#1 Transitioning between Early childhood and Primary School - why have I chosen this as my teaching inquiry.

So 2021 is here I can start my journey as a CoL leader within school

What an exciting and wonderful opportunity this is to explore and learn about something you are passionate about and will be able to share that with your school whānau!! 

Looking back on 2020 - the year where the world was turned upside down - I discovered that there is such a massive need for teachers to be skilled in transitioning little 5 year olds from ECE or kindergarten to Primary Schools where they need to start their formal learning. The gap between the two institutions is so big and some leaners struggle to keep up or never catch up! I believe a lot of New Entrant and even Year 1 teachers will agree with me. 

We recently looked at the data, specifically from within the Manaiakalani cluster, and from that it is visible and clear that our students are a bit below the standard, not declining, but working and performing in line with the standard but not reaching it. My inquiry this year will mainly focus on ways to close that gap and see an incline in the line graphs at the end of the year. I will work closely with my team and encourage them to look deeper into their teacher practice how to assist the learners in their class to show the necessary progress.  Research and visiting schools, ECE centres and kindergartens will be part of my inquiry to gain knowledge on those crucial foundational skills. 

In 2020, I have started with this journey in my own classroom practice to find ways to help learners that found it difficult to cope in a more structured classroom. Some members of my team and I visited Sommerville School - a satellite campus - to observe their methods and which ones we would be able to incorporate into our classrooms. Behaviour management was a struggle some days because the needs of learners was so high. Luckily we found a solution for some of the issues we had by adjusting our rotation activities and really focus on the learners and what their needs are. With this we realised that many did not master the foundational skills needed for reading and writing. We had to take a step back and look at the Te Whāriki curriculum. 

I also started working with a RTLB teacher in 2020 who implemented the Ready Steady program. I feel so fortunate that I could be part of that, the assessments showed me where my teaching practice needed to improve and together with their guidance I could adjust my practice to incorporate those skills, and I can say with confidence that I could see significant progress. I am looking forward to 2021, still implementing the Ready Steady program, but this time throughout my syndicate, targeting NE to Year 2 and try to fill those gaps they need to be ready for Level 1 of the National Curriculum.

So my next step is to look a little deeper into the Te Whāriki curriculum, that will enable me to understand what will be needed in the classrooms. Research on fundamental foundational skills and how to incorporate that into multi level classrooms to assist every learner in the classes from NE to Year 2. How can Learn Create Share be incorporated into all learning areas to build those much needed skills. Building relationships with the surrounding kindergartens and their whānau. My vision is that together we can lift our learners learning significantly.

Together we stand tall!!

My reminders everyday!