This year we have celebrated the 21st anniversary of the first release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first novel in the Harry Potter’s series that immerses the reader in the wonderful world of education for witchcraft and wizardry at Hogwarts. While Hogwarts is a school for witchcraft and wizardry, this isn't the only reason it was magical. Through their passion for enrichment of learning, through their teachers, and through the support of each other, the students of Hogwarts embraced the diverse educational opportunities to take them on a journey in which they could master their craft, learn new skills and build their resilience to show them all the wonders of the world. Through the series the character of Harry Potter has taught us that education enriches us with continuous learning that will take us out of our comfort zone but be the keys to the world.
Enrichment in learning has been a focus at the College with the Year 7 and Year 8 students as they have embarked on learning new skills in our ICT enrichment program. This program incorporated student participation in ICT enrichment sessions to ensure that they were confident in the use of the Kildare Learning Management Platform known as SEQTA as well as their Kildare email and OneDrive.
SEQTA, the online learning management platform, allows students to view the events for the week, notices, receive lesson instructions and resources as well as receive teacher feedback and grades. The students are also able to upload their work, add reflections to their assessment tasks as well as participate in online forums and communicate with their teachers and other students via SEQTA direct messages.
OneDrive allows the students to save their work and access it from any device as well as create shared online documents which are invaluable for group work. Once students produce evidence that all competencies have been achieved they are issued an ICT license.
At Kildare College, our mantra is "Wellbeing for Learning”. If students do not have good wellbeing then engagement in learning will be impacted. Research has indicated that developing strong, supportive relationships in schools provides a safer and more inclusive environment for students to engage in their studies and learn. Another new enrichment program has been the introduction of the Social and Emotional Wellbeing program. This program is being trialled this semester for selected students in Years 7 and 8 to help support and develop social and emotional wellbeing, building confidence, friendships and resilience. The Social and Emotional Wellbeing program is adapted from “What’s the Buzz for teenagers” by Mark Le Messurier and focusses on social emotional literacy so that teenagers learn through guidance, modelling and practical activities how to enhance interpersonal skills which are vital for friendships and a sense of belonging to a community.
All of these initiatives cannot be implemented without the magnificent support of all staff, parents and students. At Kildare College we continue to weave our magic with every student, by exploring and promoting creativity within enrichment activities that enhances the skills of individual students and their knowledge with a growth mindset so that they too can explore and unlock the wonders of the world in which we live.
Cherrell Murray
Director of Learning Enrichment
