A CLEVER teaching model at Hill End Public School has been recognised with an education award.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The true measure of the teaching model's success, however, has come from the small school's students themselves.
And principal Christopher Grossett said he could not be happier with the response from the school community so far.
"I have had wonderful feedback from parents that the children are excited about school," Mr Grossett said.
"At school, the children are deeply engaged in every topic."
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
Mr Grossett said Hill End Public has, for some time, been developing a model of teaching combining the elements of the science and technology syllabus along with outcomes and skills from other subject areas.
"We use this combined approach with aspects of literacy, numeracy and STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] to focus in on one key scientific topic every term," Mr Grossett said.
"Children engage in texts, research, problem solving and investigation in a classroom environment that is exciting, challenging and academically rewarding."
An area within the classroom, called the portal, is dedicated to the topic every term, Mr Grossett said, and "ends up bursting with texts for study, student work and resources for the children to use".
"The results of using this process of teaching have been simply incredible - with every topic the children develop deep knowledge and an enthusiasm to learn," he said.
With a focus on the future, resources such as 3D printing, robotics and digital photography play a part in every topic studied, Mr Grossett said, and "children from kindergarten upwards use these resources to create work that reflects on their study".
"It has been an exciting journey to develop this idea at our little school, and one that we can clearly see our students are engaged and benefiting from," he said.
Hill End Public's immersive classroom program was one of the winners of the Secretary's Award For School Achievement in the 2020 NSW Minister's and Secretary's Awards for Excellence.
The Public Education Foundation hosts the awards each year.
What do you think?
- Why not write us a letter to the editor ...