Bayfield School Newsletter - Wednesday 30th June 2021
Bayfield School Newsletter - Wednesday 30th of June
Inspired Today-Prepared for Tomorrow
Dates to remember
Friday 2nd of July - Matariki breakfast ( Year 5&6)
Diversity Assembly 9am
Matariki House Day (all children to bring a vegetable for soup)
Thursday 8th of July - School Disco in the hall
Friday 9th of July - last day of the term
A word from Kerri
Collaborative Learning Spaces (Modern Learning Environments)
There are some common misunderstandings about how collaborative spaces work and as most of us never went to school in a building like Bayfield, we can feel a little out of the loop or perhaps have some preconceived notions about how the school day may be structured.
Whilst we have the luxury of allowing children to learn in a large open and comfortable space, we do have the same very clear and tight expectations that are in place in other “traditional” environments. In some spaces, children have allocated work areas, much like an allocated desk that you may have had at school. We have sessions for core curricula and skills have clear and structured timetables where subjects like spelling, handwriting and grammar are taught. The children have tight routines and each session is carefully and meticulously planned by our very hard working teaching staff.
The difference between Bayfield and other schools is that we can access more than one teacher’s capability to teach the curriculum and this means that our children are supported to achieve to a very high level, as teachers are able to debate, develop and plan for a diverse range of learners and provide a variety of experiences.
In all of our spaces there are varying levels of choice and control over learning. In our Year 1-4 teams children will develop their self management and may have the ability to complete set tasks and make choices (constructed by the teachers) about their next tasks. This is not a free learning experience, but the chance for children to learn about how they manage time, themselves and learn to develop autonomous learning habits. The children are supported in the process by the teachers and learning assistants in their spaces.
As they move to our senior school they take more control by managing and planning one day a week of their time.This is not a fun, free do what you want day! It is highly structured and has high levels of accountability. Children need to make sure that they complete their maths, literacy, social science, science and or art tasks, book a time to go to the library and also make sure that they attend a music class. This is exactly what they will face as they move to Year 7 and in their lives when they will have to manage their days. Our teachers monitor and again support learners with the planning of their day and set expectations for how much needs to be achieved. Teachers report that on the day when the children can control their timetable they complete more work and to a higher standard than when the teachers control every element of the timetable.
Recently I have been reading a book called Generation Alpha - Understanding our children and helping them thrive By Mark MCrindle and Ashley Fell with Sam Buckerfield. In the chapter about educating Generation Alpha ( children born between 2010-2024) they talk about the transferable skills this generation will need for life.
It is our intention to give all learners the opportunity to develop these key skills and strive for academic excellence during their time at Bayfield.
Our bottom lines - accountability for learners
Many of you may wonder how the teacher’s ensure so many children complete their work or are accountable for any independent work that they may undertake. As we are a very friendly and relationship focused school it might not be visible to parents that we have very high expectations and standards for the children and that we enforce these with our learners. Whilst we differentiate our learning and some of our expectations to cater to the needs of our learners, we do set expectations for all learners so that they are very aware of timeframes, quality of work and the consequences for not working effectively. Some examples these expectations are:
Work marked and checked regularly by teachers and sometimes by peers for accountability and progress checks
Reminders sent to learners via Hero or written up as must be completed tasks
Finishing work at lunchtime
Finishing work at home
Emailing parents to inform them of the failure to complete tasks
Work must be completed by a certain day or they will not be able to participate in another class activity
Set the expectations to prepare senior learners for intermediate
Teacher conferences to support learners to complete work or to help catch up if they have been absent
Tasks that need to completed are completed before any choice activities are undertaken
Grouping and rotations allow the teachers to follow up and keep track of all learning
Whilst we want our learners to have high levels of responsibility for their learning, we are very aware that as children they will need boundaries and set expectations to take increasing ownership of how and what they learn.
MATARIKI
Library Lunchtime Fun
What’s on:
This week the library is all twinkly. Lunchtimes will feature stories, music, craft and activities.
Tuesday: Star weaving and storytime (aimed at the Juniors)
Wednesday: Kite construction (aimed at Middle school)
Thursday: Remembrance tree and card making (quiet session to honour loved ones)
Friday: Tāwhirimātea spinner making (aimed at the Seniors)
For more ideas and information on Matariki, check out the Bayfield library webpage.
Matariki House Day - Friday 2 July
All children will need to bring one vegetable each and place them in their house box outside the hall on the day. Vegetable ideas:
Root veggies, pumpkin wedge (paukena), kumara, carrot (kāreti), onion (aniana), capsicum (rapikama), celery (herewī)
A message from the Eco Warriors / kaitiaki
As we are trying to reduce the rubbish from school lunchboxes, especially plastic & non biodegradable wrappings, can parents please be mindful when packing lunch boxes?
Wax wraps, reusable containers &/or bags are a great way to help the environment.
We will be giving spot prizes to children with eco-friendly lunch boxes for the rest of this term.
BAYFIELD DISCO 2021
SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A ROCKSTAR & REACH FOR THE STARS AT THE:
BAYFIELD SCHOOL DISCO
THURSDAY JULY 8TH IN THE SCHOOL HALL
5.30PM - 6PM YR0 - YR2*
6PM - 7.30PM WHOLE SCHOOL
*YR0-2 Welcome to stay longer!
DRESS UP (OPTIONAL)
BAYFIELD ROCKSTARS!!
ENTRY $5
Includes Gold Coin donation to STAR JAM + ICE CREAM OR ICE BLOCK
PLUS:
FACE PAINTING: Gold Coin Donation
SAUSAGE SIZZLE: $2
ADDITIONAL ICE BLOCK $3, ICE CREAM $4
Please bring named water bottles for the children. Free refill available.
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