Dear Kingsmead Community,

Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) Week in the Senior Primary

We all want to know how the world works, right?! So each of us may be filled with some of these perplexing questions: Why perhaps one piece of music is beautiful to one person but a cacophony of sound to another? How do car engines make cars work and move? Why when you bend over your eyes don’t fall out? Why are we able to eat and drink while still upside down? Or how do new languages develop?

Living perpetually means that we are constantly in search for meaning (Brooks and Brooks, 1999). Our school aims to continue to be a place where this kind of search is kept alive! Both teachers and students are essentially architects of such important learning experiences – learning experiences that promote deep inquiry in our daily teaching and learning.

Objectives for this week:

Erica Buddington, educational leader and founder of Langsten League shared a podcast that sums up the objectives we have set out to achieve by the end of this week – i.e. guide our students to see that learning is like windows, mirrors and sliding doors.

Windows – students begin to ‘see’ their learning beyond themselves and start shifting their understanding of where learning can take place.

Mirrors – students become or act in a way that mimics experts in the real world.

Sliding doors – seek solutions for the greater global good. Get out there in the environment and experiment and solution-find within our world, starting most importantly this week with our local school ecosystem!

The essential question we strive to unpack through a series of carefully planned and scaffolded activities is linked to the ever-present need for more environmental conservation awareness amongst our youth: Backyard Biodiversity: Because all things are connected, how important is diversity really?

Our students were engaged by international author and World Historian Christopher Lloyd on Monday morning. We are certain that this particular session invigorated all our up-and-coming ‘bio-curiositers’ and will ultimately lead to a rise in ‘environmental-crusaders’. This week is not solely about the knowledge that students will acquire, it also serves as the vehicle for exposing our students, once again, to the skills and new tools necessary for effective learning.

Student Expectations:

This week’s academic timetable has been replaced with a tailor-made timetable per grade to take your daughters actively through the 5-E levels of an inquiry process (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend/Elaborate, Evaluate). We require that our students maintain their same level of engagement and responsibility towards their learning this week while having loads of fun collaborating and investigating too.

Important reminders for the IBL week ahead:

Please note that all private music and support lessons, as well as LEAD and Assembly connects remain unchanged.
Each grade will communicate any specific needs/ requirements directly with the students and/or parents. i.e. specific iPad app downloads (free versions), resources/supplies from home to build with etc…
School ending times remain unchanged this week
On Friday 1 October, your daughter should arrive at school in civvies. The theme of the day is ‘Colours inspired by Biodiversity’

We look forward to sharing some photographs of our highlights from the week in our next Connection.

Tania O’Maker
IBL Co-ordinator

ARTS & MUSIC

GRADE 7 PRODUCTION

What a journey this year’s Grade 7 production has been, a first of its kind for our school! If COVID has taught us one thing is that we always find a way to carry on. “Life mirrors art” as our play clearly suggests. Most of the scenes were shot during the lockdown in the 2^nd term, and it took some very creative editing to make the pieces fit. Despite the many challenges along the way, in true Kingsmead spirit, both students and teachers persevered and found creative solutions to every obstacle.

We are so proud of every single Grade 7 student who never gave up, but continued to ride the wave of change, showing true grit and determination, every step of the way.

Thank you to our audience who supported the shows last week. Some of the Grade 7s put this fantastic poem together as a reflection of their journey.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Anna Lipchin who participated in the Philip Moore competition during the August holiday and achieved an A+ for her outstanding performance. Well done, Anna!

Congratulations to Safiya Vally who achieved an exceptionally impressive result for the ABRSM Grade 3 violin examination. Great job, Safiya!

Sports

Equestrian

We would like to congratulate Katherine Popadopoulos on her phenomenal achievement. Katherine has been ranked number 8 in the top 10 primary school riders in Johannesburg. She is the only one of the top 10 riders who has achieved this on a stable pony which she has only ridden this year. Well done, Katherine!

A team – Handy Hunter
B team – Working Riding
C team – Working Hunter
C team – Prix Caprilli

Shavaun Hanekom
Junior School Sports Coordinator

Evening of Wonderment & Awe

NEST

Our NEST students wanted to remind our community about the use of thinking maps. They have prepared the below infographic as well as a video, which can be watched by clicking here.