APA News
Dear Parents and Carers,
Today I would like to share with you a reflection from one of our Year 5L students. This was written during their 'quick write' time, which is a brief (10-15mins) session where the students plan and write about various topics. Following on from our whole school focus on the learning disposition of 'Be Collaborative', the topic for this writing piece is Collaborative Learning.
To be collaborative you must work together as a team, that way everybody will achieve. If you want to have better than simple and average ideas you need to build on other peoples ideas and share in your success. Another way to be collaborative is to use democratic decisions and take turns to speak within your collaborative learning groups.
To be collaborative during class you need to participate and contribute in every single activity that your teacher sets you. You can also use constructive sharing to improve your ideas and later on, your work. When being collaborative you need to empathise. This is understanding that other people have ideas and that other people might not always want to use your ideas. If you do not agree with somebody else's idea or suggestion you need to tell that to them politely. You could say 'I disagree because...' or 'What about this idea?' instead of just arguing and choosing your idea because you think that it is the best idea.
What a fantastic description of how 'being collaborative' can help our students become better learners, which is one of the main goals of our Ignite Learning Project.
QLD CHILD PROTECTION WEEK
This week is Child Protection Week in Queensland. The main objectives of Child Protection Week are to:
- raise the profile of all issues connected with child protection, including child abuse prevention, treatment, research, education, service provision and support for children, young people and families
- create a statewide umbrella focus for child protection allowing government and non-government agencies to present a cooperative and coordinated community oriented campaign
- support and value professionals and volunteer child protection workers by providing 'best practice' training and a forum to exchange ideas and information
- offer a framework to recognise advances in the field, and thereby contribute to better outcomes for all children and young people, especially those who have been harmed or are at risk of harm.
To coincide with Child Protection Week, the Prep - Year 2 students had a visit from Mercy Services on Monday morning. This message was then reinforced at assembly on Monday afternoon.
The main message was for our learners to know who their Safety Network is if they are feeling unsafe. This should include five people that they can talk to. Three of these people can be family members and the other two people from outside the immediate family environment. Once the children have their five people that they feel comfortable talking to, it is important that if they need to tell them something and the first person doesn't listen (or they feel they haven't listened), they keep telling people until someone does listen.
Please reinforce this message with your children at home.
Regards,
Sam Hannant
APA