Weekly eNews
Dr Ray Swann
Deputy Headmaster, Head of the Crowther CentreIt was inspiring to visit the Junior School to take part in judging the Prep and Year 1 students in their Public Speaking competition.
Their presentations were outstanding, their messaging was spot on, and it was heartwarming to see the boys warmly supporting each other.
Not only are the boys building their confidence in public speaking, but they are also building resilience and social fitness, essential skills for the future.
If you have any suggestions about what you’d like to see in next week’s eNews, please contact us at the Crowther Centre.
Word Study
This term, teachers in the Junior School have been taking part in a number of spelling workshops in preparation for the implementation of a new Word Study (spelling) program that will commence in 2025.
A common perception surrounding the written English language is that its spelling is random, unpredictable and therefore not worth learning.
It is true that English spelling is complex, for it does not have the 100% transparent orthography of languages like Finnish and Italian, where words can be spelled fairly accurately based on just their pronunciation.
English is in fact a morpho-phonemic language. One of the key components to understanding the spelling of the English language is to understand a word’s anatomy – its morphology.
Morphology is the study of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of language and the structural components of both written and spoken words. Learning the meaning of prefixes, bases and suffixes unlocks a large family of related words, expands a student’s vocabulary and deepens their reading comprehension.
Zoe Picton
Literacy Coordinator ELC-Year 6