THE
WOLANSKI FAMILY Learning
Centre
The Wolanski Family Learning Centre is an integral part of the life of the
School, serving students from Years K to 12. Its purpose is
to assist students in maximising their learning potential,
by enhancing and enabling their strengths and minimising their
difficulties, through individually designed programmes and
approaches. Its role is constantly growing and evolving.
The Director of the Learning Centre is Dr Lynn Joffe - an
Educational Psychologist and a teacher with more than twenty
years experience in Australia and overseas - who coordinates
a team of specialist educators.
A central concern of the Learning Centre is students’
overall wellbeing. Care is taken to address their particular
patterns of learning and their social and emotional circumstances.
The Learning Centre supports the School in maximising opportunities
for students whatever their learning styles and potential.
Individualised and group work sessions are offered to assist
students who:
- have learning difficulties of various kinds or whose styles
of learning require a slightly different approach to that
adopted in the classrooms;
- have exceptional talents, skills and interests related
to part or the entire curriculum. In recent years, the Gifted
and Talented spectrum has assumed greater importance in
schools all over the world. Emanuel School has a number
of especially trained staff in this area who use multiple
strategies to assist gifted learners. The Learning Centre
plays a key role in gifted education at the School. In collaboration
with classroom teachers, appropriate intellectual challenges
and curricula are implemented to sustain and enhance students’
achievement and motivation;
- have a home language other than English. The aim is to
bring their English up to speed in the shortest possible
time, while supporting progress in other curricular areas.
A premium is placed on their social integration and emotional
wellbeing.
The Learning Centre is taking an increasing role in assisting
students in study techniques, stress management, general organisation
and planning.
Many of these initiatives involve other centres and staff,
with increasing collaboration with our expert Library colleagues
and the School Counsellor, as well as professionals and agencies
outside the School.
The role of parents is also crucial. The School’s strong
belief is that education is a partnership and the more input
from a variety of informed sources, the better the outcome
for the child.
Learning Centre staff supply support in on-going classroom
activities. They are involved on a daily basis in early identification
of learning styles and appropriate strategic planning.
Success in the Learning Centre takes a number of forms; often
small incremental changes that point to learning gains and
sometimes more dramatic leaps in conceptual development. All
achievements are recognised and rewarded.
Examples of student success as a result of both Learning
Centre assistance and student determination to improve, include:
- a Year 5 student who progressed from a child struggling
with reading comprehension to become one of the top performers
in the end of year assessments;
- two students who, on joining the School, had only a rudimentary
grasp of English, and became happy contributors to class
activities;
- a Year 10 student lacking confidence in her academic performance
despite being very bright, who embraced study skills and
relaxation techniques to fulfil her academic potential;
- a gifted learner who became enthralled in complex building
and design projects.
The students’ successes and excitement in learning
feed the Learning Centre staff’s enthusiasm and commitment
to strive for on-going innovation and improvement.
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