Fundamental to learning in the Junior School is the establishment of highly proficient literacy and numeracy skills to support the development of critical thinking, deep learning and higher order conceptual understandings.
To ensure your daughter’s educational needs are well met we undertake an assessment of all girls as they enter the Junior School. By using standardised assessment tools, we develop a strong understanding of your child’s areas of strength and those needing support. Our teaching is then differentiated to allow each girl to be challenged and stimulated in her learning journey. A sense of curiosity, wonder and desire to engage deeply in each learning task is fostered.
The delivery of activities that establish highly proficient literacy and numeracy skills is the core focus of class teachers. The girls’ also enjoy additional support from the specialist Literacy and Mathematics teachers and teachers’ assistants who work in the room. Children already demonstrating competence in basic skills are challenged to apply this core knowledge in investigation and extension tasks while those needing additional time to consolidate their knowledge are supported with explicit teaching.
Applied learning
Attaining the core literacy and numeracy skills is essential but so too is the application of these skills in experiential based learning scenarios where girls learn by doing. This might include the turning of traditional nursery stories on their head to write fractured fairy tales or exploring the imagery of text in a sophisticated novel such as The Book Thief.
Learning is made relevant and meaningful when girls use first source data to take on the persona of someone from the 1800’s when learning about the colonisation of Australia or the discovery of gold in central NSW. Panning for gold in Bathurst in winter or walking the streets of The Rocks in Sydney in period costume brings history alive for the girls.
What day of the week is the most cost efficient to refuel the family car with petrol? What does the perfect pencil case for a 12 year old girl look like? How much would it cost to refurbish your bedroom? These are all research questions the girls have posed, collected data for, used technology to assist in the analysis of and then presented their findings. These inquiries can be entered into our own school based AbbSearch Award or submitted to the annual Mathematics Association of Australia competition, but most importantly involve the girls in rigorous investigations.
Technology to enhance learning
Learning outcomes for the girls are enhanced through the use of innovative technologies such as SMARTBoards, video conferencing, blogging and other digital media as appropriate. The School has readily available access to technology which allows the girls to work both independently and collaboratively with different software programs and devices. Integrators assist both girls and teachers to enable these technologies to become a common place element in each lesson while teacher librarians ensure the development of information literacy for all girls.