Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

A favourite question I enjoy asking students is, “what are you learning about at the moment?”

Such a simple question, but there’s a lot behind it. You could easily mistake the question as asking what students are doing, but that’s not quite the same. What students are ‘doing’ could be an activity, project or task. What students are learning about invites someone to explain the skill, concept or understanding they are applying to an activity, project or task – ‘learning about’ is understanding, ‘doing’ is applying.

We’ve just enjoyed a very full Term Three. There have been so many wonderful events and activities that I hesitate to list them all for fear of missing one, but I will attempt a quick snapshot including two new programmes Stretch and Challenge / Passions and Pursuits, Winter Sports, Interschool Cross Country, Year Five Camp, Book Week, Father’s Day, Languages Week, Kingfisher Fair, Kingfisher Concert in addition to all the class learning experiences our students engage with daily.

But back to my favourite question…with a subtle tweak. I thought for the final Anchor of Term Three that it might be nice to ask some students from each class, “what have you enjoyed learning about this term?" I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their responses, which I have shared some highlights of, below.

Kindergarten have enjoyed learning about the ocean and all the creatures that live in there. Our four year olds were quick to list their favourites – shark, puffer fish, turtles, jellyfish, crabs, octopus. They could explain where they lived and felt most comfortable, dark caves mostly it seems, and also shared their letter sounds like ‘s’ for starfish. A highlight for the term was dressing up as a sea creature for their Book Week theme, underwater world – I think that was a highlight for Miss Hard and Mrs Clifford too!

Pre-Primary enjoyed learning about Noongar culture, specifically being able to identify local birds by sight and their sound. Students could name many birds using their Noongar name including crow – Wardong, eagle – Waalitj, pelican – Boodalong and Willie Wagtail – Djitti Djitti. Their trips to the Wild Space and Johnston Creek throughout the term were “really fun” they all chirped. A highlight for the class was presenting at the Junior School assembly. Speaking into a microphone was a special moment, sharing their learning with the school community and singing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in Noongar for everyone.

Year One immersed themselves into a world of weather. Students enjoyed learning about weather patterns across seasons and specific features of weather systems and how they affect our lives from our housing, clothing and activities we decide to do. The class dressed up as ‘Weather World’ for Book Week and represented all the different forms of weather, which seems appropriate for Albany on any given day! A highlight for many students was delivering a video presentation they shared with families of a weather report using a map of Australia and very official reporting terminology to describe the weather in different parts of our country.

Year Two took great delight in stretching their skills of persuasion as they learned the techniques of debating and persuasive writing. The enthusiasm for advocating their perspectives with supporting reasons and examples on a variety of topics was impressive, and convincing! Some of the debate topics included which is better ‘the beach or the pool’, ‘cats or dogs’ and arguments around ‘should students wear uniforms?’ and of course the perennial debate that has divided educators, families and students since schools began – ‘Is homework good for students?’ I’m afraid no consensus was achieved on any of the topics, but there was a broader appreciation for the topics, key issues and people's perspectives, which is an impressive learning outcome that we could all learn from.

Year Three students have enjoyed exploring the properties of heat transfer in Science. Students spoke with great detail around their experiments describing the movement patterns of hot water and cold water. Their culminating experience was to write a script and compose a video explaining their knowledge about heat so others can learn these properties as well. Similarly, the experience of learning about different cultures and how they are celebrated, then applying this knowledge to design their own celebration in a festival that centres around food using PowerPoint presentation is another application of their learning that Year Three have enjoyed crafting.

When asked the question ‘what have you enjoyed learning about this term?’ to Year Four students, the variety of responses was incredible, which reflects their broader themes of learning about recycling, reusing and repurposing of materials. Students enjoyed exploring the Science of material properties and experimenting with different materials to refine clay from samples of earth around our campus. In Mathematics, investigating different organic materials (plant based), measuring them and arranging them into symmetrical patterns to create a piece of artwork. I could hear in their explanations they were taking knowledge and concepts then stretching their understanding of them to apply in different ways to create something new and purposeful. These are learnings that will be invaluable for the future.

Year Five have enjoyed an action-packed term with camp certainly being a highlight for the class. Interestingly though when asked what they’ve enjoyed learning about, their answer was exploring the concepts of an economy through money. Understanding the role of money in an economy and how different countries approach the economic problem “unlimited needs and wants, yet limited resources" - their words, not mine – which is a big concept to approach as a ten year old. Each student could earn money in their class for various tasks and responsibilities, then make decisions around how to use the money to improve their classroom experience. Exploring how different countries around the world access and manage money through online research using sites like Dollar Street has been a powerful learning experience for Year Five.

When speaking with Year Six about their learning experiences this term, they have enjoyed working on their inquiry into the Asian region. Throughout the term students explored different countries throughout Asia, noting key features like geography and demographics, but also features of their economy including sources of income and trading partners, naturally occurring events in those areas like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity as a result of tectonic plate movement. Students selected one country to take a ‘deeper dive’ into and build a website with information including journal articles about their country with all the features noted earlier and more specific elements from that country like their faith, rituals and celebrations. Students culminated the experience by sharing their websites with an online audience of students and parents through Microsoft TEAMS software. The integration of their learning with online presentation delivery skills was truly impressive and a wonderful opportunity to gain experience with this online medium that will no doubt become a staple for our educational and working lives into the future.

That is certainly a lot to capture in a term, but it does provide a nice snapshot for you to understand the breadth of learning experiences our students engage with each day, and also the gradual increase in complexity of learning and how they are integrated together as students progress up to Year Six. My own personal enjoyment in this learning process is stepping back in order to see the progressions from Kindergarten to Year Six. I particularly enjoy listening to their expression when describing learning, each year level was so keen to share their knowledge and understandings. That’s a big part of what we’re about as a school. Enjoying learning experiences together, then sharing what we have learned with others.

Best wishes for the break period. For those travelling, enjoy and take care. Those remaining local, take advantage of this beautiful time of year in Albany and step outside into the sunshine and warmer weather. I look forward to an exciting Term Four ahead with everyone.

With warmest regards,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School