Current+News

Francis, from Lake Boga, has successfully applied for Cluster funding to attend the CEFPI (Radical Learnings: abandonment and regeneration) 3 day conference in Melbourne in late May. In a nutshell the conference will look at - //How our educational facility designs could respond to the challenges of new education pedagogies.//


 * //__Wooranna Park Primary School Visit May 21__// ||
 * //Dave Griffin and Leanne Dawes// **__Manangatang__** ||
 * //Bernie Conlan and Clare Earle **__Swan Hill PS__**// ||
 * //Di Davies and Anita Trezise **__Swan Hill North__**// ||
 * //Phillip de Morton and Jo Williams// **__Beverford__** ||
 * [|//http://www.woorannaparkps.vic.edu.au///] //__home page__// ||
 * [|//http://www.woorannaparkps.vic.edu.au/pdf/learning.pdf//] //__philosophy__// ||
 * [|//http://www.woorannaparkps.vic.edu.au/downloads.htm//] //__lots of pictures__// ||
 * //Also have a look at the first movie on this download page which gives a good overview of the school.// ||
 * Some observations comments from the eight visitors. ||
 * # Ray Trotter the Principal made some very pertinent remarks. One that I considered very relevant was 'the two most important things in a school are realtionship between teachers and students and student engagement'....nothing new I guess.
 * 1) It is the student 'Learning Journeys' that are a feature of the school. The students at the beginning of each week plan their week's work with assistance from teachers and do a check off at the end of the week.
 * 2) Another feature of the school was the remodelling of the traditional classroom. The school is basically an old brick LTC (similiar to what Swan Hill North was). They have removed walls to get more space and added many partitions to create work areas. A lot of ICT is used in the school. ||
 * # The school selectively focuses on "major" activities each year. For example, they may enter Science Talent Search one year and enter Energy Breakthrough the next.
 * 1) Each year, the Year 6 students write and perform a Graduation Song.
 * 2) Ray also made it clear that their model will not suit all communities/teachers/students. He does not advocate replication of the model across the system.
 * 3) Ray indicated that pedagogy and facilities must evolve together but the pedagogy was paramount. ||