What School-Wide Learning Results Mean for Primary Students
Focusing on our three foundational expected school-wide learning results: effective Learners, confident Individuals, and caring contributors
By Lyn Fiez-Vandal, Lower School Assistant Principal at ACS Cobham
As parents, we want our children to grow into confident, capable adults ready to take on the challenges of the future. But what can we do today to help them succeed tomorrow? The answer lies in focusing on our three foundational expected school-wide learning results: effective Learners, confident Individuals, and caring contributors. Here is how you can nurture these in your child, setting them up for success in school and beyond.
1. Effective Learners who communicate, inquire, innovate, and collaborate
Teaching children to navigate challenges and acquire a growth mindset are fundamental. In order to be future-ready, our learners need to know how to communicate across boundaries. This means knowing how to be assertive, form opinions, listen carefully to others, and agree, disagree, and grow ideas collaboratively. At home this might happen in everyday conversations at mealtimes, in the car, on a walk, or other times. Asking your child to state their opinion, ask for reasons for their opinion, and tell them to think about what they heard someone else say before responding.
Inquiry and innovation are highly desirable traits for the jobs of the future. Fostering natural curiosity at home will go a long way. Let your children explore the natural environment around them, ask questions and try to find answers by discovering together. Think of ways to solve everyday problems together. Ask your child, “what could we do to make this better?” or, “what other ways could we try to solve this?”
2. Confident Individuals who navigate challenges, model integrity, embrace difference and reflect
Self-confidence is essential for the leaders of tomorrow. Confidence provides a stable ground for taking risks and accepting new challenges. It also allows a safe foundation for reflection and considering next steps and ways to aim higher each time. At the heart of confidence must be integrity and inclusivity.
As adults, we can be role models for our children and show them what it looks like to do the right thing, even when no one is watching. Resist making judgemental statements about others, rather, show acceptance of all people and all sides to a story. Encourage your child to welcome everyone and treat everyone with respect. At home, give children age-appropriate responsibilities, such as setting the table, making their bed, or helping with putting the clothes or dishes away.
Research shows that children who engage with household chores at home become more self confident teenagers and adults. When something is difficult for your child, get alongside them and encourage them to persevere and try out different strategies. Take time to reflect after making choices. Model what this looks like for your child and help your child through the process. Was the choice a good one for you? Why or why not? What might you do differently or the same next time? Being metacognitive about this reflective process will enable children to engage with it with automaticity later in life.
3. Caring Contributors who volunteer, strive for sustainability, nurture respectful relationships and prioritise well-being
If there is one thing we will always need more of in the world, it is kindness. We need to help children understand healthy relationships with others and themselves, which means making well-being a priority. You can model this at home by talking about it and showing your child what this means to you. Perhaps it is doing a mindfulness exercise or going for a bike ride or even just talking through something that is weighing on your mind. Help children understand what it is like to volunteer and why this is important. Engage in volunteer activities as a family when you can. Do your best as a family to be as sustainable as possible. Make recycling, reusing, and reducing a part of your every day life and share this with your children.
All these skills - effective learners, confident individuals, caring contributors - we develop throughout our lives. It is important to start early so that we can build a solid foundation on which all of these essential skills can grow.
