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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-21 Daily Xml
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Dernancourt School

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:32): Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the open night at Dernancourt primary school, not far from tree-lined Linear Park in my electorate of Torrens. It was aptly named 'Learning comes alive at Dernancourt', and students, parents, family members and future students were invited into the school to visit classrooms and specialist areas and also to sit in on educational sessions. School principal, Christine Ferguson, and deputy principal, Kellie Anderson, spoke about the many programs operating within the school. It was an opportunity for the school to acknowledge its high-quality learning programs and share them with the community.

Dernancourt School supports student achievements of success through a focus on the priorities of literacy, numeracy and pedagogy. Music, Japanese and science are specialist subjects. Students with high intellectual potential are supported through a wide range of approaches and extracurricular activities. This year, students were invited to enter the Young Writers Award and the Oliphant Science Awards. Interested students were supported at school, having access to teacher Stephanie Bell and a dedicated learning space for an hour a week.

Their passion was rewarded, with several students receiving invitations to the award ceremony this coming Friday. It will include all the first, second and third-placed entrants and the sponsor prize winners. I met some very proud young Dernancourt primary school finalists eager to show me their entries and share their knowledge. Lessons in neuroscience—the study of how we learn and develop—are taught by the school's neuroscience coordinator, Donna Nitschke. These lessons enable students to access the latest developments in knowledge about the brain. Students look at how they can help their brains, minds and bodies work together so they can be the best learners they can be. Donna explained:

Even our younger students can talk about what their brains need to be healthy, and enable it to learn. School is a very sociable place. To be the best learner possible, students need to be able to wait, take turns, and to generally have control over their feelings. They need to learn to feel and show empathy and respect for others. These things develop over time for all of us but only if your experiences and environment helps you to build an understanding of yourself and others. Learning to understand and control emotions is an important part of becoming a great learner. It is a main focus of our neuroscience program.

Dernancourt primary school values cooperation, commitment, confidence and respect—all of which underpin the teaching and learning. These values play an important part in the positive school culture and are part of everything they do, every day. The school has a diverse richness of cultures within its community and is proud of the way it celebrates this with Aboriginal Culture Week, Harmony Day, NAIDOC Week and International Children's Day annually, and a Japanese Matsuri Festival biannually. I always welcome the opportunity to attend these acknowledgements and celebrations.

Dernancourt primary school also has two district special classes in which students are involved via the department. I visited these active learning classes where there are eight students in the junior special class in reception to year 2, and 12 students in the primary special class in years 3 to 7. This year, Dernancourt primary school was fortunate to be selected to participate in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, Social Enterprise Learning (STEMSEL) Project. Eight students—Mikayla, Molly, Elke, Neila, Skye, Jak, Jesse and Rory—from one of the year 6/7 classes, represented the school at this event. They were supported by the years 3 to 7 science teacher, Andrew Smith.

The students constructed a radiation counter designed to help people determine whether or not it is safe to enter areas with high UV light. When the project was finished, they attended the Royal Adelaide Show to present the radiation counter to the judges at the Science and Technology Hall. They were given great feedback about their invention and presentation and were praised for their creativity and problem-solving skills. Acting principal, Kellie Anderson, said:

We like to think that we go quietly about our business of education, always striving for improvement. Our vision is to build a learning community which is safe, inclusive and respectful, where all learners develop the confidence and skills to contribute effectively within our changing global society.

The school's logo 'Learning together' is an icon of its positive relationships. It represents a supportive, collaborative environment, positive relationships fostered across the school and, importantly, parents and families are highly valued as part of the Dernancourt primary school community.

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