Lifelong Learning

It is our aim to develop in our students the capability, skills and attitudes that will enable them to be learners for life. We want our young people to grow and develop, knowing and applying the qualities and characteristics of lifelong and life-wise learners. Our students regularly articulate how they take learning risks, question, self-motivate, make connections, set goals and plans , persevere and reflect. They use and apply the language of learning in both their lives here at Red Beach School and at home. In the left-hand bottom corner of the Red Beach School Vision is a collection of shells. The scallop-shaped shell has become our visual metaphor for “lifelong learning” and is a record of each of the learning qualities.

The Hearts

At the base of the Achievement tree in the school vision, sits the Red Beach School Heart. This is our visual metaphor for the school’s chosen values, which are Respect, Inclusion, Care and Honesty. Our aim is to intentionally develop in our students the qualities that will enable them to relate well to other people within any community in the world. The school’s values are taught within the overall curriculum and daily life of the school. The placement of the heart at the base of the tree is symbolic of our belief that “to be an achiever you must be rich in heart”.

Learning Foundations

To become a competent, confident, actively involved lifelong learner each of our students must have as foundational skills the ability to read, write and be numerate, within both the text-based and digital worlds. For this reason, our core curriculum revolves around the competencies involved in becoming literate and numerate. Our children are very much involved in understanding and self-monitoring their own progress in these areas and with the assistance of their teacher regularly report to their parents on their own progress. The children’s individual learning pathways in these areas are monitored carefully and where extra support is needed this is provided.

Powerful Learning

In today’s information-orientated world, it is vital that all of our students know how to investigate their own wonderings and solve their own queries and problems. At Red Beach School, we have designed our own simple “powerful learning process”, which our students are taught how to utilize in an independent manner. This process can be applied to both simple wonderings that may take only 5 minutes to answer or to complex questions from the world of science or social science that take much longer to progress through. As a thinking tool, the circle has at its centre, the processes of questioning, dialogue and reflection, which support individuals as they move through an investigation. It is our aim that this process will become simply part of what our students do, as they leave our school to enter their next phase of life.