From the Deputy Principal - David Hodges

I hope this message finds you well, and I trust that all the mums in our community had a wonderful Mother's Day celebration.

As teachers, we believe in developing positive relationships with our students and families, providing safe and inspiring learning environments, and offering engaging and challenging learning opportunities for our students.

This year, we are focusing on our core work as educators, which is the learning of our students. Our teaching staff is collaborating in Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) to improve the three key elements of our professional work: what we teach (curriculum), how we teach (pedagogy), and how we move learning forward (assessment and feedback).

Each PLT has developed curriculum maps collaboratively this year to ensure that a guaranteed and viable curriculum is delivered in each year level and across each learning area. PLTs spend time weekly with Mary-Anne, our PYP Coordinator, on their Units of Inquiry (UOI) to ensure consistency and quality programs across each year level. The UOIs promote inquiry-based learning, student agency, and the development of essential skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, along with positive attitudes towards learning and global perspectives.

Recently, as a staff, we have focused on high-impact teaching strategies that are evidence-based practices proven to be effective in improving student learning outcomes. Some examples include explicit teaching, differentiation, feedback, and collaborative learning, among others.

We discussed as a team that being responsive to the learners in our class is vital. By utilising a range of strategies grounded in research, we can be confident that our students will be engaged, challenged, and successful in their learning.

Assessment provides information regarding the achievement and progress of our learners. Our PLTs are developing assessment tasks and moderating student work this term to ensure consistency of grades and accurate feedback to families and students in our report writing this term.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please feel free to send me an email at dhodges@standrews.sa.edu.au or call the school, and we can make a time to chat.

David Hodges
Deputy Principal