SOUTH ISLAND SCHOOL – PHILOSOPHY AND VALUES
May 2012
PHILOSOPHY
Making a Difference
Our purpose at South Island School is to raise consciousness in our school community about the way individuals make a difference in a complex world. Our learning philosophy and environment promote freedom of thought, expression and action. We educate all students to develop their skills and their deep learning so they can make informed decisions and take action responsibly.
We believe that individual success will be demonstrated when our students are happy, resilient and curious thinkers who thrive in an inclusive, resourceful and compassionate community. Our aim is to offer the opportunities and the guidance for them to become honest, responsible and courageous citizens. We want all of our actions as a community to promote learning and the holistic concept of sustainable futures.
VALUES
- We work to nurture ourselves, our society and our planet and take personal responsibility for a sustainable future
- We approach and engage other people with respect and honesty
- We manage ourselves and our learning by developing self awareness, resilience and courage
- We explore our world with open minds and compassionate perspectives
- We use our initiative and commit to making a difference by being creative, resourceful and reflective
CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES
Our planning for learning is determined by three broad filters and set within three concentric contexts. In turn, these give shape to our skills framework that seeks to support the development of a positive mindset in each of our learners.
Our broad curriculum principles aim to support
- Breadth and balance
- Disciplinary and interdisciplinary understanding
- Education for intercultural understanding
- An holistic educational experience
- Education for metacognitive understanding
- Learning access for all
- Teachers as learners
DEVELOPMENT GOALS (South Island 2020)
- All students are able to articulate and apply the skills developed through their learning and can fully appreciate their own talents and accomplishments.
- All students have the opportunity and support to choose an appropriate, flexible and personal curriculum that offers opportunity and challenge.
- A strong ethos of student guidance is supported by clear and effective assessment measures that are accessible to and understood by both students and their parents.
- All staff access opportunities to reflect and self improve, enriching their own professional development and contributing directly to the implementation of the School’s philosophy and values.
- The School provides a variety of stimulating learning environments.
- Delegated resources, supplemented by sustainable fundraising, are used creatively and effectively to optimize learning opportunities
- Parents understand and support their children’s learning and are actively engaged in the life of the school; there are embedded relationships within the local community and abroad.
OUTCOMES (South Island 2020)
- An explicit skills framework, building from Year 6 intake into IB and Advanced Diploma study is in place, known by all members of the School community, written coherently through all Schemes of Learning and included in the reporting system.
- *Flexible learning and accreditation pathways are available to all students from Year 9 onwards and meet the full range of learning needs
*Learning technologies are used widely to extend choice and opportunity
- *The School Values are widely published and known by every member of the Community
*Each student is known and tracked in terms of academic potential, academic pathway, career pathway and personal endeavor
*Academic outcomes at the end of each student’s career at South Island are consistent with or better than predicted performance
- *Each member of staff is able to demonstrate recent and regular CPD on e-portfolio.
- *The School provides appropriate learning accommodation for all students
*There is a strategic development plan for the development and sustainability of the school site
*All available areas of the school have been turned into active learning areas using learning resources and creative display
- The School remains financially viable
- *Parents are able to access all student tracking information remotely
*Parent surveys show 90%+ levels of satisfaction with guidance and reporting services, including the ARR interface
*The PTA plays a strong role as a conduit of aspirations between parents, the School and the School Council
SKILLS FRAMEWORK
The philosophy of our school clearly indicates that we are concerned fundamentally with the continued development of our students’ personal qualities and their skills, especially their skills as learners, to prepare them for the future. We believe that the following list of skills, which align with our Learning Filters and our Learning Contexts represents an aspirational framework for personal skill development that can apply to any student, no matter where their particular talents and interests lie.
Managing myself and my learning
*Takes responsibility for and manages own behavior
*Establishes priorities and manages time to complete tasks and achieve goals outside of the class
*Uses class time appropriately to complete tasks
*Follows instructions with minimal supervision
*Seeks clarification or assistance when needed
*Demonstrates curiosity and interest through questioning and enquiry
*Identifies and uses a range of resources (including ICT) to complete tasks
*Assesses and reflects critically on own strengths, needs and interests
*Seeks opportunities to meet personal needs and achieve goals
*Perseveres and makes an effort when faced with difficulties
Working with and relating to others
*Builds healthy peer-to-peer relationships through personal and media-assisted interactions
*Responds positively to the ideas, opinions, values and traditions of others
*Works with others to resolve conflicts and build consensus to achieve group goals
*Shares information, resources and expertise and promotes critical thinking to solve problems and make decisions
*Accepts various roles and an equitable share of work in a group
Using initiative to make a difference
*Demonstrates the capacity for innovation and a willingness to take risks
*Looks for and acts on new ideas and opportunities for learning
*Approaches new tasks with a positive attitude
*Recognizes and advocates appropriately for the rights of self and others
*Communicates vision and takes action
Glossary of Terms
Philosophy and Values
Our Philosophy is the high level description of our mission. This allows clarity of tracking for IBO and CIS/WASC purposes. It describes our over-arching purpose as a school and, with our Values should be the filter and touchstone for all school activities.
Development Goals and Outcomes
In many definitions, goals, target and aims are used with a free interchangeability that often sparks redundant semantic arguments. As this is the case, it is easier NOT to mix all these terms together. Development Goals is also language common to IBO and is adopted in the school context to provide the descriptions, at headline level, of the long-term intentions for development under the seven strands that we use for our planning. These presented separately as South Island 2020–our long-term strategic plan. The aims of this planning are referred to as Outcomes.
Targets and Success Criteria
We have selected the term Targets as they more comfortably harmonise with the high-level term Goals. Targets are a more detailed exposition of our Goals and these are agreed/reviewed annually and set in the context of an annual School Development Plan (SDP) organized under each of our seven development strands. To these specific targets are attached Success Criteria which allow us to measure our progress in finer detail. School Departments are required to write their own plans to mirror the direction and content of the SDP.
Values
Our values scaffold the journey from our philosophy to the attainment of our goals. They describe how we do what we say we want to do. They determine our conduct, as an organization and as individuals. They determine our attitudes of mind. Our aspiration is that everything that we do as a school is consistent and congruent with our values.
Curriculum Principles and Standards and Practices
At the core of our purpose is the Curriculum and our Curriculum Principles derive from our philosophy and our values. As an IBO school we have alignment between our Curriculum Principles and those of the IBO. Those principles are practically articulated as Standards and Practices.