The PRINCIPLED Learner Profile

What does it mean to be a principled person?

The IBO defines a principled person as someone who “…acts with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.” (ibo.org, 2009)

Congratulations to the children from across the school who were chosen among many at this weeks school hui, recognised for being principled.

Learning through the Transdisciplinary Themes

If you are looking for more understanding of how your children learn at the Bay Academy ...

We set aside specific daily learning time dedicated to building reading and writing literacy and maths numeracy. These are central to student success in all other areas of learning, and for life.

Unlike lots of schools that treat subjects as separate blocks of learning our students learn through units of inquiry (6 per year). Subject knowledge (science; social studies; arts; physical, social and personal education), Skills (thinking, research, social, communication and self-management) and the Learner Profile are integrated sensibly through each unit of inquiry. This is known as a transdisciplinary approach.

These themes engage the learning community in rich dialogues and ongoing collaboration to build an understanding of themselves, their wider community and the world. The expected outcome is students who take charge of their learning and who take action reflecting what they have learned.

Designed to have enduring value regardless of where you are in the world, or who your student is, the six themes provide guidance for what students will inquire into. 

To see some of the results of student learning in the Units of Inquiry please check your HERO App, under Sharing My Learning.

Here they are:

Learner Profile Certificates

 A big congratulations to our fortnightly Learner Profile certificate winners. Thinkers, inquirers, risk takers, reflective, these children and rangatahi have stood out showing one or more of these attributes in their classroom learning and effort.

Congratulations to them, these are the attributes of a global citizen.

Awarded for showing BALANCE

 

#balance. Achieving wellbeing for ourselves and others, emotional and physical. Te Whare Tapa Whā. Congrats to those students recognised for showing the #learnerprofile attribute of being balanced. Mauri ora!

Posted by Bay of Islands International Academy on Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Ko Wai Au Easter Winners

Our focus in class in the last fortnight has been on the Learner Profile attribute of Communicator. 

Communication covers writing, speaking and listening and all classes have been focusing on developing these skills. Todays school hui, led with strength and mana by the school leaders Kora and Whitiora, reflected this focus.

We want to congratulate all the students who were drawn out today. Over the past two weeks they have been noticed and recognised displaying positive attributes of communication.

Enjoy the rewards!

I am a Thinker

 

Our Learner Profile focus for the past two weeks has been Thinker. We were very pleased to acknowledge children across the school who have stood out as thinkers in their learning over this time. At today's school hui we presented those learners with their certificates.

The IB Learner Profile identifies thinkers as those who use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.

Our Ko Wai Au behaviour values identifies Thinkers as students who act to keep themselves and others safe at all times. Safety encompasses so many aspects of how we behave in the school community.

Congratulations to these students for standing up as Thinkers, Kai whakaaro. Mauri ora!

Learner Profile, learning online

Netsafe resource for online safety

Our overriding strategy - did you know?

These are the goals and initiatives that drive us as a school. They have been reviewed again recently for 2020. YOUR voice is important to us, and as we continue to update this strategic focus, student, parent, whānau and community feedback is an essential contribution.

An email to principal@boi.ac.nz or even a note left at reception are both ways you could have your say.

Keeping children safe online

We are fortunate that Pauline Spence from Netsafe is returning to Tai Tokerau to deliver her workshops across our wider region. Netsafe is all about online safety and reporting.

This session is for parents, whānau and caregivers who may be looking for more information to help them support their young people with their time online. Details are in the brochure below.



Here is a Netsafe resource available for parents and whānau to begin with;



This is also an opportunity to remind parents that we have a kawa of care in place for students when using devices at school. Details of this are included here for your information. It is designed to develop and support the behaviours required to use time online responsibly and in a principled and caring way.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) update

We have been working on establishing a simple set of values on which to base the teaching of behaviour and expectations in school and on school based activities. PB4L is a key strategic goal for our school supporting a focus on emotional and social wellbeing for our children.

Based on the input of students, parents, whānau and staff we have identified 4 shared values common across our school community. They are;

AROHA - RESILIENCE - WHANAUNGATANGA - RESPONSIBILITY
(follow this link for detailed definitions of the Māori words https://maoridictionary.co.nz/) 

We plan to use these as the basis for teaching the behaviours that lead to a healthy social/emotional, and successful learning environment at our school. The goal is that students, parents, whānau and staff gain a clear understanding of the expected behaviours and strive to live up to them.

We'll lead this by asking the question, Ko wai au? Who am I? The following graphic combines the values with all the elements of the IB Learner Profile.