Primary Principal Update – Earth Day, the Exhibition and Parent Surveys
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! It’s great to see everyone looking so relaxed and energized after the break. Here are some important messages to digest as we begin our final quarter.
Parent Survey: Thank you to those of you who were able to complete the recent primary survey. We received feedback from approximately 15% of our parents. The overwhelmingly positive response signaled an encouraging affirmation of our efforts to date, in providing families with an effective service in the area of sharing student learning.
The new approach to Student Led Conferences seems to have been very well received, though two or three parents wondered whether they could have even more time in the future.
The Primary Shares also seem to be very popular. Three families suggested that we consider dividing Primary Shares between upper and lower primary in the future.
There was almost 100% support for the benefits attributed to the Primary Classroom Blogs with the exception of student awareness of what is being shared on these sites. Clearly, our students are not as involved in these as they might be. We will continue to work on improving all of these services.
Thank you again for such a positive response to our inquiry.
PYP Exhibition:This coming week will mark one of the biggest events on the primary school calendar. The 5th Grade Exhibition is a culmination of all the learning that has taken place during the primary years. This year, our fifth graders have inquired into 5 global issues that are important to them.
- Bees 2017 – This group are concerned with the decline of bees worldwide
- Education – This group are concerned about the lack of equality in accessing education
- Climate Change – This group are concerned about the long term negative impact of changes in climate
- Oceans 2017 – This group are concerned about how water pollution is affecting marine life
- Pollution – This group is concerned that global pollution is harming human health
The students will work together to uncover relevant information. They will then reflect on these issues and propose some meaningful action. Please feel free to join our fifth grade parents in the MPR on Thursday at 1:15. You can look at what the fifth graders have been learning and ask them to explain their thinking.
Earth Day: On Friday, April 21st, our school will be celebrating Earth Day by officially opening our new Community Garden (behind the school field that is next to the north car park). Primary students will be planting decorative hedges and anti-mosquito plants around the garden during the day. We will dismiss all primary students from the Community Garden on Friday between 2:30 and 2:45. Please come along and allow your child to escort you around our new community engagement project. Obviously, this work is still in its infancy, but you can quickly get a sense of one of this year’s student action council initiatives. Students who are not collected will be escorted to the library as usual.
T-shirts Reminder: If you would like to order house shirts, you are requested to use this order form: House T-Shirt Order Form and return it with the correct payment to Ibu Agung in the library by April 28th.
House shirts are worn for House competitions – athletics is next! If you are unsure which House you are in, please check with Mr. Sutherland. If you would like to check sizes or see samples, then these are also located within the library. Please note, once the deadline has passed, the ordering period will be closed
As always, I thank everyone for their ongoing, positive support.
Warm regards,
Alan Lorenzini
