. They know they can contribute to the world and make a difference. They also persist with things and enjoy their achievements.
We want to instil in the children a mindset of being open to challenge, not fearful of making mistakes and enjoying exploring, problem solving and to develop have-a-go attitudes. We want each and every child to learn resilience and develop a life-long love of learning.
An individual with a growth mindset has a belief in their ability to grow, learn, master new skills and improve competencies. They believe that effort, repeated attempts, problem-solving, mistakes and difficult challenges are a necessary part of the learning process. As ELC educators we support this when we facilitate, encourage, support, value and recognise these processes.
Collaborating With You
We value and encourage parent input into our ELC program. Parents are welcome to share experiences, thoughts, ideas and feedback with their child’s educator either by email or by filling in our parent voice sheets, found in every ELC room.
Our weekly-program-in-action emails give parents insights into what is happening at kindergarten. Inviting families to contribute feedback helps promote a collaborative approach and forge deepening relationships between children, parents and teachers.
“Tell me and I forget...teach me and I remember...involve me and I learn” Benjamin Franklin
Sharon Donnellan
ELC Coordinator
JUNIOR SCHOOL OVERVIEW
The Junior School has made a positive start to the year. As numbers continue to grow, the School is offering more opportunities for students than ever before. 2016 has seen an introduction to many exciting new programs across all years aiming at achieving positive outcomes across the curriculum.
This year, Junior School has introduced the Big Write and VCOP writing approach which supports students writing development. This program has seen huge success internationally and has the ability to support and extend all writers. This approach will also provide ongoing consistency as students progress through the Junior School in years to come. Students will also practise PRIME Mathematics. Originally developed in Singapore, PRIME Mathematics teaches via problem solving and develops metacognition and mathematical thinking.
In addition to new academic programs, our range of cocurricular activities enables students to explore their interests during before school, lunch play and afterschool activities. New activities include Yoga, Poetry, Latin and Planks (building).
The Junior School has introduced an alternative timetable to the Senior School allowing Y1 – Y6 students full access to the courts during lunch play. This has been an exciting initiative that has provided students with varied play spaces and full use of facilities including soccer pitches, basketball courts and additional quiet spaces for passive play.
For more information about what’s happening in your child’s Year level, please read the class newsletters, contact your child’s teacher, or drop in when class begins. There will also be Parent Teacher interviews later this term.
Our Preps started their primary school life with great enthusiasm and excitement last Wednesday. Parents and teachers supported the smooth transition having participated in a variety of activities and workshops beginning in Term 4 last year. This has helped students and parents prepare for their new adventure at Kilvington!
Sebastian Earle, Acting Head of Junior School