Is your child ready to learn, every lesson, every day?

In pursuit of maximised learning time, by ensuring students are entering the classroom, ready to learn this week, we formalised and launched our college-wide Classroom Entry and Exit Routines.

Routines are a foundation of classroom management. Educators use routines to set expectations, minimize disruptions to learning, teach behavior, and make the most of instructional time. Students respond to routines because routines allow them to be confident in their understanding of what’s expected of them in class, and this instance in entering and exiting class. Routines contribute to a sense of community, and for some learners, routines offer a sense of security.

Routines free up students’ working memory and reduce their cognitive load so that instead of dedicating all of their focus to day-to-day tasks like lining up or transitioning between activities, students can focus on learning (Leinhardt, Weidman, & Hammond, 1987). In addition entry routines help students to be organised and ready to commence the lesson once inside the classroom. Routines and processes become automatic for students when they are consistently applied in every classroom every day and the benefits to learning are well researched. 

Last week on Assembly, DP Zana Schroeder provided students with the rationale for the routines, as well as outlining them generally. Since Monday, our students have been explicitly taught the expectations and have been practicing being ready to learn at the start of every lesson.

It is important that we share these with you so you can support your child to be ready to learn and they can develop their skills of being responsible, respectful and a learner.

Some of the ways we encourage you to support your child to be ready to learn is to ensure each day that they:

• have their iPad fully charged at the start of each day.
• bring writing equipment – pencil case and book, and calculator as per stationery list.
• are coming to school in the correct school uniform and if out of uniform, you are providing them with a note. Please remind your child to go to Student Services before school to submit your note and to get a uniform variation slip in exchange.
• do not have a VPN downloaded on their iPad.
• do not have their mobile phone on their person between 8.35am and 3pm. Mobile phones are only permitted on site if they are secured in a mobile phone locker during the school day.
• are wearing only a Foxwell branded jumper/jacket. No other jumpers or jackets are permitted.
• have their hat with them each day and are wearing it when outdoors.

Hats

There are large numbers of hats in lost property. If your child is missing a formal hat, please send them to the Learning Hub to check.

The wearing of a college hat is a requirement of our Student Dress Code whenever in school uniform and outdoors. This includes transiting to and from school.
We are providing a two-week moratorium on hats to allow time for students to retrieve lost hats or to purchase new hats. Once the moratorium is over, consequences will be put in place for students who do not wear a college hat, as it breaches the Dress Code. If your child does not currently, have a hat, we would appreciate you attending to this matter urgently. We will be in contact shortly to let you know that your child has notified us that they do not have a hat, so you can make the appropriate arrangements.

As the weeks progress, students will be reminded, through explicit instruction, of our college rules, SPIRIT Values and what these translate to in terms of expectations in our classrooms, our college grounds, on the way to and from school, and in interactions with peers and staff. Students will also be reminded that there are consequences applied ensure you are kept up to date in these matters.

We appreciate your support in ensuring your child is ready to learn each lesson, every day and is proudly engaging with our high expectations and college rules, that promote a safe and supportive learning environment for all students and a safe and supportive workplace for our staff.

Kind Regards

Zana Schroeder

Deputy Principal

[on behalf of the Deputy Principal Team]