What our visitors say...
March 2015
We all really enjoyed our morning at Myross Bush last week. We are extremely appreciative of the time that you and you management team gave up to show us around, explain your pedagogy and answer our questions. It was great to see the flexible learning environment in action as it helped it all to make much more sense.
Your children and staff are extremely welcoming and friendly and it was such a pleasure to walk from class to class and to feel so free to talk with children and staff. All of your children are very well aware of their learning pathway and it was interesting to speak with them about what they were doing.
We liked the idea of SOLO taxonomy and will be investigating this further a s a staff too, to see how it might look in our school.
As we left Myross Bush we were buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement about how a flexible learning environment might work in our own school. We are now looking at how to best begin and are all very much looking forward to the growth, development and opportunities ahead.
We thank you and your staff for your kind hospitality and I am sure you will be hearing from us again!
We all really enjoyed our morning at Myross Bush last week. We are extremely appreciative of the time that you and you management team gave up to show us around, explain your pedagogy and answer our questions. It was great to see the flexible learning environment in action as it helped it all to make much more sense.
Your children and staff are extremely welcoming and friendly and it was such a pleasure to walk from class to class and to feel so free to talk with children and staff. All of your children are very well aware of their learning pathway and it was interesting to speak with them about what they were doing.
We liked the idea of SOLO taxonomy and will be investigating this further a s a staff too, to see how it might look in our school.
As we left Myross Bush we were buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement about how a flexible learning environment might work in our own school. We are now looking at how to best begin and are all very much looking forward to the growth, development and opportunities ahead.
We thank you and your staff for your kind hospitality and I am sure you will be hearing from us again!
November 6
Thank you and your staff so much for the great start to our day yesterday. I am so pleased with how positive and pumped our staff are. It was clear to see when we walked around that the children are engaged and they were so good at articulating their learning. These two factors are reason enough to look at ways that we can give our children more control of their learning and about how we can modify our school environment!
The teachers made specific comment about how easy you were to listen to and how you made sense of it all. They also found that the staff were all very approachable and welcoming. Thank you all for your support and openness. What you are doing is great.
The atmosphere in your school is so lovely – if I were the ERO team, I’d do what we did yesterday and then leave saying you are catering to the needs of these children – see you in 5 years!
Thanks and I hope that we can spend some more time chewing the fat in the future. If any of your staff want to visit in the future they would be welcome.
Kate - Principal
Thank you and your staff so much for the great start to our day yesterday. I am so pleased with how positive and pumped our staff are. It was clear to see when we walked around that the children are engaged and they were so good at articulating their learning. These two factors are reason enough to look at ways that we can give our children more control of their learning and about how we can modify our school environment!
The teachers made specific comment about how easy you were to listen to and how you made sense of it all. They also found that the staff were all very approachable and welcoming. Thank you all for your support and openness. What you are doing is great.
The atmosphere in your school is so lovely – if I were the ERO team, I’d do what we did yesterday and then leave saying you are catering to the needs of these children – see you in 5 years!
Thanks and I hope that we can spend some more time chewing the fat in the future. If any of your staff want to visit in the future they would be welcome.
Kate - Principal
After viewing Mark and Matt's Year 5&6 students' ICT presentations I decided to use Comic Life as a medium for sharing my observations (attached). I am still in awe of the innovative way the classes went about their learning. I shared the use of learning pathways, workshops, edublogs and weekly reflection with my colleagues. It definitely seemed like the 'next step' towards being more collaborative in a true sense.
I really appreciate the time you and Matt took in the morning to explain your school's journey, also, the welcoming way staff members allowed me to observe their classrooms. Many thanks again for allowing me to visit your school. I am looking forward to making use of the new learning I acquired.
We saw ‘blended learning’ in action. iPads, chromebooks and PCs were all being used within rich teaching. This included specific acts of group teaching and purposeful independent activities without devices. The children worked on individual learning pathways and could easily talk about what they were doing and why.
Interesting observations:
Individual learning pathways.The children were self regulating their learning. They were provided with individual learning pathways via their class blog.These pathways were also visible on display on the walls in the class room. The children had to provide evidence of their learning and were accountable to the teacher.
