Kingsford Smith School services students K-10. It is named
after the famous Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who was the
first person to make a trans-Pacific flight from the US to Australia. There are
five buildings, 1 and 2 for K-5, 3 and 4 for 6-10, and building 5 is the gym,
music, and the canteen. Each building is organized by top and bottom (first and
second floor) according to subjects. There are no lockers, students carry
backpacks with them. Students also come prepared with their own supplies such
as glue, scissors, coloring and writing utensils, etc. School is from 9-3 and
every student gets a 20-minute recess and a 60-minute lunch/break. Students are
able to spend any of this time outside or in the library, which really makes a
difference in their energy levels because they aren’t just stuck inside all
day. Additionally, the buildings are designed so that every room and hallway
has at least two windows. Natural light is so important! There are also four
houses in the school. When a student starts at a school, they are assigned
randomly to a house and they stick with it their entire time here. Families are
often placed in the same house though. You can earn points for your house by
doing good things (you don’t ever lose points) and at the end of the year the
house with the most points gets a party. If you’re thinking Harry Potter,
you’re correct.
The
schools core values focus on two things: HERO and the 4 R’s. H is for harmony,
which focuses on creating an open and welcoming community where everyone is
accepted for they are. E is for excellence, which focuses on both learning
enthusiastically as well as behaving responsibly. R is for respect, which
refers to others, yourself, and the world around us. O is for optimism, which
focuses on having a positive attitude and being compassionate towards others. The 4 R’s are doing the right thing at
the right time with respect and responsibility.
There is a lot of freedom in the
school, for both students and teachers. The teachers are a little more
laidback, dressing casually and some of them even going by their first name. Although
they do have various duties during either recess or lunch or after school that
can restrict their schedules. As I mentioned before, students are free to eat
or play wherever they want (on school grounds) during break times. They also
don’t have assigned seats in classrooms and are allowed to have toys with them,
such as balls and Rubik’s cubes. Unfortunately I’ve observed that both of these
can be a factor in several behavior problems but it does put more
responsibility on the students.
Punishment and discipline are also
implemented differently here. There is an emphasis on building relationships
and getting to the root of the problem so if a student is acting up, it’s
important to ask, “are you okay?” or “did something happen today/last night?” Additionally,
instead of reprimanding students on the spot, they are more gentle in asking to
please quiet down or when trying to redirect their attention. In class
punishments mainly include moving seats in the classroom, “time-outs” in the
hallway, or lunch/recess detentions. If it escalates, students may receive
in-school suspensions. They work on a level system with level 1 having a white card, level 2 having a yellow card, and level 3 having an orange card. If you're on any cards you have to get them signed by your teacher every period. They also have what they call "buddy classrooms" where if a student is misbehaving or being distracted/distracting in their own classroom, they are sent to another to work.
The biggest change for me is that
you don’t go to or teach the same classes every day. They split up by days of
the week and by odd or even weeks. Their hours are called lines and they rotate
every two weeks. An amazing thing though is that they are split up into classes
according to their ability, so that students are with those on the same level
as them. They have foundation, intermediate, and advanced. Additionally, each
year/subject have their own teacher’s lounge where they all have their own
desks, rather than having computers in their room. This is because teachers do
not always have their own room. Often they move from one room to another or share
rooms. The school also does not
have bells all the time. There are certain ones for some buildings but overall
teachers track the time and dismiss that way. Really though, there may be a lot
of different ways of doing things here but at the end of the day, we’re just
teachers trying to give our kids the best education we can.
