Term 3, 2010
Tues 13 July 2010
to
Friday 17 September 2010
Useful Links
"Students practice democracy in action" on ABC
Come and See Morning Tea
Tour of classrooms, chat with parents and staff
Please be ready for a 10am start
Term 3, 2010 dates:
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Wed 18 August 2010
Thurs 9 September 2010
For more details and bookings please call 07 3378 5466
BIS Curriculum In Brief
For more exploration of the curriculum see Curriculum In-Depth
At BIS we don’t expect our students to just follow a pre-determined path, we work with each student to ensure individualised success in literacy, numeracy and authentic problem based learning across the KLAs. Freedom to explore the KLAs expands as students show competence in core skills, allowing them to research independently and follow their own designs and ideas. We use a multifaceted approach integrating three equally important parts of our curriculum:
Societal Component
This component reflects our societal expectations of our student’s knowledge by using the Queensland Government Outcomes Syllabus. The flexibility of lesson times, learning content and access to materials enables students at BIS to address problem-solving issues with great alacrity. Student development occurs at a different pace depending on the individual and our small groups and one-to-one teaching can accommodate this. We will suggest specialist support for students if progress is not occurring. We ensure strong coverage of literacy and numeracy with one on one classes and catered programs. We have integrated core outcomes from KLA around the four major themes that we have for the year.
- Term 1 Who Am I — an exploration of self, family, school, country and world.
- Term 2 BISmarks — our school turns into a small country with government, flag, currency businesses and community services.
- Term 3 Our Environment — environmental concerns and study of the environment at school, local area or globally.
- Term 4 Time Machine — takes us to any country and any time to find out about people, places and beliefs.
Assessment
We focus strongly on students developing good test taking skills, planning and organising for projects and internalised evaluations with critical analysis skills. We see assessment as a tool for the students to self critique rather than a tool for judgement. Reflecting the societal expectations of assessment we engage in government requirements with our students sitting the year 3, 5 and 7 mandatory tests in literacy and numeracy and the 8 Key Learning Areas (KLAs) are graded and reported on with biannual report cards as required by the Federal Government. Further details are available on the Assessment page.
Cultural Component
The culture at BIS focuses upon two core educational documents; The BIS Values and The Self Directed Learning Continuum (SDLC). These two documents outline our community beliefs and values about learning, thinking and citizenship. As a democratic school this component sees children learn meeting skills, public speaking, debate, ethics, philosophy, interpersonal skills and co-operative group skills.
Our students develop confidence in conflict resolution and mentoring while exploring the values found within the exploration of self, community and world. Students have wonderful opportunities to develop interpersonal skills that can truly be life changing.
Assessment
The Cultural Component is assessed through projects, real life experiences such as the morning meeting, fundraising, peer tutoring and whole community presentations. The students also use the Self Directed Learning characteristics as the tools for self critique. This self critique is shared with parents biannually as a portfolio presentation, a beautiful opportunity to hear your child talk about their learning and share their interests and passions. Further details are available on the Assessment page.
Individualised Component
The journey of the individual student is a complex and fascinating path. Each of them traverses it with their own experiences and carrying their own baggage. Within the Individualised Component students begin to learn techniques and strategies for looking at “the Self”, self esteem and self concept. Through a gradually increasing level of development students begin to record their thoughts, ideas and feeling in their daily journals moving from visual to written form as they develop literacy skills. This journaling process is supported by the development of relaxation and visualisation skills, communication through art, let me Learn multiple intelligences, feeling language and non-violent communication.
OMNI Projects Students also extend this component through a personal project on any topic that enables them to explore their interests. These projects grow in complexity as children progress through school. Students are often linked up with mentors to help them with their project and skills. These projects are shared with the community at the end of term and critiqued by the student against their goals.
Assessment
This component is about the internal journey of the child so the assessment is based around their goals. Students share what they are comfortable with and assessment is primarily through observation and discussion. Further details are available on the Assessment page.
Home and School Links
It is essential that the home and school be closely linked in supporting all learning. Updates in our weekly newsletter will give you information on what has been happening in the classroom and we hope some extension will occur at home.
We also expect extra home learning to include:
- regular reading sessions with your child,
- maths facts and tables practice and
- support in developing their writing skills.
Students will also sometimes receive homework as part of their daily learning. These follow-up activities practise skills to help the student fully internalise new knowledge or help develop the next day’s activities.
For more exploration of the curriculum see Curriculum In-Depth