PYP Student Led Conference

Today marks the last Student Led Conference at ARIS Primary School, for this Academic Year of 2017-18. Students from Playgroup to Year 6 (2 Years to 10 Years Old) came with their parents and had to explain their learning progress of the last two months to their parents.

Before the Student Led Conference, as you all may or may not know, there used to be 3-Way Conferences between Parents, Teachers and Students – the 3 Pillars of the ARIS Community. The shift this time was really to involve the ‘most important player’, being the student.

The significance of this is that students are able to have the agency and the responsibility of their own Education and how they are going to present it over to their parents. This ranges from what they do in class in their day to day school lives, to projects and presentations, to their overall progress and thus, their own set goals to pave a way forward.

For many parents as well, it’s the first time that they got to experience the experience of a Student Led Conference. Many of them were pleasantly surprised at how well their children speak, are able to organize and present themselves and how they are introspective and proudly take the responsibility of their learning processes and progress. When a parent was asked about what they thought, they also said that it was “significantly shorter” than a 3 Way Conference.

21st Century Learning has come far from the typical Top-Down Approach of Teaching and Learning. With Teachers now essentially being Facilitators, in the IB Program, they are working with the children to guide their academic, social and emotional development. This was shown clearly today, at the conference.

This is seen to be the “developmentally responsive” for children and the rest of the school community. The children can put their communication and reflection, among other skills, to practice. They even set goals for themselves that they want to achieve, in the coming academic year.

As we get ready to bid adieu to this Academic Year, we know that our students grew this year, with each passing day and they did their best. We wish them the best for the next!