Science, Spring Break and SLCs

Dear Parents, Friends and Families,

Thank you very much for the support that you have given your child over the last few weeks. 
With our student-led Science Day, we had 193 students want to share their passion for the subject and with limited teacher guidance, the students chose to share many different examples of how science works.  These events cannot happen with the organisation of teaching and non-teaching staff, which I would also like to thank.  I can safely say, we have a lot of teachers who care for our students and want them to be learning things that they are passionate about with a balance of teacher support, facilitation and/or guidance.
Our organisation of SLCs changed slightly due to some parent feedback from last year.  This year, we had the grade 4 and 5 students choose the single subject teachers and show work that the students wanted to see, we had to encourage the students to be really proud of the work they were sharing with parents and not just sharing work that parents wanted to see or work that they thought parents would like.  We are striving to empower our students and for them to be accountable for their own learning.  This was a challenge for some of our students and an area for us to continue to develop. 
Parents also commented that they would like a longer amount of time for SLCs, which we can easily implement next year, we would also like to give all students the opportunity next year, not just Grade 4 and 5, to visit the single subject spaces, if the students choose to do so.  SLCs are not an opportunity to for the teacher and parent to meet and it is for the individual child to share, not perform or work with in a group.  It is a time when, as a parent, you listen to your child and what they know, what they understand and what they are able to do.

We are rounding off this break, with our Early Years Spring Concert, and a Holi party for our staff. 
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the teachers, students and parents a happy and restful break.

Dates for Diaries:
March 15th:  Language acquisition presentation for Grade 5.  8:05-9:30
March 15th:  EY Concert for parents.  8:30-9:30
March 28th:  Grade 2 Student Sharing swimming to Grade 5 students
April 11th:  Grade 5 MYP Parent Presentation.  8:00-9:00
April 22nd:  Earth Day - Digital Detox Day.  A day without devices!
April 26th:  Transition Day for Grade 5
May 4th:  Swim @ JVLR for selected swimmers in Primary
May 17th:  ECA Drama Production for Grades 3 -5
May 31st:  Grade 5 Ceremony
June 5th:  Primary Concert Grades 1-5