Welcome to our first edition of the 2018 Holy Trinity 'INSPIRING CONNECTIONS - A snapshot of Primary Years Program (PYP)'. 

We are excited and proud to be able to produce a multi-functional, interactive edition of INSPIRING CONNECTIONS, aimed to engage our readers, spotlight our learning and celebrate the wonderful community of diverse learners we have at Holy Trinity. 

As we reflect on our first term of learning from the perspective of 'the learning', we can be proud that as a school we continue to develop our students and our teachers as inquirers, questioners and listeners. Each day we seek to create an environment where 'engagement meets skills' and in which 'the learning' and 'the learner' are equally important. 

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) balances the acquisition of significant and relevant knowledge and skills, the development of conceptual understanding, the formation of personal, positive attitudes and the capacity to take responsible actions.

We hope you enjoy. 

Katie, Brendon and Bridget 

PYP Coordinators 

The framework for learning at Holy Trinity Primary School– is the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP).

The PYP is complex, but can be broken down into five Essential Elements that create the learning context at Holy Trinity. 

Knowledge – significant and relevant content that we want to explore

Concepts – ideas that lead to a deeper understanding of subject areas

Skills – capabilities that we need in order to succeed in a challenging world

Attitudes – core elements that influence the development of feelings and beliefs

Action – applying our learning through responsible behavior to real-world situations

All of these elements combined to create the learning environment at Holy Trinity and are equally important; without any one of them, our program is incomplete.

Our teaching and leadership teams work very hard to provide learning opportunities that make this written document come alive, and the challenge of doing this involves constant discussion, collaboration, research, innovation and professional learning. We are all learners and relish the opportunity to talk about education with others, to learn from their experiences and share ours.

Who we are in the ELC

Transdisciplinary theme

An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

Identity is Unique to each person

Lines of Inquiry:

Identifying growth (Change)

Knowing how we develop (Growth)

Recognising similarities and differences from others shape our understanding of self (Reflection)

Throughout this term we have been focussing on getting to know each other, learning names and building trusting and respectful relationships with one another.

We began discussing our class ‘Essential Agreement.’ This is the children’s agreement on what they want the class to be like.

We began our unit of inquiry looking at our individual characteristics such as eye, hair and skin colour. We referred to our photos on display in the room and studied our image in the mirror to explore the similarities and differences we have.

We explored books about facial features and created faces from natural loose part materials such as buttons, pebbles, feathers, wool and clay to represent our thinking.

We created our class prayer cloth, adding individual drawings from every child to deepen their sense of belonging to the class.

We celebrated where we come from on Harmony day with discussions, language and a shared party.

We have continued our unit of inquiry looking at baby photos and discussing the physical changes from then until now.

We played a game of ‘guess the baby’ by noticing the similarities in the features of the baby to our classmate.

We went on an excursion to the Portrait Gallery where we explored many ways of creating portraits We used our knowledge of portraits to have a go at creating our own self-portraits. The children’s voices we captured around this were amazing. (photos below)

We have done ALL this, as well learning new routines, building relationships, learning and exploring our environment.

An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health;
human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

Lines of Inquiry:

People belong to different groups (connection)

How roles change within groups (change)

The choices we make affect groups we belong to (responsibility)

Learner Profile:
Principled          Caring          Balanced

Provocation

What we already know

Student Voice

Learner Profile: Caring

Our insights into how groups work

• Being a leader means you’re being respectful (Aidan)
• Sometimes you have to be the leader, sometimes you have to follow (Emily G)
• Everyone listens and only one person is talking, so everyone can hear the person talking (Georgia)
• Sometimes you can have fun, sometimes you have to be serious or get the job done
• Sometimes you have to be responsible, but other times someone else is responsible (Mia)
• It isn’t easy being a leader (Lachlan)
• You can’t always be the leader, you have to take turns (Emily G)
• You can let someone else be the leader next time (Georgia M, Pia L)
• Have to be patient (Aidan K)
• Tell the truth - be honest (Logan O)
• Be kind (Aksel)

We know that there are different roles in every group we belong to. In this video Holly is being the principal handing out awards for people being responsible in class.

Groups we belong to

I belong to my family group. At home I have to help unpack the shopping - Georgia

I belong to my Dance Central group. My job is to watch and copy what my teacher does - Lila

Except for my family group I belong to a swimming group, gymnastics group and lunch group - Clara

I am also in family group, table group and my playing group - Lottie

Swimming group, football group and family groups - Connor

Learning a language in addition to English is an important aspect of developing internationally minded students. Within our school community there is a diversity of learners of language; those who are introduced to learning a language other than English at school, and those who ably speak in their ‘mother tongue’ language. While at school our children learn Italian and this language learning centres on enhancing language ability and understanding of culture. Below is some of the additional language identified by our community. 

FROM OUR ELC

Central Idea:  The choices people make affect their health and wellbeing.

Concepts:  Causation, Responsibility, Reflection

Lines of Inquiry:

• What it means to have a balanced lifestyle
• How the choices we make affect our health
• Different sources of information that help us make choices

Learner Profile: Thinkers, Balanced, Reflective 

Cooking Bliss Balls with Jo Hamilton (Nate’s Mum!)

Provocation 

Visit to Coles

Taking Action 

Term One has gone so quickly and every week I see around 380 children. They are all gorgeous and have lovely manners – well done to you! A big thank you also to the parents who consistently remind their children to their pack library bags – Amen

To begin the school year, we have spent the first four weeks unpacking the how and why of the library. We talked about Early Fiction, Older Fiction and Non Fiction. Mr Dewey is mentioned and the alphabet becomes a big part of our lessons.

Each grade has also spent time on their Units of Inquiry – we have looked at qualities needed to work in a community, qualities of friends, healthy food choices, space and what makes a great leader.

The last two weeks of Term 1 have been dealing with the how and why of ANZAC day. The kids love looking at the huge collection of books we have and ask amazing questions.

Central Idea

Awareness of our characteristics, abilities, and interests inform our learning and development

Lines of inquiry

• Physical, social and emotional characteristics
• Similarities and differences between ourselves and others
• Personal abilities and interests

Concepts

Form, Perspective and Reflection

During the unit the students had an opportunity to explore various activities based on different learning styles. This is closely linked to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. A survey was completed by the students to inquire into their preferred learning style. The data from the surveys were then collected and represented on a bar graph to display the class’s preferred learning styles. At the conclusion of the inquiry all students brought in a sack of five items to share with the class. This demonstrated that we all have different interests and abilities.   

In Italian this term, the students have been learning about: greetings and introductions, numbers, family and the solar system.

In italiano questo trimestre, gli studenti hanno imparato: Saluti e presentazioni, i numeri, la famiglia e il sistema solare.

An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment

Lines of Inquiry

• The relationship between Earth and celestial bodies in our solar system.
• The impacts of Earth’s position and movement affect itself.
• Technology which aids the study of the universe.

Student Voice

“It was great seeing other people’s imaginative ideas that they presented through their homework presentations.” (Patty W)

“I have found looking at the colours fascinating because at first I thought space was just black but now I know it can be different colours.” (Harry O)

“I liked exploring black holes, they are interesting because I never knew they started off as stars.” (Alyssa M)

“I learnt that Pluto is a dwarf planet.” (Lefteri P)

“I learnt that Uranus is the coldest planet.” (Eliza R)

“I learnt that beyond Mars is an asteroid.” (Emma)

“I have enjoyed experiencing all of the other children’s in my class homework presentation.” (Liam K)

An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

Central idea:  

Leaders are people who guide individuals and make decisions for communities

• Qualities of a leader (Form)

• Impact of leaders on society (Responsibility)