Learning Across the
Junior School
From the Head of Junior School and Early Learning
Recently I attended the Asia Pacific Summit on Girls' Education held in Hobart. It was a fabulous opportunity to connect, learn and engage with educators, researchers and academics on the latest issues and research affecting the education of girls.
Dr Judith Locke, who presented at our school in 2022, delivered a keynote session at the conference. She looked at the many influences on children’s mental health and altered pressures on parents and schools. Judith presented a hopeful message that many wellbeing issues, particularly anxiety, are able to be overcome with willingness to do the ‘hard things’ that might feel uncomfortable for everyone at first, but will ultimately ensure that all children truly reach their potential.
It was lovely to connect with Judith again and I highly recommend her two books to you. Judith’s first bestselling book, The Bonsai Child, discusses problems with current well-meant parenting practices and shows parents practical ways to turn their situation around. Her second, The Bonsai Student, focuses on children’s school experience and gives parents useful and realistic strategies to ensure their children develop confidence, capability and independence in their studies to give them the best chance of future success and satisfaction in their work and personal lives.
At the conference, I also shared the action research projects our Early Learning Centre and Junior School educators and teachers have conducted working alongside researchers from the University of South Australia. Using the action research process to critically reflect on practice our teams have designed innovative learning experiences for our girls and children. Our ELC research project focused on how we build purposeful learning and use democratic pedagogies in the early years. In the Junior school our teachers are developing a repertoire of contemporary mathematics teaching practices that scaffold knowledge and skills across all year levels. Demonstrating strong pedagogical leadership and excellence in teaching in learning, it was fabulous to celebrate our work at Loreto with educators from across our region.
Mrs Marika Taylor
Head of Junior School and Early Learning
Junior School Tech Club
In Junior Tech Club this term, we've delved into the realm of AI. Through harnessing the capabilities of Canva, the girls have embarked on a journey of using the Text to Image app to transform textual input into vibrant visuals.
They have also acquired the skills to utilize Canva Assist in shaping their storylines and character descriptions. During this week's session, the girls ventured into the realm of image creation, honing their abilities to craft vivid portrayals of one another. By refining and expressing their descriptions with greater precision, the students were able to construct remarkably realistic images.
Other activities have included using Metademo online to animate their drawings. The girls first drew a simple picture and then uploaded it into Metademo. Following this, they were able to choose dancing, walking, jumping and other animation prompts to bring their images to life. Learning how to share these animations meant that they could be used in other formats and presentations such as BookCreator and Powerpoint. The girls have also explored Scratch coding in recent weeks.
Tech Club is open to all students from Year 3-6 on a Tuesday lunchtime.
Isabelle Roberts
Tech Club coordinator
National Reconciliation Week in Year 5
Over the past week the Year 5 girls have been very busy organizing activities for National Reconciliation Week. We have learnt alongside other students from other grades how the Murray River got created, as well as the Rainbow serpent Dreamtime stories that Aboriginal people pass down from generation to generation.
During the Reconciliation Week activities, we have also learnt about the importance of the Acknowledgement of Country. The Acknowledgement of country is a time for us to respect the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders' cultures, past present and emerging. Throughout the fun activities that the Year Fives organised we all realised that when we work alone, we do so little but when we work together, we can do so much!
Overall our Reconciliation Week activities were a blast. As a result, our Year 5 girls have decided to create a new club at the school, called the Young Leaders, Global Citizens club! Every Friday at lunchtime, all students across the junior school are welcome to come to the Year 5 classrooms to participate in cultural awareness activities. These activities are student led and student organised. We look forward to developing a great understanding of many cultural practices together.
Written by Chelsea Gupelle and Adella Zimmermann
Year 5 Students
Adelaide Botanic Gardens Excursion - Year 5
Last Friday the Year 5 classes went on an excursion to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens to celebrate World Environment Day. The theme this year was ‘Beat Plastic Pollution. There were over 1300 students who attended the event, and over 250 adults looking after all the students.
We got to run around in the Ecohub and do lots of activities. Some of the fun activities were sewing recycled fabrics and looking at different animal eggs. In addition, we had a chance to go meet some scientists at the herbarium to have a look at some seaweed. We learnt that seaweed is in lots of foods we eat. At the end of the day, we got to meet some more scientists that talked to us about different seeds. They used microscopes to see some of the tiniest seeds we had ever seen. The scientists had the really important job of collecting endangered plants and seeds and protecting them in their laboratory. They then had to figure out ways of growing them before planting the seeds. We saw so many different species of orchids.
We all had a wonderful time at the Botanic Gardens, and I am sure everyone will want to go back.
Written by Year 5 Students
Full Marks Received for High Achiever
We congratulate Marissa Lee (Year 6) on her High Distinction, receiving full marks for the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition. This test has a variety of problem solving challenges that require students to develop informal algorithms and must be completed in a set amount of time. Loreto College is now ranked #1 due to Marissa's full marks! Well done Marissa!
