Learning Conferences
Kia ora whānau
At the end of this newsletter is the information you need to book your child's next Learning Conference on Tuesday 31st July or Thursday 2nd August - Week 2 of the coming new term.
Feedback from Learning Conference review 2017
Following the learning conferences in Term 3 last year, we asked for your feedback on a number of aspects of the learning conference process and outcomes. Thank you very much to the 120 people who responded to this survey. This was a significant response to a request for feedback.
Some trends became very clear and we learned that the new format of children directing the learning conferences and a fluid approach to meeting with all of the teachers working with your child (particularly from Years 1-6) had mixed responses from whānau.
This is seen by the results of the graph below (where 1 = not beneficial and 5 = extremely beneficial)
There was also a mixed response to the statement: "There was enough time to talk with the teacher about the learning." seen on the graph below:
We were heartened by the response to the following question about whether the purpose of the learning conference had been met (where 1=not met and 5= completely met):
We were also heartened by the response to the statement "The teacher(s) really knew my child and his/her next steps"
What was the most helpful were the 71 individual 'additional comments' that you took the time to write. These really captured the individual stories we needed to hear and helped explain in more detail why you had responded to the questions above in the way you had.
We have done lots of reflecting on the feedback that we received on the process we used last year, and the opportunities and challenges that it provided for whānau, children and the teachers.
Whilst finding a model that works perfectly for every child and their whānau would be wonderful, it is not realistic. What we have done, is taken all of your feedback, and tried to improve the areas that were causing the most concern.
We have focused on improving the following areas:
- ensuring that you have guaranteed time with your child's point of contact teacher
- consistency within and across teams
- scaffolding the process to better support all children to be actively engaged in the conversation about their learning
- making sure that the learning conference is a 'conversation' about learning and next steps, not just a 'show and tell'
- having the learning conferences for Years 1-6 be 15 minutes with just the point of contact teacher and more support in place for the child, teacher and whānau to each be able to lead the conversations.
- keeping the learning conferences at Year 7/8 longer (30mins) with the students expected to take more leadership in their conferences with all three of their teachers
Please book a Learning Conference for each of your children now...
The next Learning Conferences will be taking place in Week 2 of the new term, on Tuesday 31st July and Thursday 2nd August. Note that school will finish at the earlier time of 2pm on both days to allow for Learning Conferences to happen.
If you want your child to stay at school between 2pm and 3pm on one or both of those days, please remember to let Jacky in the office know (office@beckenham.school.nz) so we can arrange supervision.
To book, please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz or click on this link and use the code z8vr4
Ngā mihi nui
Sandy and the team.