Teaching & Learning
EDUCATIONAL APPROACH
At Phillip Island Village School (PIVS) we aim to provide a respectful and empowering school experience, based on strong relationships between students, Mentors and families. Students are encouraged to have a say, their opinions are valued, and adults and children work in partnership. Our focus is on supporting the personal and learning journey of each whole child, with a focus on qualities such as creativity, independence, agency, self-awareness, social-awareness and emotional intelligence.
Our small school size means that everyone is known and valued for their own unique qualities, and that approaches to learning can often be adjusted to suit individual needs. We place great importance on providing a space for everyone’s interests and passions. Our approach to education is child-centered, with the requirements of students (both individually and as a group) of highest importance in our decision-making.
Flexibility is also a key component of our approach. We change our approaches and strategies based on the needs of students and the group. The programs we offer may change over time depending on student interests, updates to our program and our staffing mix.
PIVS Curriculum
The PIVS Curriculum represents the integration of the school’s academic program and a series of additional programs and elements interwoven throughout school life. Some of these additional programs include:
Social and Emotional Learning
Social and Emotional Learning (S&E) is a key part of the PIVS Curriculum and a central part of how we approach Teaching and Learning at PIVS. We place great importance on getting to understand and know ourselves, understanding and experiencing personal autonomy, learning how to make decisions that are good for us, communicating effectively with others, developing empathy, and using these skills to make choices that are good for those around us. We set aside regular identified times to discuss and learn about the skills and language involved in S&E, and then implement and practise these as part of daily life at PIVS. In the Shooting Stars (early years), the S&E program is delivered using Kimochi plushies and stories to help students practise tuning in to their own and others’ thoughts and feelings.
As part of our S&E Program, we also explicitly teach and practise the key skills relating to Executive Function, including sustained attention; organising, planning, and prioritising; starting tasks and staying focused on them to completion; and self-monitoring (keeping track of what you’re doing). Students have many opportunities to practise these skills daily, since their programs include frequent chances to make decisions, daily conversations with Mentors about how they’re tracking, and time management. Our focus on decision-making and self-management runs throughout the school, and students have a personalised list of tasks to complete each week, which are tailored to their developmental level, and their own personal and academic goals. Personal goals can be as diverse as remembering to pack your bag at the end of the day or playing a board game with a peer to make social connections.
Camps and Out ‘n’ Abouts
An important element of the PIVS Curriculum is our camps and Out ‘n’ Abouts. Outdoor activities provide valuable alternative, often non-competitive avenues for achievement, as well as opportunities to develop independence and self-reliance. Through successfully engaging with the challenges that outdoor activities provide, and overcoming fears and apprehensions along the way, young people develop self-confidence, resilience and an understanding of risk.
Active learning and adventure in the outdoors introduces young people to the environment in a way which develops understanding, appreciation, awe and respect. Camps also develop deep and rich relationships between students and Mentors, and are an intentional and critical component of the PIVS Curriculum and learning program.
Out ‘n’ Abouts may also involve getting out into the local community, using community facilities such as libraries, theatres or sporting facilities, or impromptu excursions to local natural spaces, or to source project supplies.
Some camps are extensions to, or the culmination of skills attained during a Mentor Project or sign-up and are therefore offered to the students that have the matching skill levels for the camp activities.
Sparks-based learning
Sparks is a term you hear regularly at PIVS, and it refers to those passions and interests that ‘spark’ us. Students are encouraged to explore, develop and share their sparks, and Mentors also incorporate their own sparks into teaching and project ideas. The incorporation of student sparks into daily life at PIVS looks different at varying points along a student’s learning journey. Sparks-based learning is part of the difference in ‘how’ PIVS approaches teaching and learning academic content (more detail in the Academic program section).
In our early years space, play-based learning allows students to explore and share interests (sparks) and learn critical skills in negotiation, healthy risk taking and creating shared meaning. Children play out those skills that are important for them to develop into successful adults. It is particularly beneficial for the positive development of social and emotional skills and the building of relationships at PIVS. When they are involved in play, children are able to experience increased feelings of success and optimism as they exercise autonomy and make their own choices.
