TEAM GOAL: Independent, confident learners who take risks and problem solve

In Phase 1, we closely observe the learners in the environment and how they learn through play. As an Early Childhood team, we are passionate about offering an exciting and stimulating environment where learners can flourish. Our environments are flexible and enable learners to follow their interests and confidently and independently explore. The adult's role is to facilitate the play, observe and support the learners on their individual journey. We provide opportunities for learners to take risks and solve problems in all areas of their learning. For example, in Kindergarten, the learners actively participate in a weekly 'Discover and Discuss' session, which is linked to their Unit of Inquiry. The learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their environment and work with the adults to create new learning spaces that support their inquiries and independence. For example, in Nursery, the learners took ownership of their environment and worked collaboratively to develop a nurse’s station. This idea was inspired after a visit to the school nurse and learning about our school community. We look forward to continuing your child’s learning journey in Term 4.

TEAM GOAL: Reflective learners that drive their own learning

The Year 2 team chose to focus on developing reflection as our team learning goal this year to enable learners to have a deeper understanding about their own learning, next steps and how to achieve targets.

Throughout the year we have introduced the learners to a variety of reflection strategies, such as 'tickled pink and growing green' - in which the learners highlight things they have done well and an area for improvement - as well as '3 stars and a wish' and self-assessment checklists.

During the Learning Walks, we identified different challenges learners face remembering their targets or knowing next steps and created visual displays in the classrooms for reading and writing that the children can refer to when needed. The learners have also become very proficient at using Seesaw as a tool to share and celebrate their learning with others. They have been encouraged to post their ‘Proud Work’ from early in the school year and have become increasingly competent at making videos and voice recordings to explain their thinking.

It is very rewarding to see the progress the learners have made, from saying “reflection is something you see in a mirror” during our first Learning Walk to confidently sharing learning targets in detail during our most recent one this term.

Next term, we will be exploring peer assessment in the form of 'Friendly Feedback'. We look forward to sharing the next stage of our learning journey with you!

TEAM GOAL: Learners and parents share a deep connection and understanding of the learning journey

As part of our professional development this year, the Year 3 teaching team chose to focus on developing a deep connection and understanding of the learning journey by both the families and learners.

For the learners, we have focused on using reflection as a tool to develop understanding. We have been explicitly teaching learners what reflection is, why we do it and how it helps them in their learning journey. Examples of this are, looking at their targets in multiplication and deciding what multiplication table to work on next. Doing a verbal or written reflection after they write a story, or thinking about their City System and thinking about what they are most proud of and what could be improved next time. Through this work we are working towards making learners have more agency and self awareness of their own learning journey.

With the COVID restrictions in place, it is important to us that we still keep a connection with home despite not being allowed to have families on campus. As a team we decided to develop 'Family Activities' that are sent home in the home learning each week. These activities are for families to complete with their child and give them a way to connect with each other and to the concepts that we are covering in class. The goal is to create conversations between families around learning in a collaborative and fun way.

The Learning Walks this year helped us to refine and develop our Team Goal and gave us tangible evidence from teachers and learners about how we can continue to develop reflection in class and strengthen the home school connection.

TEAM GOAL: Every learner is appropriately supported to take ownership of their own learning progression

Throughout the school and in most subject areas learners are regularly encouraged to reflect on their learning, recognise their progress and to set realistic ‘next step’ targets. Our question was ‘how can we best support Year 4 learners to create pathways towards their goals with greater independence?’

Our goal this year is to place greater emphasis on the ‘Approaches to Learning’ (AtLs) so that learners develop a more solid skill set from which independent learning can thrive. The AtLs are transferable lifelong learning skills that fall under the umbrellas of ‘thinking skills’, ‘research skills’, ‘communication skills', ‘social skills’ and ‘self-management skills' that assist in all aspects of our learning at school and at home. For example, alongside extending scientific understanding in our current ‘Forces and Simple Machines’ inquiry, we have specifically designed and structured the lessons to focus on observation skills, strategies for analysing and evaluating data, developing collaborative skills when working in a group.

We are pleased to see the progress in our learners’ growth mindset and their transferable skill set. Combined with their growth in confidence and desire to succeed we are seeing learners are becoming more independent at creating and using pathways to advance their self-directed learning.

TEAM GOAL: To deepen and personalise learning

Our Year 5 team have developed and implemented a range of teaching and learning approaches that deepen learning and ensure that this is personalised to individuals and groups of learners. The PYP Approaches to Learning are the skills that we know are critical not just for 'academic' success but success in the future too. We focused our teacher inquiry on how we could 'bring them to life' through learning.

'Agent Awesome' is the name that we have given to 8 key skills that support learners to develop and demonstrate agency. These encourage learners to make informed choices, share their voice and have ownership over their learning. These skills are: collaboration, problem solving, self-awareness, listening, organisation, digital technology, time management and contributing to an enjoyable environment. Learners co-constructed success criteria for each of the skills and have been actively involved in reflection and goal setting. This has allowed them to identify specific skills to focus on and take responsibility for applying them in a range of contexts including: school, home and in daily life.

Teachers have also reflected and further developed strategies for ensuring our learners are aware of what they are learning and how they will know they have been successful. Learners are excited and motivated to learn, and show that their understanding and skills have improved. Examples of this include taking responsibility for a specific role in Literature Circles and presenting an Elevator Pitch that includes suitable persuasive techniques.

It is fantastic to hear learners supporting each other towards achieving success and observing the increase in independence and self management. Well done Year 5 learners!

TEAM GOAL: To develop confident, independent, resilient learners

Wow, what a fantastic year we have had so far. It has truly flown and we cannot believe we only have one term left. As educators, our team goal for the start of the year was to help learners develop into confident, resilient, independent inquirers. To begin with we focused on our use of our new iPads for learning. Using technology to leverage and understanding its potential began our journey. With everyone receiving a iPad at the start of the year, it was imperative that we learnt how to use it responsibly and with confidence. It has been amazing to see the growth in this as the year has progressed. Now, the learners are teaching the teachers how to use various applications and actively seeking out the best options to support their development.

We have also developed a greater understanding of what a growth mindset is and how it relates to our Approaches to Learning. We have been honest with ourselves on what our strengths and areas to improve are, and have supported each other along the way. The Year 6 PYP Exhibition is fast approaching and it will put our new found independence and resilience to the test as we explore the theme 'Individuals grow by challenging their personal limits'.

If the rest of the year continues to go as fast as the first three terms, in the blink of an eye we will all be looking forward to beginning Secondary School. However, before that, we will make sure we do a lot of amazing learning and a lot of fun along the way.