In this episode of 'dare to be more', host Anthony Perl speaks with Sonia Weston, Deputy Head of Junior School for Curriculum, and Natalie Hird, Deputy Head of Junior School for Operations, about the innovative approaches that create confident, curious learners in MLC School's Junior School.

Sonia shares her observations about the School's unique culture and how MLC School honours each developmental stage - from Pre-Kindergarten through to Year 6 - ensuring that students aren't simply being prepared for the next level, but are fully engaged in rich learning experiences appropriate to where they are right now.

The conversation explores the complementary nature of Sonia and Natalie's roles, with Natalie overseeing day-to-day operations including timetabling, staffing, compliance, NAPLAN, and the extensive co-curricular program, whilst Sonia works collaboratively with grade teams to design curriculum, embed differentiation, and implement assessments. Together, they ensure both operational excellence and innovative teaching approaches work seamlessly.

Natalie describes MLC School's commitment to going beyond the mandatory curriculum, with Italian language learning from Kindergarten, a unique Language Carousel program in Year 6 where girls experience Mandarin, Japanese and French, and universal instrumental music from Year 1. She emphasises the School's focus on STEM education, explaining how vital it is for a girls' school to dedicate significant time and energy to subjects where girls have traditionally lacked confidence - mathematics, science and engineering - starting from Pre-Kindergarten with age-appropriate lessons.

The episode includes a delightful example of this approach in action: Sonia describes a Kindergarten STEM lesson where girls studying 'The Three Little Pigs' built houses from different materials, tested them by blowing them down, compared data about which materials worked best, and engaged in rich conversations linking literacy, vocabulary, science, engineering and mathematics - demonstrating how MLC School gamifies learning whilst maintaining academic rigour.

Both educators discuss the School's thoughtful approach to technology, how MLC School keeps parents informed and involved through multiple touchpoints throughout the year, and how the School manages personalised learning at scale through evidence-based screening tools and close work with the Learning Enhancement Department and High Potential team.

The episode highlights MLC School's unique Year 6 model, where students are based on the Senior School campus, learning from specialist Senior School teachers in subjects like visual arts and languages, creating a seamless transition to Year 7.

The conversation concludes with both educators reflecting on what 'dare to be more' means to them - Sonia describing it as embracing discomfort and challenge as part of growth, hoping that teachers and leaders model this for students by stretching themselves and taking on new challenges, whilst Natalie connects it to MLC School's 140-year history of preparing women for university and the School's values of courage, growth and justice.

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Host:  Anthony Perl

Production: Podcasts Done For You. For more information about podcast production services, visit podcastsdoneforyou.com.au.

Discover how MLC School honors each developmental stage from pre-kindergarten to year six. Ensuring students aren't just being prepared for the next level, but are fully engaged in rich learning experiences right now. Learn about innovative approaches, including the Language Carousel, universal instrumental music, and how a kindergarten lesson about the Three Little Pigs becomes a masterclass in STEM education.

I'm your co-host, Anthony Perl. Let's get into today's conversation. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Dare to Be More Podcast and. Today we are going to be talking all things about the academic development side of things and the curriculum in the junior school, and I'm delighted to have Sonya and Natalie with me here today.

Welcome both.

And currently I am the deputy operations.

It's a program in and of itself where we honor and work with the girls at the stage of learning that they are currently at. So we are working with the tiny little ones when they come into school and they're just learning about what it means to sit on the floor and follow an instruction and independently look after themselves right up to our year six students who are getting ready for the challenges of high school.

There's quite a, a big spread of what we need to look after here.

So that's a lot of what Sonya does when she works with those great teams is how can we use, you know, those documents and make them really purposeful. For our environment. And again, we've got, you know, as I said, the, you know, the co-curricular program. For example, we have learning immersion experiences for the girls.