As PIVS students get older, they still play, but they also have opportunities to explore their interests and sparks through project-based learning. Project-based learning has a strong focus on the development of Enterprise Skills; the skills that help each student to identify opportunities and take actions that are beneficial to their school life (and beyond), including communication, teamwork, creative thinking, financial literacy, problem solving and presentation skills. In addition, we encourage the use of a Growth Mindset approach to learning; seeing all personal qualities and skills as able to change and develop through effort and practise, rather than being ‘fixed’. This approach values trying new things, taking creative risks and seeing mistakes as a chance to learn.
Sign-ups
Where possible in our program, we provide opportunities for students to choose some of their learning opportunities and pathways. One of the areas in which choices are given are ‘sign-ups’. These can include electives, in which students can try new things and learn new skills, Out ‘n’ Abouts to special events or community happenings, and Camps. Sometimes the choice students make is not to participate, and this is also a valuable exercise in autonomy and decision-making.
Cross-age learning
We greatly value both cross-age play and other learning opportunities at PIVS. Being a very small school, and without any explicit Grade structure, children tend to gravitate towards other that share their interests, rather than their age. Students naturally help each other to learn new skills, or to solve problems, both in the playground and when undertaking learning tasks. We also support and facilitate opportunities for interested students to actively mentor others, usually in relation to something they feel ‘sparky’ about. Examples of this in the past have included student-run Science, History and Drama classes, and opportunities for younger students to teach PIVS students of all ages about their passions (including trains, fashion and dinosaurs).
Academic program
PIVS uses the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the Victorian Curriculum as the basis of its academic program. We refer to this as the ‘what’ in our academic learning. The school’s values and approach create a broader framework in which teaching and learning occurs; and ‘how’ we learn is what differentiates the PIVS approach.
Our program has two main areas:
Shooting Stars (Foundation students) and Comets (Level 1 and 2 students)
Allstars; students working from Level 3 to Level 6.
Despite the division into these two areas, we do not explicitly group or refer to our students by grade or age, and have the ability to meet social and academic needs that are not restricted by a student’s age or enrolled level.
Shooting Stars and comets (early years)
Our Shooting Stars and Comets program recognises that children in the early years of their school journey greatly benefit from a play-based focus to their learning. For this reason, we utilise both the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the Victorian Curriculum for our Foundation to Level 2 students. This approach integrates the adult-led components of school, such as the development of core literacy and numeracy skills, and Mentor-supported activities, with a strong focus on child-led play-based time.
Several times each week, Shooting Stars and Comets students participate in Mentor-led presos (direct teaching sessions) for key learning areas, and concepts are practised via games and activities used to reinforce the skills they learn in the presos. Students regularly go Out ‘n’ About into the community to integrate the more formalised part of the program with hand-on learning opportunities. We firmly believe that learning doesn’t just happen in a classroom. Some examples of Shooting Stars and Comets Out ‘n’ Abouts include:
· Weekly visits to the same local Landcare property, helping with farming and conservation jobs and gaining a first-hand local appreciation for seasonal changes, the impact of positive land management actions, and strong connections with community members.
· Regular visits to the local library which help to support the development of a love of literacy and reading in a fun, informal context, along with practicing personal skills such as getting ready, going on the bus, integrating with the community.
· Bush and Beach School allows time for child-led unstructured play in nature, and for children to develop respect, love and a sense of belonging and responsibility for natural environments. Each fortnight, students and Mentors head out to a local area of bushland or beach to play and explore. The freedom and creativity inherent in Bush and Beach School offers children a wide range of physical, social and sensory benefits, and fosters independence, healthy risk-taking and problem-solving skills; experiences that they bring back to school with them.
Play-based learning is visible in our school context when we enable children to have extended periods of time to follow and learn about their own interests. As they move through the school, students are building and practicing the skills they need to be sparky and empowered project-based learners. Shooting Stars and Comets Mentors are highly flexible and responsive to children’s needs and interests, and layer up other aspects of the program based on these interest-led sparks.
Allstars (middle and older years)
PIVS Allstars Program is also an integrated set of Mentor-led, supported and child-led components, divided into two main areas, and interwoven with the PIVS Curriculum programs:
Presos (presentations) are direct teaching sessions focusing on key learning areas (e.g. Reading, Writing, Spelling, Number, Specialist Maths, Science, Physical Education). Students are grouped according to ability rather than in age levels or traditional grades, in order to better meet individual needs and extend or support students where a need is identified.
