Did my child really say that at school?

Many years ago as a new Deputy Principal I wandered into a Year 2 class while they were doing 'Show and Tell'. This is sometimes called Morning Talks or News or some variation on that theme. A little boy was proudly showing the class some photos of his parents that he had found in their bedside table. I could see the teacher about to have a conniption and children's eyes getting rounder by the millisecond. I quickly collected the photos, distracted the children with a joke, introduced the next speaker and glided out of the door. I collapsed at my desk half in laughter and half in horror about the conversation I now needed to have with the little boy's parents.

I tell this story not as a warning to parents to lock up their private lives but as an insight into the sharing that goes on between staff and children in the classroom. Children tell their teachers, teacher aides, volunteers, and other kids all kinds of things that they see and overhear at home. Most parents would be horrified, frankly, if they had an inkling of the content of some of these stories.

Teachers, however, are not horrified. They are professional and skilled enough to understand that the way a child sees the world from their shoes and current levels of development is vastly different to the actual reality. Most teachers discard much of the information children chatter about all day. And this is really good practice, generally!

We know that sometimes children come home with all kinds of stories about things they've observed, experienced or heard at school. And I'm sure some of it makes parent's blood boil. The best thing parents can do is listen, make a constructive comment about behaviour you want to encourage and then politely request more information from the class teacher.  Listen to your children with an open mind, sort out the bits that sound valid, and ask more questions of the teacher - if you really need to!

When my daughter was very young, her (very wise) teacher said to me 'I'll believe 50% of what she says at school about home, if you believe 50% of what she comes home and tells you about school!

It seemed like a fair deal.

Six weeks in and all is well

Dave excitedly announced this afternoon that he had seen some significant shifts in the school over the last week. 'Since Tuesday', he said. 'There's purpose, everyone is positive, things are moving'.

And my reply... 'It's the end of Week 6'.

It's six weeks into the new school year. I always say it takes six weeks, give or take a week, for teachers to get their know the students in their class really well. It takes six weeks to set routines and for things to become automatic in a classroom. It takes six weeks to build relationships with parents, set the homework routines and iron out the kinks. It takes Preps six weeks to realise that school is every day, from 8.37am to 3.30pm.

And Dave's right - there is purpose, staff are positive and optimistic about student achievement, plans are in place for the semester and the hum of innovation across our classrooms has set in.

Things are definitely moving - the Year 6 curriculum is on fire, the Prep teachers can't keep up with their students, the Year 3s and 5s are focused on building their skills for NAPLAN next term, the Year 1 and 2 rooms are humming with the sound of kids reading, writing and practising their number skills and the Year 4s are stretching their wings in the senior school, Sofia (the Performing Arts teacher) is jumping for joy about her new sound system and its capability of individualising music choices for groups, Maree (our Teacher-Librarian) has kids clamouring to borrow books, Cam (our PE teacher) keeps rushing into my office to inform me of the latest sporting achievement of one or more of our students and Alex (our Japanese teacher) is looking ahead to our excursion to Tokyo in November.

It's six weeks in and again we are shaping up as an impressive place to come to every day!

It's wet weather lunch...

It's the message that strikes cold fear through a teacher's chest - 'Good morning, everyone. It's wet weather lunch today.' says Dave at his cheery best.

Some say there's nothing worse than indoor play with 25 or more children - especially for the second day running. Others launch into the staff room craving a coffee and adult conversation. The kids, however, seem to love it!

As I walk around at lunch time checking no one has sailed away on our oval I see kids lying back watching movies, playing board games quietly, completing homework, reading books in the corner and generally whiling away the time in a very relaxed mode. It's certainly a change of pace from rushing about in a game of tiggy or smashing a handball down in the latest round.

'Ms Sands, can we have wet play next week?' one brave soul asks me. I see the teacher paling at the gills and have a quiet laugh to myself!

Happy wet weekend, everyone.

What are we really on about?

Last week at our school leadership meeting we had a flurry of discussion about our 'targets' for 2015. It suddenly became important that everyone should know what the school's focus would be for 2015. Well, it's Reading... Writing... Numeracy... - of course it is. What else would we be putting our energies into?

So this little graphic began to be seen everywhere.

Peregian Springs State School

2015 whole school focus for every learner *Reading    *Writing    *Numeracy

We really want all kids to be successful readers and writers and to be numerate - research shows that if you can read and write, everything else is teachable. And more, if you can read and write to a high level, everything else is teachable AND you are ahead of the game. Readers and writers increase their life chances in terms of income, health, participation in political life, and longevity. So who wouldn't want that?

As the week wore on I was finding it hard to get excited about reading, writing and numeracy. I glossed over it at the P&C Meeting and also threw in the Department's mantra about attendance.
 

Peregian Springs State School

2015 whole school focus for every learner *Reading    *Writing    *Numeracy

Attendance

Of course, we need kids at school if we are going to help them be active participants in their own lives and in their communities. But it still wasn't doing it for me.

A huge part of learning is mental health and social and emotional literacy. So in went Student Wellbeing. 

Peregian Springs State School

2015 whole school focus for every learner *Reading    *Writing    *Numeracy

Attendance

Student Wellbeing

Hmmmmm....

Then it dawned on me that these are all results. They are admirable results, of course, but as an educator and a parent, I want more than results. I've often said over the last five and half years that I wanted to build a school kids and staff couldn't wait to get to every day.

Peregian Springs State School

2015 whole school focus for every learner *Reading    *Writing    *Numeracy

Attendance

Student Wellbeing

Happy kids and staff who can’t wait to get to school everyday

Knowing our kids and staff are happy - that's what gets me up everyday. This is what is exciting about 2015 - our sixth year. This is our 'target'. It's always been our target. And why is that?

It's because we all care deeply about the success of our students and our school. We've built a whole school team around this purpose, and it's what we strive for every day.
 

Peregian Springs State School

2015 whole school focus for every learner *Reading    *Writing    *Numeracy

Attendance

Student Wellbeing

Happy kids and staff who can’t wait to get to school everyday

Why? Because we care deeply about the success of our students and our school

Start out how you mean to go on

Start out how you mean to go on - this is one of my favourite catch cries. It's very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to start something one way - to set something up, to communicate a culture or way of behaving - and then say, no, I've changed my mind, we're going to do it this way now! And so it is with classrooms. A rowdy classroom where the focus is on something other than quality learning and quality relationships is very hard to turn around.

Last Tuesday, the first day of the 2015 school year, I started my first rounds of our school about 8.50am in Prep. As I approached the first classroom a Dad was looking in through the windows quite all at sea, fumbling with his phone. 'Just having one last look, are you?' I said smiling, hoping to calm his nerves. 'Look at this!' he said. 'And it's the same in Year 1!'.

I looked through the window a bit apprehensively. Twenty six Preps were sitting or standing around tables, talking, playing, cutting, sticking, writing their name, looking at the interactive whiteboard, and generally looking like they had been there a month - not 10 minutes!

I couldn't see the teacher - oh wait, there she is, crouched by a table talking with one or two children about what they were doing.

I smiled at the Dad again, 'We don't waste any time here', I said. And I went on my way. And yes, when I got down to Year 1, it was the same.

Thirty four classrooms across our school have started out how they mean to go on - a focus on kids, on quality relationships and on quality learning. What a joy it is to work and play in this place!