JS News: 18 May 2022
By Emily Begbie, Assistant Head of Junior School Learning and Teaching
PYP Exhibition Student Conference
On Friday last week, our Year 6 cohort participated in the 2022 PYP Exhibition Student Conference. The conference presented an opportunity for students to engage with this year’s theme The Power of Now through a keynote session and series of workshops.
The keynote session included a number of presentations that explored aspects of the theme The Power of Now, and touched on the upcoming exhibition experience. Speakers included Johnathan Davis MLA, Fiona Godfrey and Year 7 student Anya Malhotra.
Students then moved into a series of workshops designed to provide them with some of the skills they will need to draw on throughout the exhibition process:
- research and professional communication skills
- group work and conflict management
- maths and infographics
- visual communication
- the design process
- executive function and wellbeing
- how technology can support the research process.
It was a significant day of learning, and strong foundations were established for the exhibition journey ahead.
‘Learning Connections’ in the Junior School
The Junior School is excited to be partnering with Learning Connections to introduce their Early Years program to Radford.
Learning Connections has developed movement programs for home and the classroom that build developmental skills and improve children’s concentration, learning and behaviour.
Earlier this week, to support this work, a group of early years JS staff undertook in-depth professional learning with the Learning Connections team. The sessions explored practical tools to promote children’s concentration, physical ability, speech and language and sensory motor development.
A parent information session was also held on Tuesday evening, during which parents were provided with an overview of the early years program and how it helps prepare children for learning. Key topics discussed included:
- What skills children need to be school-ready
- The Learning Connections' Early Years Program and how it helps get children school-ready
- Tips for home: increasing play and movement, managing screen time, tips for diet and meal times.
We thank Maureen Hawke and Dianne Boyd from Learning Connections for their compelling and informative presentation.