From the Head of Primary
The Importance of Play, Parent Partnership with Alistair Bryce Clegg
On Thursday, over 100 parents attended a parent partnership with guest speaker Alistair Bryce Clegg. If you missed the event, you can watch the video of the presentation and discussion here.
Alistair Bryce Clegg (also known as ABC) talked about the importance of Engagement over Compliance when we are looking for the best learning. Children learn… that is what they do best! But as educators we are always looking to the latest research for the best ways to promote learning, for the best outcomes and progress for our students.
Alistair also talked about the complexity of play, the different types of play. This made me consider the ways that we play/learn as adults. Looking at its definition, ‘play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment’. Although we often discuss the importance of being life-long learners, maybe we should also be thinking about the ways in which we play throughout our life.
Here are some of the key points from Alistair’s presentation.
Dispositions for Learning
These are the attributes children need to be the best learners possible.
Curiosity: Open ended, flexible changeable environments encourage curiosity
Conviction: Developed through discovery and the opportunity to pursue own interests
Cooperation: Playing together, listening, sharing, taking turns, managing a changing space
Confidence: Opportunity to make own decisions, increases confidence
Creativity: Encouraging children to express their own creative ideas in an open learning space
Commitment: Children show a great level of commitment to things that interest them
Persistence: Drive for children to complete their self-chosen task
Imagination: Opportunity to investigate and discover will stimulate a child’s imagination
Reflectivity: Thinking about and sharing their experiences enables children to reflect on and improve their own learning
Learning through Play
You learn better when you are playing. When you are playing, you boost your positive
emotions which activate the learning centres in your brain. That means you are connecting with more of the brain power you have and hence you’ll be more alert in noticing new things and learning through them. When you are playing, you are also much more creative and innovative which means you will be able to engage with whatever you are learning through coming up with new ideas as well as challenging things.
Top 10 Reasons to Play (before and after the age of 5!)
It is a fundamental part of being a human being
It helps us to find our genius!
It brings emotional balance
It helps us to understand body language
It is good for mental health
It generates a feeling of joy
It helps us to problem solve
It keeps your passions alive
It reminds us to communicate
It teaches us patience and self control
Teleton El Salvador 2020 - Gracias a Ti 13th/14th November
Every year our support of the Teleton campaign is an important part of our community work. Please try to support them again this year. Link
Dates for your diary
PRIMARY
November
Saturday 14th: Open Morning: New Pre Kinder & Kinder Students 2021- 9:00 am - 11:00 am - LINK
Tuesday 17th: Kinder Literacy Workshop - 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm - LINK
Thursday 19th: Primary Parent Partnership Healthy Lifestyle - 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm - LINK
Monday 30th: Start of Primary Wellbeing Week
December
Monday 14th: Start of Primary Christmas Celebrations
Wednesday 16th: Primary Reports
Friday 18th: Last Day of Term
Monday 21st: Christmas Holidays start
January
Monday 11th: School resumes after Christmas Holiday
Marianne Taylor
Head of Primary
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