Little Kids thinking big!
Little Kids thinking big!
At RHPS, students are encouraged and supported to inquire into their learning across the curriculum. They are active participants in their learning, and their curiosity and questions are valued by their teacher and peers.
During BQT (Big Question Time), each year level explores approximately four-five Big Questions a year. These Big Questions allow students to make connections between concepts and delve deeper into the humanities and sciences.
Students are explicitly taught the Inquiry Process, which involves the following stages: Tuning In, Finding Out, Sorting Out, Going Further & Taking Action, Reflecting and Evaluating. Whilst they explore their Big Questions, students are supported to gather and sort information, and apply this new knowledge in a variety ways, including taking action at a personal and wider community level.
Learning is a lifelong process, and as our students face an increasingly complex and rapidly changing future, it is imperative that we provide them with the transferable skills they will need to manage their future. These are called Learning Assets and encompass the skills of Researcher, Thinker, Self Manager, Communicator and Collaborator. Our focus on the Learning Assets across our curriculum and daily lives at RHPS ensures our students are developing the skills they need to be lifelong learners.
Throughout their time at RHPS, students will have the opportunity to explore their own curiosities and passions, using this Inquiry process. This looks different across our year levels, as the students are scaffolded and supported to stretch their learning in new and exciting ways.
In the Junior school students have weekly Exploration (Prep students) and Discovery time (Years 1 and 2) sessions. These play based sessions provide students with the opportunity to practise and further develop concepts and skills they are taught throughout the week in ‘real world’ situations. Students are encouraged to explore topics they are interested in through a variety of means and their teacher will scaffold the learning of individual students, taking note of each students’ current needs and interests.
Students are encouraged to set goals for themselves, plan their sessions, and reflect on their own learning upon the session’s completion. This improvement cycle is a chance for our students to take control of their own learning, and put into action the learning asset skills they are working on throughout the week.
iTime is introduced in the senior school (grades 3 - 6). These sessions enable the students to develop their own personal inquiry skills on a topic of their own interest.
The students develop a ‘pitch’ and this is a negotiated topic, ensuring that the students will stretch their thinking through their research and presentation. They identify which learning asset they wish to develop (Thinker, Self-manager, Communicator, Researcher and Collaborator and Contributor) and how they will achieve this.
iTime runs on a three to four week cycle and students are accountable for their own time management with regular opportunities to reflect with their teacher and peers about how their learning and research is progressing, so that they are ready to participate in the celebration of learning through a gallery share at the end of each cycle.
Students are encouraged to be agentic learners; taking responsibility for their own learning by being self-managers, setting personal learning goals and reflecting on their learning.