SENCO Meeting

It was my privilege to attend the SENCO meeting at Riverdale School on Mel's behalf today. It was great to meet educators from around the region who I have not met before.

Break Times

  • Flipping eating times - eating time at end
  • Lunch Club - puzzles, Toys, Games, Creative Space - repurposed old Dental Clinic. Teaching Social Skills in a controlled environment.
  • Peer Mediators
  • Lunch Activities
  • Radio Station
  • Bikes in Schools and Scooter Park
  • Living Above the Line - Riverdale School - Reward system with Pins - unlocks the box of toys in Lunch Club. Game playing has been very successful... 
  • Uninterrupted Learning Time - no visitors, etc... 
  • Seniors running sport programmes 
  • Seniors on duties - 
  • Creative play - loose parts in shed...Year 3/4 monitors 
Changes in ICS - John RTLB

  • Application Form will be consistent across clusters
  • 150 students in our cluster in 2018
  • Week 5 - emailed to schools
  • Week 10, Term 3 - deadline
  • Notified in Week 5 of Term 4
  • Ensure that you read the guidelines
  • Child needs to be...
    •  Three years or more below chronological age
    • Working within Level 1
    • Possibly failed ORS
  • If the child is receiving other funds, you can still apply for this.
  • This is now contestable 
  • One round of funding per year (possibly) 
  • 4 terms of funding 
  • Need to reapply each year for the child 
  • Not online - email 
  • Testing needs to be independent RTLB survey - reminder 
 Play-Based Learning @ Riverdale

  • The way inquiry is taught 
  • What it means to explore and reflect 
  • Two week focus 
  • Comes from the children's interests - winter, flight, farm animals, dinosaurs, superheroes etc
  • Curriculum coverage - planning & assessment riguor 
  • Key competency focused 
  • Target children in each session (based on children's needs) 
  • Teachers need to know the curriculum very well - need to be able to identify the curriculum on the go 
  • Challenges for children - e.g. how to get the bits out of the ice (smashing on the first day, 2nd day not allowed to smash anymore - what else could we do?) 
  • Recording curriculum coverage 
  • Monday - Thursday for whole middle block. 
  • Reading and maths are happening at the same time as 'explore' 
  • 3/4 teachers are taking workshops while 1/4 teachers in explore. 
  • Children move from explore into workshop times. 
  • Challenges are set up from reading and maths too - e.g. solve a problem for kiwis, design something that can fly (2 challenges - how far and how high can it fly), authentic challenges
  • Social and emotional skills have increased 
  • Roll in home rooms, calendar maths, phonics song, morning routine. Cross group for writing. Big Book. (9:30 - 10:30) Maths workshops (10:30 - 11). Explore. Afternoon - opt-in rich curriculum workshops (Big Balls, visual arts, drama, singing) - one teacher taking maths workshops. 
  • Monday - intro to the challenges. (Monday is a taster...the rest of the week they become more indepth) 
  • Mini Learning Stories - children explaining what the learning is. 
  • Year 2 - more explicitly follow the inquiry cycle

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