Congratulations to Year 2P who presented a wonderful explanation of The Learning Pit during assembly last week. Each Early Years assembly is led by one of the classes, and we have been given an excellent insight into what happens in our classrooms, with classes showcasing our off campus learning opportunities, our engagement with learning tools such as Write that Essay, and this week’s presentation on The Learning Pit. Year 2P generously allowed me to video them so that I can share it with you.

They have beautifully captured what it means to be a learner at OLSCC. In fact, as part of a class exploration around the cognitive verb ‘identify’ last week, one of the Early Years classes were learning that to ‘identify’ meant that they needed to ‘locate or recognise distinguishing features’. When I asked the group how they would ‘identify’ that a child was an OLSCC student, I expected them to tell me things such as the uniform they were wearing, or the bag they were carrying. Interestingly, most of the discussion actually centred around the qualities they displayed, with comments such as:

• “They would be the kind of kids that would get in the learning pit”
• “They would be curious”
• “They would be independent”
• “They use their learning dispositions to help them face a challenge”

This fortnight, we are specifically focusing on the disposition of motivation. This involves us working towards seeing and cultivating strong reasons to act or accomplish something, and in turn, we see our students embody the following:

• I strive to succeed 
• I want to learn 
• I value effort 
• I can make this even better

Yet again – this leads not only to success in learning, but success in life. There were several students sporting ‘Motivated’ stickers in classrooms today – well done!

This will be my final newsletter piece for a while as I embark on 5 weeks of Long Service Leave. I am excited for Mrs Kristen Bennie to fill my position in my absence as Acting Assistant Principal Early Years. I am sure there will be seamless transition and I know our College community will give her full support. In other great news, we are pleased to have Mrs Jane Cruickshank in to fulfill Mrs Bennie’s teaching commitments in the Year 3B classroom for the next 5 weeks. See you all in Week 9!

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years