Welcome to the ‘Principal’s Blog’ Category of our Blog

Welcome back to a new school year!

And what a year it looks like being. We have lots of exciting adventures in store for all.

We plan to start the year off with some community building activities involving the whole school. Some sports activities, a beach trip, a picnic and of course a welcome back yajna.

Parents please open the individual classroom blogs and find out what your kids will be doing in term 1 and beyond. Use this website to stay informed. We will be regularly updating the parents info posts and Latest News section as well as this Principal’s Blog page.

I have had a great break and fully charged for the new school year. One of the most exciting things for me is going to be planning new classrooms and the futre look of our learning environemnts and administration block. This will require some major funding and planning and is a long term project.

In the classroom teachers will be preparing students for 21st century learning experiences while at the same time maintaining important cultural and spiritual ties. We have an ideal blend of cutting edge teacher practice within the cultural context of our special character. The language of Sanskrit, the instruments such as mrdanga and harmonium and the arts such as drama and dance provide an ideal platform for engaging young minds in creative and intellectual inquiry.

And we don’t deny the benefits of technology. This year we will be exploring the possibilities of sharing students work and achievements through on online service giving parents and caregivers access to their childrens’ progress. We are developing our capacity across the school to capitalise on the positive benefits of teaching and learning in the 21st century by utlising blogs, wikis, moddles and lots more.

I’ll keep you informed through this Blog. Feel free to contact us at school or leave a comment as you wish about anything that may be of concern.

your servant,

Prana dasa

Inclusive classrooms/differentiated learning/National standards and other oxymorons!

Yesterday  I spent a couple of hours at my favourite educational supplies outlet in Melbourne. My focus was on teacher resources,  particularly resources around inquiry learning. I have purchased a couple of resources by Kath Murdoch and friends. These resources describe loads of useful strategies to assist learners in accessing  different stages of inquiry from Tuning In to the social action part – What next?

We have a school wide focus for 2011 on Inquiry learning and increasing student voice. There have been lots of smart cracks about the already high levels of student voice but we are taking it seriously and we are planning for a number of strategies to enhance student voice.

We will be running student led conferences with parents in the second term. We are also collecting a database of various rubrics for assessment and goal setting. We are looking into ways to increase student control over learning and changing the old mindset of the teacher as the supreme controller.

Differentiation is the key to developing inclusive and dynamic classrooms. With the introduction of National Standards this is going to be a challenge. Standards seem almost the antithesis to what the Curriculum document represents. I have been discussing current developments with standards here in Australia with a variety of teachers from the Catholic, Private and State perspective. 

Our greatest fears are already at play here in Melbourne. The National curriculum and standards have really changed the direction of many classrooms. Teachers in Victoria follow the VELS which are the local standard achievement levels. Like NZ more than half of the students will not meet standards in many areas of the English and Mathematics curriculum strands. 

So while we are busy gearing up to more inclusive, differentiated, student centred classrooms we are starring down the barrel of National Standards – a one size fits all curriculum. I am about to leave Melbourne and spend a week in Northern New South Wales. There I will meet with teachers and discuss the NSW curriculum and their interpretation of the national Standards.

While most enlightened and progressive educators share a common sense of excitement around inquiry learning and teachers facilitating learning for diverse classroom populations not all educators share the same enthusiasm and passion for National Standards. Some would go as far as saying national standards and student centred learning is an oxymoron.

I will be in Murwillumbah for a huge reunion of Hare Krishna School alumni, from our schools and communities world wide. Then on 11^th Jan I am off to Vietnam and Singapore for meetings to push forward an international school agenda based on our Hare Krishna schooling model. I’ll keep you informed.     

See you in 2011.