Scotch College

Access, In, Out and About

The Junior School Access Unit continues to have a busy life - in, out and about. Visiting teachers were in from Saudi Arabia and NSW. Boys were out participating at a Maths Games Day, and the Access Team was about, providing professional development.

IN - Delegations from Saudi Arabia and teachers from Armidale and Bathurst Dioceses in Western NSW

Scotch College was privileged to host a delegation of senior government officials and teachers from Saudi Arabia, led by

Dr Muhammad Alhumaisan. This study program, into the education of gifted students, was coordinated by the Department of Education and Training, in association with

Dr John Munro of the University of Melbourne. The delegation was most interested to participate in an extension mathematics session and to learn about Mr Alistair Webster's doctoral thesis, looking at ways to evaluate students' creativity. Several delegates were also keenly interested in our spelling approach - using THRASS material, and recognised its value to their teaching of English at home, where all students must learn English.

Three teachers from the Armidale and Bathurst Dioceses in Western New South Wales visited Scotch College with the specific objective to observe, and participate in,

Mrs Beams THRASS spelling and reading sessions. Mrs Mary Skuthorp, Mrs Pauline Hawkins and Mrs Ro Kennedy were also interested to learn of our approach to catering for the more able students.

OUT - Year 5 State wide Maths Games Day - St Catherine's School

Adrian Li, Rama Lokon, Nicholas Watson and Jonathan Chan as a team won the Problem Solving section of the State wide Maths Games Day at St Catherine's. Approximately 160 children (40 teams) from both Independent and Government schools had great fun being intellectually challenged by a series of creative activities. The day was divided into three sections - the Problem Solving Booklet, Competitive Games and Geo-Shapes Constructions. Just imagine, 160 children, all at the same time, creating 3-D models with Geo Shapes (interlocking plastic triangles, squares etc). Several schools joined together to create a huge 'space age' looking construction. All good things had to come to an end! All models had to be broken up and put back into their boxes.

David Ngan, Cameron Lowe, Gaurav Jaswal and Max Van Den Broek, our second team, also had many successes and the boys from both teams enjoyed the opportunity to meet, eat and work with girls and boys with a similar love of mathematics.

ABOUT - How to support individual learning needs - Access Parent Information Evening

The Access twilight evening session was attended by some 50 parents, all keen to learn strategies used in Access sessions for boys experiencing difficulties in reading and spelling. The parents discovered the energy and enthusiasm that the boys enjoy in

Mrs Beams' THRASS sessions, as they too discovered ways and resources in which to support their sons' learning. It was extremely encouraging to see how willing the parents were to work at home with their boys. Parents also learned the various roles and functions of the Access Unit.

Staff PD - Educational implications for Children with Language Disabilities.

Elaine Miles, a visiting teacher speech pathologist, who offers educational support to several boys at Scotch, presented a professional development workshop for staff. She highlighted the difficulties and frustrations experienced by boys with language disorders and provided many teaching strategies for our teachers to use in their support of the boys' needs.

Also, Ms Bacon has provided a workshop on the Thinking Skills and the Future Problem Solving Program, for students working on their Master Degree at Monash University.

Mrs Robertson presented on the topic of Anger Management in Young Children to a JSHAA meeting of Prep to Year Four coordinators.

Marcia Bacon
Director of Educational Support