End of School 2020

 On Wednesday 16th December, Eliza and Daniel enjoyed their last day of school for the year.

Just look at how much they have grown!

This year has been such a wonderful year of growth for Eliza and I am so so grateful that she had Miss Stewart as her teacher. She showed her love and care through one of our most challenging times as a family. She was approachable for Eliza and myself. She was caring and followed up on things. In a year that was filled with a lot of uncertainty, Miss Stewart was a constant for Eliza and she has grown so much through that! Eliza loves to read and has come so so far! She is even reading some of Daniel's books like Dog Man to us. She loves to write and her creativity has not been squashed, if anything I think it has grown. She has made some beautiful friends and has learnt to be resilient when things don't go as planned or when someone is unkind to you. Eliza, I am so very proud of you and all you have achieved this year in Kindy! You have grown so much in height, in resilience, in kindness, in learning. I love your drawings, I love your stories and I love your little giggle. You are an inquisitive little girl who I know will keep me on my toes with many questions but I love that you feel comfortable asking them. May this year be the start of a lifelong love of learning. May you continue to question, to read, to write and to enjoy it all. I'm very proud of you beautiful girl!

With her Kindy graduation certificate

With Miss Stewart

Bubble fun with Clara, a gift from Miss Stewart. 'You blew me away this year'

Daniel has had a fun year. He has loved exploring in science and has continued to grow his friendships, even with those not in his class, which I'm proud of him for doing. He has grown more in confidence with maths and often sits there asking us tricky maths equations wanting to know the answers and can often confirm if we are right or not. This year though he has really struggled with writing, and I was quite sad when I saw how much. I know during home learning he found the writing tasks a challenge. He struggled with the ideas and getting the thoughts down on paper. He struggled to focus. But I didn't realise quite how much this was happening in class until the books came home on the last day. Going through them I saw a lot of unmarked writing pages and also unfinished pages. I saw comments like 'You should write more than this Daniel' on pages that had just 1 sentence. Yep, I agree that he should write more, but I'm honestly not sure what support he was getting to achieve that. I know that he can't have the one on one support that he had during home learning, but the teachers should be walking around the room, encouraging him, talking through ideas. To be honest, I'm not sure what support he got, if any. But what broke my heart the most was seeing this writing in his book.

"I hate writing because I can't focus". This was done midway through the year, yet I didn't see anything that would help him change that mindset. I don't want him to hate writing. I wasn't a fan of it growing up but I had support with my work. So these past holidays I have sat with Daniel and done different writing tasks to help him believe in himself and know that he can do it. He has come a long way! Some writing days were good, some were still hard. But he has definitely improved. I hope that in 2021 he will grow to like writing, not necessarily love it, but like it. I hope that he has the confidence to put pencil to paper. I hope that he has the focus to show what he can do. Time will tell. But I am hoping that this year he will be supported more than it appears he was last year. I'm also amazed that they only did 3 artworks in the whole year. 3! Mum and James said that it's ok because we did lots at home during covid but I personally think that more should have been done because it's the outlet for some kids and they are good at that. Daniel loved doing art at home and probably would have loved doing more at school. Anyway, as you can gauge I wasn't too happy about his learning for year 2. I am looking forward to year 3 and seeing what he can do and how much he grows in confidence in himself and also focus towards his work. You can do it Daniel! I am proud of what you did in Year 2 with the resources you had. I can't wait to see how you continue to grow in confidence in yourself and in your skills. Believe in yourself!