Junior Department
We completed our second year in our new building which continues to delight us with its calm atmosphere and flexible learning spaces. It has been further enhanced by the Year 3 students as they have placed a variety of trees and ferns around the building, and native trees in the garden. These additions offered the students opportunities to nurture living plants in and around our department.
Professional Learning Staff continued to share their professional learning by journaling inquiries using Appraisal Connector. A key question in this process was, ‘How is this going to change your teaching practice?’ Exploration of this as a team, and as an individual, ensured reflective practice. Refinements were made such as our new lunch break routine. The sixty minutes lunch hour was broken into three sets of twenty minutes. The first twenty minutes for play followed by
eating, then twenty more minutes of play. Our observations concluded that most of our children ate more of their lunch, were less likely to be overwhelmed by the lunch hour, and welcomed the change of direction during the play session. This will be an area of ongoing focus. Selena Hitcho provided excellent professional learning that built on the previous year’s learning. Transfer from teacher to classroom was evident during appraisal visits throughout the year.
Te Reo Māori Regular professional learning has considerably lifted the use of classroom Te Reo Māori. Teachers and students displayed more confidence and embraced opportunities to engage with an audience. Junior Assemblies provided the venue for children to share karakia, waiata, and individuals shared their pepeha. Inclusive practice has become part of the classroom routines.
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