So that they do have those opportunities to apply their knowledge and understandings to, to real world contexts and to make it purposeful for them. So there is quite a lot of scope to do that. We, we teach obviously all the mandatory subjects as well. So there are six key learning areas that we do. But at MLC School we have lots of additional things within our school timetable as well.

So we teach languages right from kindergarten. So our girls in the junior school up until year five, all learn Italian. Then in year six we have a wonderful program. We have a language we call a language carousel program where they get a little taste of an additional three languages, Mandarin, Japanese, and French.

So by the time they're making subject selections, they've, you know, had a real go at four different languages. And language learning is really important at MLC School. Of course, we're an IB school a little bit further down the track from where we are. But in order to complete the ib, you do need to do a language.

Music is a really important part of life at MLC School too. So on top of your mandatory hour a week that you sort of need to do, all of our girls from kindergarten actually have two periods of music, and from year one, every single girl in the junior school learns an instrument. So that's something extra that not a lot of schools do.

We, you know, have drama as its own subject. Demi is really important. I think as a girls school, it's, it's. Vital that, you know, we put a lot of time and energy into those subjects that perhaps traditionally girls haven't been drawn to and haven't felt confident in. So your maths and your science and your engineering.

They're really important subjects for us. We have STEM right from pre-kindergarten girls that they have, you know, age appropriate lesson, but it is right from pre-kindergarten that we, that we offer that and expect them to participate in those sorts of things. So yeah, lot, lots of scope to be able to add all the extras in that we have at MLC School.

So it was kind of gamifying some of their learning, but it was a really high quality STEM lesson at the same time where they were looking at the qualities of materials and how things, which different glues held things together better. And then they did comparative data. Some really rich conversations that linked the literacy and the vocabulary along with the stem and science elements, and even the engineering and maths elements of what they were doing.

So they're the kind of really rich learning experiences that our little ones have every day.

And we need to equip them to be able to operate effectively in that world. Uh, so we do, technology is obviously incorporated into what we do. Our girls have access to devices from kindergarten. Having said that, there is a real progression in the way that they use those. So, initially. They're not using them on a one-to-one basis, then using them.

I would say the way I think about it's, they do use them regularly, but not even necessarily daily. We are really conscious of not falling into the trap, you know, might not being distracted, I guess, by the bells and whistles and using it unless it's enhancing the learning. So it's a real balancing act.

And up until year five, and as they move through, they do become, they do use them on a one-to-one basis so that they're able to, you know, learn about filing structures and saving documents and all of those sorts of things. But they're not necessarily taking them home until stage three. As I say, we wanna use them if they're truly enhancing what we're learning about.

But to be really cautious because there are a lot of, a lot of bells and whistles out there. So, yeah, that's a constant discussion, I guess amongst the ex executive, amongst the teaching staff more generally.

How do you strike that balance and information you need to give them on a regular basis?

We have lots of opportunities for parents to come into the classrooms and see what snapshots of learning throughout the year. So there we have celebrations of learning in every grade. We have assemblies in every grade. We have. Lots and lots of opportunities for parents to come in, in, in the little ones have a book picnic every second week where their parents come in and share a, just a lovely little reading experience with them.

We run parents seminars on literacy and numeracy in the early years so they understand our approach to teaching, reading and mathematics because there has been a significant shift in educational thinking over the last five or six years, and what we've found is that a lot of parents. Who have had an older child understand how that child progressed in reading.

And we are kind of changing the dynamics a little bit now. So we're running lots and lots of opportunities for parents to find that out, exactly what we are doing. And we send newsletters home and the girls are on Seesaw. A lot of their work is on Seesaw as a digital portfolio for parents to be able to access the learning throughout the year as well.

Is there anything else I've

And parents are really keen to support and we are really keen to support that. So Sunny says, yeah, lots of education sessions with our parents. We share lots of information about what we're doing, and we really welcome their input. You know, in lots, in some cases, they, they have expertise around subject specific matter that we don't have.

