Dear Lions,
Firstly, thank you to Lions Adelaide for sponsoring me for the One-Day Teacher Accreditation Program last month. I had worked with the Skills for Adolescence and Skills for Growing programs in 1990’s so I was keen to see the developments being made since then.
The programs have been rewritten to accommodate the Australian Curriculum and align with Attainment Standards and Capabilities. Its focus on school communities to best support social and emotional development and for our learners to be responsible, respectful and resilient learners totally reflects our key learning pillars. This in turn leads to improved academic outcomes, positive attitudes and social behaviours to support student their ability to solve problems.
As a school, we will be looking at this program to possibly incorporate it alongside the Child Protection Program – Keeping Children Safe. The Skills for Growing programs are very teacher friendly, in that it outlines the best current practices in its pedagogy engaging learning intentions, connections, hands-on activities, application and assessment. Particularly meaningful for our International Baccalaureate School, with its Primary Year Program, are the possibilities that our students can explore with our community when taking action on the focus skill. I have embedded some components of the program in my planning for Term 4 for my Year 5 and 6 Health lessons and certainly will incorporate the program more fully in 2020.
The workshop was well-organised and presented enabling me to truly unpack the contents in several practical ways. The presenter was passionate about her work and provided a strong role model for lesson delivery. Thank you once again for the opportunity.
Regards,
Jill
St Andrew’s School
