Head of Campus Update – 3 August 2018

It’s been encouraging and reassuring to receive such a positive International Baccalaureate (IB) Evaluation Report following a comprehensive self study process over the past year. The process has been rigorous and highly professional to ensure that our Junior School continues to meet the required standards and practices of the Primary Years Program. Thank you to the many parents, students, staff and School Council members who provided valuable feedback to the external evaluation team during their week long visit. A special thanks to our PYP Coordinator, Ms Melissa Graham who continues to lead the team and keep us all on track! We value and appreciate her ongoing expertise and guidance. The next step is to incorporate the recommendations into our revised five year action plan. Our next evaluation will take place in 2023.

We are so proud of the students in Year 5 and 6 who have taken on the challenge of The Compass Award. This program, modelled on The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, has been a welcome introduction in the Junior School this year. Developing self esteem, confidence, resilience, an awareness of the community and a keen interest to help others are the key objectives that have guided their individual projects and activities.  Some of their volunteer projects include helping out at local sporting clubs, a beach clean up, community interest/hobby groups and supporting the homeless through community cooking.  The program is structured over four progressive levels and the students are currently working through their own goals to achieve the first level. Many are close to achieving their level one goals and congratulations to our first Junior School recipient, Sophie Arnott in 5SC for volunteering and helping others at her local dance school.

As an accredited school of The Resilience Project, we continue to highlight the importance of mental health issues and coping strategies to decrease anxiety and increase overall happiness for people of all ages. Last term SRC decided to support The Resilience Project Fundraiser to provide young children living in the Solomon Islands with a quality play based early learning program. Our Term 2 free/casual dress day raised $465.00 as a donation from our students. As always our Junior School families were very generous with gold coin donations. Thank you!  SRC is currently in the process of organising our annual Pyjama/Movie Day for later this term. More information soon.

We are proud of who we are and all we achieve in the Junior School and appreciate the strong partnership we have with our families. A big thank you to all families and friends who volunteer their time to help in the classroom and support learning at home.

Ms Carole Reed
Head of Junior School