Mrs Singles and I had the opportunity to attend a conference at UTS on Monday to hear Dr Simon Breakspear and Dr Tom Sherrington speak about Building Professional Growth Cultures within the College. We were excited by the chance to hear these insightful researchers present findings about how to support staff, and through them our students, in developing learning throughout the Junior School.

Many of the techniques mentioned are ones that parents can use at home. The goals are to help deepen student thinking, expand student understanding and knowledge, and allow student minds to flourish.

How can you support the Junior School teachers with this? Ask your children what they learned during the day, rather than if they had a good day. This will help them become ‘the teacher’, and will allow them to develop understanding. Once they have finished watching a family movie, ask them to tell you what happened, and have a conversation about the plot or characters. At all times, encourage your children to talk about their learning. By building their use of words, vocabulary develops as does their ability to write more effectively and think more broadly.