Rangatahi Pānui

When you receive your junior student's report at the end of term, you will note we are prioritizing our students’ own learning goals and reflections in their reports, instead of including the more traditional teacher ‘comment’ only. We are doing this to ensure that at the start of a term girls are thinking and talking about what they want to achieve, and then reflecting on their progress in a meaningful way with the aid of their teacher. This term we have also invited teachers to add a reflection where they feel it may be necessary or where a student has not been able to adequately set or reflect upon a goal. 

In addition to the new drive to grow goal setting and reflection habits in our students, we have asked staff to reimagine how they describe their students’ academic achievements and the growth of their important capabilities (habits) which make them better learners. You will note that most subject areas have now created detailed descriptors to explain what being a Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner or Expert means with reference to the subject’s learning focus each term. This is an ongoing process and we are very excited about the work that our staff are doing in this space and look forward to further developments as the year progresses. However, in more general terms, each descriptor can be thought of as follows:

Novice - new to the content and still working on a basic level of understanding and practise of the desired capabilities.
Apprentice - beginning to make progress in their understanding and practise of the desired capabilities.
Practitioner - has a solid grasp of the fundamentals and practises most of the desired capabilities, most of the time.
Expert - is confident and consistent in their understanding of academic content and their practise of desired capabilities.

Thank you for taking the time to read and reflect on these reports.