Year 5/6 students have been welcomed into the 5/6 neighbourhood, where we have begun to build our new community. Of course we were a community together when we were in Year 3/4, so it has been wonderful to see students reconnect with each other. Our inquiry learning journey has begun around the big idea of ‘Community’, with students coming together to brainstorm ideas of what community means to them. This is a conversation we would love you to continue at home too. Matilda Harris Gabriel said that community means collaboration, which is the focus of our neighbourhoods as the students familiarise themselves with the provocations that are on offer throughout the spaces.
The students have already participated in a number of workshops that link to our big idea of Community. We have begun to look at Indigenous Communities, where we have explored what kinship looks like in different communities, while making comparisons to our own experiences. We have also explored how Indigenous symbols can be used for story telling. Students have also explored ideas related to manners and customs, how these have evolved over time, and are thinking about how we can make our community reflect the manners and customs that are associated with our society today. The students also began to explore different styles and techniques artists use for portraits, viewing portraits throughout history. They then did a sitting for each other, where they did a portrait of that person. We think they are pretty great!
Provocations are linked to the big idea of community, which has already provided the students with many opportunities to collaborate with others, across all the spaces of the neighbourhood. Students are able to view the provocations, discuss with their peers, and decide which space would be the place to start their response in. We have already seen scripts being written in the learning commons, that will then be performed and recorded in the performance space, and edited in the sound booth. Being the Year of the Tiger, the students have been provoked to find out more about the Chinese culture behind the different animals for their Chinese Zodiac year of birth. Students have also been provoked to find out about each other in their learning community through the use of data collection. Students are recording their questions, going around to other students, learning names, and asking their questions, which is then recorded in a tally chart. There are some very interesting questions being asked of each other!
Our 2022 student leaders have already hit the ground running. Their first project for the year was to collaborate with their ministry in order to be prepared for our Leaders Assembly. They have had lengthy discussions about all the things they want to achieve this year. There is very much a go big or go home mentality, so it is great to see such enthusiasm from our leaders this year. The students are very much looking forward to being introduced to our school community at the assembly and sharing their goals with everyone.
For the time-being, Prep-Year 5 buddies are taking on a different format. These leaders went down to build community with their Prep buddies in Week 1, which was very successful. They engaged in provocations with each other, learnt each other’s names, and there were smiles everywhere. We know the Preps enjoyed having this time with their buddies, and the Year 5 buddies are in the process of coming up with some suggestions of ways to have more engagement with their buddies, while we are in year group bubbles.
The much anticipated first event of the school year is taking place on Wednesday 16th February – the swimming carnival. Leaders from each house have led house meetings with the Year 4-6 students, where we have seen many students sign up for events. Raff, Luke, and Jude have been responsible for entering the swimming entries into the Google Sheet. It is great to get this sense of community within our school, we know that the students value the competitive nature of the day.
5/6 students explored the idea of student voice, making connections to our inquiry. We know that having student voice helps us to have more success in our learning, which therefore continues to help them build and belong to their community. Students came up with real life examples and scenarios from their own experiences for these examples of student voice at school:
- Listen to and learn from peers and adults
- Ask questions to strengthen their understanding
- Share their ideas and opinions
- Actively seek feedback from teachers and peers to progress their learning and reflect on their learning experience
- Give feedback to peers and teachers
- Negotiate learning goals and assessment
- Respectfully challenge others’ views around learning and teaching
- Feel confident to contribute in meaningful ways for a shared sense of ownership
It was a great reminder to everyone that they use and show student voice every minute of every day they are at school, and we look forward to continuing to build on this throughout their inquiry this year.
The 5/6 teachers are grateful for the settled start to the school year, and are looking forward to what the year will bring. We thank you in advance for the support as we begin to see just what we can achieve as a 5/6 community within our school and wider community for 2022.