● Students are assigned to preso groups across the week based on their individual learning needs at the time. This usually means that presos comprise mixed age groupings, and students may move into different groups across the year as their needs change.
● Students complete individualised weekly ‘Missions’ (list of follow-up and ongoing tasks) relating to concepts covered in presos. Missions are tailored to each student by Mentors every week, and are focused on each child’s specific learning goals and the different group learning focuses each cycle. Completing Missions helps students to practise their executive skills by setting aside a time, choosing a space, finding resources and reaching out for support to complete their tasks.
○ Many Allstars students attend timetabled Mission Support sessions with a Mentor, to complete follow-up and ongoing tasks; the number of sessions they attend each week being dependent on each student’s level of executive skills.
○ More experienced Allstars attend Study Groups, which are an opportunity for these students to demonstrate and model their growing executive and independent learning skills. These sessions encourage the students to work both independently and with each other, using their own learning strategies along with peer support to complete their weekly tasks.
Project-based learning (PBL) allows integration across subject areas, supports and develops children’s sparks, helps students develop the skills to work independently and gives them ownership and agency over their learning.
● Personal projects are based on student sparks and interests (supported by a project planning, testing, reviewing and reflection process). The aim of these experiences is for the student to feel a sense of empowerment around the direction of their learning and ultimately to feel fulfilled during the process of exploring what sparks them. We also have an emphasis on approaching project work with a Growth Mindset, being open to failure, learning through making mistakes and trying again. To this end, we don’t believe that only finished projects have value in a student’s learning journey; sometimes ideas need to be trialled and discarded, or interests will change over time, and all of these experiences are valuable in a child getting to know themselves and their own learning style better.
● Mentor projects; areas of the Victorian Curriculum such as science, art and humanities are integrated into Mentor projects that are inspired by the passions of Mentors and students alike. The PIVS project planner is used to guide the students through the steps of the project process to help scaffold their learning, and over time, to apply this knowledge to their individual projects.
Assessment and Reporting
Formal reporting is a requirement of all schools by the Commonwealth Government from Level 1 onwards and is considered an important element of the teaching and learning process. At the end of each semester (June and December), PIVS Mentors provide formal feedback to students and their parents about their academic progress against the Victorian Curriculum and PIVS Curriculum via our student reports. Also at these times of year, families are invited to attend a Family Conference which is a celebration of the personal progress of each student and a chance for Mentors and students to share enjoyable memories from the semester.
Student Reports
Foundation Level students do not receive a levelled report, as the government does not require that they receive one (and we also think this is a good idea). At the end of the year, families of all Shooting Stars students take home a detailed portfolio of their child’s learning experiences, including photos and work samples.
Students in years other than Foundation receive pages in either their reports or portfolios that include stepping stones showing the progress against curriculum levels made by students in the last six months, and comments against subjects covered in that semester. In addition, Allstars student reports include a section on independent project work, highlighting the key Enterprise Skills each student has developed through project work that semester (e.g. communication, teamwork, creative thinking, financial literacy, problem solving or presentation skills).
All students, including Foundation Level students, receive feedback about their skills in the areas of social and emotional development and self-directed learning in the form of a personalised letter to students from a Mentor.
Family Conferences
The intention of our Family Conferences is to give students a chance to meet individually with members of the Mentor Team and to have a chance to reflect on the semester and to celebrate their personal progress and development with their families present, rather than focusing on academics. It’s also a great opportunity for students to share ideas and feedback about school with Mentors directly.
This part of the school year provides an opportunity for us all to recognise the time and effort the children have put into their learning and personal development, the progress they have made and their next steps.
Parents who would like to find out more about any aspect of their child’s learning may request a separate meeting with the relevant Mentor or the Principal during the cycle. In some cases, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) may be required (for students who are six or more months behind their expected level), and parents are encouraged to participate in the development of this plan and attend regular review meetings.
NAPLAN
PIVS also participates in The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for students in Levels 3 and 5. We prepare all students for the tests but do so with a very low-key approach to minimize unnecessary stress for students. Parents will receive an official report with test results and the school will use the data to inform future teaching programs. Please speak with your child’s literacy or numeracy mentor if you are concerned about the results, or the Principal if you intend to withdraw your child from any of the tests.