Years 5 and 6
Within the Senior School of Syndal South, each student is encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning in an environment that values knowledge and continual growth. Choice and ownership are at the forefront of learning in Years 5 and 6 as students are given opportunities to make choices about how they learn and apply their knowledge in authentic learning contexts across a broader range of learning situations.
As students become aware that secondary school is the next stage of their learning journey, they are encouraged and expected to take a higher level of responsibility for their learning and contribution to the school community. Year 6 students all have a leadership role to perform such as School Captains, House and Vice Captains, Environmental Leaders, Music Captains and School Ambassadors.
Understanding, critically analysing, reflecting upon and enjoying traditional and multimodal texts are at the heart of reading sessions in Years 5 and 6. Through their primary school education, Year 5 and 6 students have developed acute fluency when reading, thus comprehension is primarily the focus of meaningful whole-class, group and individual lessons. Teachers methodically use the data from reading assessments to inform their lessons and goals for every student. However, the assessment does not stop with the teachers. Due to clear communication between teacher and student, students themselves are aware of their individual areas for improvement and possible trajectory of their reading potential. Participating daily in engaging, challenging and relevant learning tasks students and teachers alike work harmoniously to address gaps in knowledge and create well-rounded readers.
Writing
With years of experience with the school-wide comprehensive writing program VCOP, Year 5 and 6 students are knowledgeable in the aspects of writing that make their writing flow with a deliberate flourish. As writing pieces get longer and more complex in Year 5 and 6 there is a guarantee that the writing lessons are just as playful and engaging as ever! Building upon the expectation for students to take responsibility for their learning, Year 5 and 6 writers self and peer assess using structured assessment tools to identify the next steps to improve their writing. Whether their next area of improvement be Vocabulary (V), Connectives (C), Openers (O) or Punctuation (P) they will be provided with fun, engaging lessons and activities to develop writing skills and expertly apply them in a range of text types.
Maths
Ever supported and challenged to expand their mathematical capabilities, Year 5 and Year 6 students at Syndal South continue to self assess and take ownership of their learning. Essential Assessment, an online assessment program, is used by teachers and students alike to monitor growth, and create and review learning goals specific to each child. From here students are extended with individualised work programs and explicit instruction. When working through mathematical tasks students use their understanding of the capabilities to justify and explain their thinking.
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