Our vision for learning at South Island is informed by our school aims and values and is encapsulated within our learning model. We truly want students’ learning experiences at South Island to be personalized and very special. We want our students to enjoy and be passionate about learning throughout their school career and beyond. We want them to understand themselves and how they learn and be genuinely active and reflective in the learning process. We want them to be increasingly independent in their learning whilst being able to collaborate and be genuine co-constructors of knowledge and understanding. We want them to be confident, connected and informed digital citizens and self-directing, enquirers and risk takers. We want them to be creative and innovative in the way they work and think. We want them to be supported, challenged and cared for by their teachers and each other. We want their learning to be experiential, relevant and authentic. All these so that they can achieve personal best and, more importantly, take with them skills and qualities to live better lives as lifelong learners and, ultimately, to make a positive difference in the world as internationally minded citizens.
We believe in the principle of a ‘Growth Mindset’ which is the belief that intelligence is dynamic and that the brain changes based on experiences. This theory of growth mindset is supported by research into brain plasticity and has proven to be pivotal in helping students improve their academic achievement. By contrast, in a fixed mindset, the belief is that intelligence is fixed and static. You are smart, or you aren’t. Below is an image that illustrates the (generalized) difference in behaviors between people of each mindset.
