Sunday, March 23, 2014

A peak inside HPPS...

So what is life like at Hobsonville Point Primary School (HPPS)? It has been just over a year since I jumped on board to be part of a foundation school.  Year one was was a blur...challenge, challenge, challenge is the only way to describe it.  Team teaching, open learning spaces, working with multiple year groups, these were all new experiences in my teaching practice.
So what is year two looking like?  With more kids, more staff and a better understanding of what learning looks like at HPPS.  This year I am lucky enough to teach with the wonderful and talented Erin Hall, together with thirty year 2 - 5 (6 years - 9 years old) kids what does this look like?
I think we are already on version 10.3 of what our learning common looks/ feels like. Reflecting and being challenged on the 'why' means we are continually evolving our practice. No time to sit back and be a passenger, it is full steam ahead in Learning Common 2 (LC2).

Relationships
All that we do really comes down to deep relationships. Positive relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the wider community are all vital to the success of our learners.  Shared experiences help build these relationships - for Waitangi Day, together with Hobsonville Point Secondary School, celebrated Waitangi Day with a family-friendly BBQ complete with music and entertainment from the kids.  Parent evenings are another great way to share the school's vision. We have had general evenings where parents come to have a look around to specific evenings around a certain topic/ concept (e.g. Digital Citizenship).  Each learning common also has a learning wall that documents their learning journey.  This visible learning enables parents/ caregivers to see what learning looks like and spurs on questions about what they see - further building relationships.  We also open up our common online, blogging each week with updates (LC2 Blog), planning online, ensuring transparency (LC2 planning site) and providing a supplementary learning site (LC2 Learning Site) with useful learning links.

LC2 Learning Journey Wall












Personalised Learning
Through personalising the learning (not individualised learning see personalised v differentiated individualised learning chart), students negotiate and drive what and how they learn.  Having such diverse needs within our common gives all of the us the freedoms and also structures we need to ensure we are meeting the needs of all our learners.  Our learners take control of their timetables and plan their own day/ week.  Learning is negotiated with the learner using a range of information including assessment, observations and learner passions and interests.  



So a small snapshot of life in Learning Common 2 :)

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