Team teaching. Two teachers shared one class using two classrooms. One teacher provided specific acts of teaching in workshops to groups on particular topics. The children still read books, handwrite, and complete Maths into a text book. Literacy and numeracy is the focus for the morning programme. Many activities are integrated into the topic inquiry. The other teacher facilitated action stations in another room where the independent, individualised learning was happening.
Blended Learning. The school has a live, changing website that has links to the newsletter, Facebook, Principal and class blogs. The newsletter is shared digitally - no paper copies.
Planning. All planning is on google and is shared. There are no paper plans anywhere.
Daybook: The daybook is on Google Sites with tabs for timetables and other information.
Flexible Timetable. There were very few bells.(Morning tea and lunch I think) The rest of the timetable is flexible allowing for the range of timeframes different activities have and giving children time to complete lessons and activities.
Devices. These are being used as tools. They are provided for the children. They are not $500 pens for publishing. There is a range of iPads, chromebooks, PCs. The children access learning support tools via their blogs (class and individual) using the ‘khan academy’, podcasts, youtube lessons and demonstrations, links to websites, nzmaths sites, google worksheets. Apple TVs are working really successfully in all class rooms.
* BOYD The school allows children to bring their own device at their own risk. They connect them to the internet. This is neither encouraged or discouraged.
** There is no server. The devices connect wirelessly to a large router that can cope with hundreds of devices.
Furniture. The school has create more space in rooms by getting rid of desks and furniture. There are no whiteboards or ‘front’ of the class. Children’s gear is in tote trays. They do not have a desk or a place to sit that is their own. The teacher does not have a teacher desk.
Personal Inspiration
Using my observation from this visit I intend to try some ideas with my own class.
Individual learning pathways - sharing google doc planning with children who self assess and work on next steps. The learning objectives will be in child friendly language.
Use of technology - provide my class with links to support and challenge their learning. A classroom blog including links to internet learning activities.
Display pathways on my walls. Continue to make children accountable for their learning.
Planning. Share a version of child friendly
Furniture. Be more flexible about where the children work eg, floor, desks, tables
Thank you so much Tim, Mark and Evelyn. You were very generous with your time and knowledge. Karen and I have both come back to school feeling so energised and wanting to make a difference.
I have already started trialing SOLO learning pathways and using google so much mere with my children. They are now more skilled in ICT, engaged and taking responsibility for their learning. You have made a difference already!
The children in your school are very fortunate to be experiencing a progressive, forward thinking, genuine environment for learning.
Thank you so much for letting us come and see the fantastic things you and your staff are doing at Myross Bush Primary. We were blown away by the ownership your students had over their learning and the self management skills they displayed while working towards their learning goals. It was clear to see that the students knew where they were heading with their learning and the steps they needed to take to continue to progress.
It was great to see teams of teachers working together and collaborating to ensure the needs of each child were met. We were also excited about the innovative ways you were utilising your classroom spaces to cater for personalised learning and targeted group teaching.
After visiting Myross Bush School I was lucky to travel to Auckland to visit schools who are considered to be at the forefront of education. These schools have hundreds of teachers visiting them from around New Zealand each year because of the great things they are doing. Their philosophies and practises mirrored what we were seeing at your school and it seems to us that you are leading the way with this in the South.
The visit to your school definitely made us reflect on how we can better utilise the teachers in our school and cater to groups of students in our classes. We are now looking into how we can improve as a school to further develop our students self management skills.
Your school is lucky to have such a committed management team and staff who are dedicated to developing important learning values within the students.
"Thank you for giving up your time and welcoming us into to your wonderful school to see ‘Learning Pathways’ in action. There was a positive vibe in every classroom. The children were engaged in their learning and willingly shared their work, articulating their learning. It was evident that the teachers had embraced the ‘Learning Pathways’ philosophy and were acting as facilitators of learning. The access the children have to technologies such as iPads, Apple TV and chromebooks was excellent, and these tools were being used effectively in all classes. We were really impressed to hear about and see the journey your school has been on for the past 5 years. You are providing your students with the skills to be lifelong learners."
