FROM THE HEAD OF PRIMARY SCHOOL DR SANDRA WEBSTER

In Primary School, the 2022 academic year concludes with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. I am very proud of our students and of the staff that encourage and guide their learning each day. Out students set themselves apart not just by their academic achievements and progress throughout the year but also by their ability to articulate their learning and to present themselves as confident and poised students that our community can be proud of. They are indeed a credit not just to Canberra Grammar School but to their family and to all who support them in their learning journey. This is evident right across our School, from Pre-School to Year 6. I remember talking to one of our youngest learners, who held out his hand for me to shake at the conclusion of our impromptu chat. That handshake made my day!

Moments like that occur every day across all our classrooms, and it is stopping to recognise and appreciate them that constantly reminds me of what a truly special community CGS is. A highlight of 2022 was the ability to be able to welcome parents back onsite finally. It was great to see the support of many parents coming on to campus to cheer their child on at Sport’s Days, Book Week Parade, PYP walks, Year 6 Graduation and Exhibition right to awaiting the arrival of buses back from camp. Parents are such an important part of the education process for the children we share, and so this has been so welcome.

After years of planning, it was a great joy to attend the opening of the Snow Concert Hall. This beautiful building has been a wonderful addition to our facilities, and the Primary School has already enjoyed assemblies and performances in this space.

So, in conclusion, 2022, while we began the year with restrictions, has, over the course of the year, unfurled to become one of welcome and delight.

Thank you to all who have contributed to this successful year. It certainly takes us all to work as a team to achieve great things for our wonderful students. Plans for 2023 are well in the making, and I look forward to another year of growth, learning, opportunity, and challenge.

Primary School Leadership Team

• Head of Primary School – Dr Sandra Webster

• Deputy Head of Primary and Director of Academic Education – Ms Lucy Garven

• Director of Action and Service – Mr Adam Hall

• Director of Students – Ms Lauren Dunn

• Director of CGS Care - Ms Tanya Alcorn

• Primary School Operations and Administration Manager – Ms Kristen Murray

Major Projects

Over 2022, several major projects supported the growth of our students as well as the aims of our CGS Strategic Plan. In the Primary School, an effort is made to limit the number of new initiatives or major projects to ensure that new learning is embedded and workflow is managed. All projects are developed with a deliberate strategic outcome that supports the overall School Strategic Plan.

In keeping with an approach that supports the in-depth examination of one curriculum area per year, we focused on literacy, supported by Dr Misty Adoniou. This year-long, high-quality professional development, delivered by a recognised expert in this area, was highly successful, with demonstrable changes made to the pedagogical approach to teaching literacy in our classrooms.

With a return to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although not a major project per se, remote learning significantly changed how the curriculum was delivered to our students. Our teachers responded with agility, and consequently, our students continued to receive the high-quality education expected at CGS. Parental feedback was highly positive, and I am indebted to our staff, who made this possible.

Over 2022, led by one of the Head of House staff members, we launched our ‘Green Project’, which began with a student Green Team and waste audit and progressed to the implementation of Re-collect bins, compost bins, stationery recycling, and a ‘Sharing the Planet’ programme. Both students and staff became active changemakers, taking climate action to start our mission to become a zero-waste school. This has already led to school-wide behaviour change and community engagement. Our Green Team initiative was seen as necessary because we believe schools play an essential role in teaching sustainability practices, knowledge and skills throughout the community. We were thrilled to receive a ‘Leaps and Bounds’ Award from The Climate Choices Schools Awards, an annual event that recognises and celebrates climate action and sustainability champions in ACT schools. These Awards celebrate excellence in the sustainable management of resources across the Sustainable Schools Programme focus areas – energy, water, biodiversity, waste, transport and curriculum integration.

Another exciting project of 2022 was initiating the trial of new Apple devices, including using iPads in classrooms to extend and support curriculum delivery. While this initiative will be deliverable over the next few years, it was pleasing to see it start over 2022. An IT Pilot Team for 2023 has been created, allowing staff to trial the new devices, share their thinking and feedback, and work closely with the IT team. This is a continuation of the initial Pilot group that has now been extended.

Our BRIDGE partnership with Indonesian teachers continued, intending to share culture, language and understanding of the context in which our students learn the Indonesian language. To facilitate this, an Indonesian teacher visited our School over several days and stayed in the home of one of our staff members. CGS teachers can travel to Indonesia for a reciprocal visit at a time of their choosing during 2023/ 2024. These trips are fully funded for one or possibly two teachers.

All of the major projects mentioned in this report began in 2022. In keeping with good practice, they will continue to form a part of the life of our School over the long term, to become embedded in how we operate.

Academic Education

CULTURAL & LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

This year, our Primary School Languages team strengthened their practice by exploring Dr Gianfranco Conti’s work. His approach to the teaching of languages through the use of sentence builders became a key focus. It supported the link between classroom literacy work and our Chinese and Indonesian programmes. Students developed an understanding of how grammar functions in other languages, allowing them to combine words and phrases to build sentences in written and spoken form.

Indonesian

The Primary School continues to strengthen our partnership with SDK Cor Jesu in Malang, East Java, as part of the Asia Education Foundation’s BRIDGE Programme. This global initiative aims to connect learning communities and provide a platform for teachers and students to develop intercultural relationships internationally. Term 2 allowed our Year 3 students to meet with the students from our Indonesian partner school via Zoom and email. Then in Term 4, class teacher Ibu Amanda visited Canberra Grammar School. Throughout the week, she visited many K-3 classes, answered questions, shared information about her school, sang Indonesian songs, and taught students a traditional dance. She also spent time observing some Literacy and Art lessons in various year levels around the Primary School. The students thoroughly enjoyed learning from Ibu Amanda, and we were proud to have fostered cultural awareness and global connections between our School community and theirs.

Chinese

The Primary School PYP Walk and Year 6 Exhibition provided opportunities for the broad array of Chinese learning to be showcased across Years 4-6. In Term 2, focusing on Chinese culture within the How We Express Ourselves unit led to the creation of Peking Opera masks and traditional kites. During Term 4, Chinese teacher Ms Tian Chen was invited to share her expertise at the ANU Languages Roundtable Series. One of three speakers at the event, the Roundtables comprised discussions of conceptual and theoretical issues and the presentation of classroom instructional practices and offered a wide array of the latest thinking, methods and experience in the Chinese language teaching field today. Ms Chen’s role as a highly regarded Chinese teacher within our Primary School means that she was well-placed to share her extensive knowledge and experience in this area with the broader community.