Another year of learning at Meriden begins this week, and we are excited to welcome the girls back to campus. During our professional learning sessions this week, teaching staff reflected on a few key aspects of learning that are helpful for girls and families to consider as we begin a new academic year:

• AI does not radically change what we are doing at school!

There is a lot of noise around about AI transforming education. Schools are fundamentally places of relationship and thinking. As we begin a new year, we want to emphasise the importance of helping students take responsibility for their learning, encourage them not to outsource thinking in the interests of productivity, and support them in making real and authentic connections within the community. AI is here to stay and is a tool to use in our learning, but it will not fundamentally change what we do at school.

• Formative Assessment (the learning along the way!)

At times, we can become too focused on formal assessment tasks that measure girls’ progress and forget to stop and take stock of the learning along the way, including celebrating milestones in the girls’ skill development and understanding.

• Activating hard thinking

We want the girls to challenge themselves to push their thinking. Rather than just focusing on learning information or content, we want the girls to understand “why” and come up with their own unique and creative responses when answering questions. Teachers will be working on teaching strategies this year to help students challenge themselves and push their thinking further.

As we start a new year of learning, we hope the girls are excited about the new opportunities they will have to understand the world around them and master new skills across a range of learning areas.