So certainly in some of those older years, you know, when we are looking at science-based units and things like that, we really actually welcome their input into some of the learning that goes on too. And that partnership with home is just so critical for the girls to succeed in their learning.

Things going on at home, and in some cases they may have, you know, English may be a second language even. So how do you actually cope with that differentiation all the way through that system?

So we managed to have great conversations every week, not just water cooler conversations, but really highly scheduled, purposeful conversations. About the teaching and learning that needs to happen in each grade. So we are aware of the development of children because we've been teaching, most of us have been teaching for quite a while, and we've seen a lot of progression over the years.

And we know what to expect. We know what milestones the children should be hitting every, you know, at every, at every point in their learning. And so that helps us to sort of start figuring out where we need to make changes to our programs and the differentiation that has to happen. We've got some great highly evidence-based screening tools that we use for all of the students when they come in, and also at set points throughout their learning each, at each stage, each year.

So we have a really good generalized screening program that helps to flag the children that might need a little bit of extra intervention to help keep them on track. And then along the way, of course, we've got some great assessment tools that we're using. So the learning is designed around the progression of the girl.

At every point with really rich conversations amongst the teaching staff and the even the support staff to help us know exactly where we need to target those supports and which children we need to differentiate our programs more for.

So we do have a means to, um, to identify those girls who potentially are underachieving for whatever reason. And that's another way as well that we can step in, in and tailor what we are doing, I guess, to really challenge each girl to achieve their full potential. And I think the challenge and high expectations is a really important part of us as well.

I think that's really important for the girls that they know that we do have high expectations of them, and we will do everything we can to support them to get there. But yeah, I just wanted to make that point about having some assessments. We do use that, that we'll catch those underachievers because, uh, it, it measures ability as well.

Yeah.

They've had all of the foundations of how the senior school campus works. They're taught by senior school specialist teachers where they need to be. So in subjects like visual arts and languages, it's. Senior school teachers working with them. So they've got all of the soft start that happens. Um, in year seven, they're going in fully understanding how high school works now all they have to do is grapple with the content that comes with year seven, the increased content and the slightly challenging, more challenging workload, but in every other way they're fully prepared for year seven.

It's a really wonderful model that we operate here.

So, I'm, I'm interested, firstly, Sonya, because you are new. So what's it, what does that theme mean to you?

Making sure that the girls know that learning and moving forward and progressing is about being a little bit uncomfortable. So about taking a little bit of challenge and pushing themselves outside of their comfort. And I hope that as teachers and leaders, we model that for them, that they see us all the time doing things that are a little bit challenging, a little bit more difficult.

So that might be something as silly as taking part in the color run, which is probably not in our most comfortable wheelhouse. And just engaging with all of the opportunities that we can see, as well as all of the opportunities that they can see. So I think it's just about making sure that as learners and students and teachers and leaders, we know what it means to stretch ourselves and to take on challenge and to have a bit of courage in the things that we are doing.

So I always, I always think of that when I hear the dare to be more today. I guess it, it aligns really closely to two of our school values, to courage and to growth and to justice. Sonya said, you know, inherent to growing and changing. Is an element of discomfort, a vulnerability, a preparedness to risk take.

And I think that it is really important that we do model that for the girls so that it's not something that, that they see as we're just expecting them to do, but that they really see that improvement. That is a part of growing and changing is to be a little bit uncomfortable sometimes.

I think, you know, makes it much easier for parents to understand that they're in not only in very capable hands, which I'm sure they know already, but understand that there is a really thorough communication process and an ongoing process that is making sure their kids are getting the best out of every single day at the school environment.

So thank you both for being a part of the program.

For more information about MLC School and their approach to girls education, visit their website@mlcsid.nsw.edu.au. Check out the show notes for more information. The Dare To Be More Podcast is produced by podcast Done for You. I'm your host, Anthony Perl, and we invite you to join us next time as we continue to explore what it means to dare to be more.