Last week the rain held off long enough for us to come together to celebrate Exhibition Evening for Semester 2. Exhibition Evenings provide an opportunity for students to display and share their PBL work with the wider community and celebrate their achievements. The night was the culmination of semester-long projects where students learned to work collaboratively, challenge themselves, struggle and succeed. While the displays were amazing, there is so much more to them than meets the eye.

So why is Exhibition Evening such an important part of what we do here at Living Faith?

Students’ learning matters and should be celebrated. We are very proud of the ‘learning community’ culture we have fostered, where every child’s learning is supported community-wide. Families come along not only to see their own children’s work but also to visit and encourage other classes and year levels because we all play a part in promoting every child’s learning at Living Faith.

The main purpose of Exhibition Evening is to celebrate the journey students have travelled over the semester. Sometimes this journey is smooth, but more often than not, students have experienced some bumps and challenges along the way, and these should be celebrated too.

Showcasing student work to authentic audiences also encourages their learning journey to become a discussion point. It helps students consolidate their understanding when they have to explain what they have done and share their learning journey with others.

Student engagement is another important factor in hosting Exhibition Evenings. Students tend to engage more with projects when they know there is a purpose for what they are doing and that their work will be showcased and valued. Knowing that people other than just their teacher will see and engage with their work helps make the project more meaningful and exciting. Our students need to see the value of what they are learning and creating. While a test paper would only make its way into a bin, a real-life prototype that demonstrates a student’s hard work, both successes and failures, encourages a sense of pride and accomplishment.

What projects have students been working on this semester?

• Prep students learnt about living and non-living things, focusing on plants and identifying what living things need to survive. Students created their own grass heads and plant enclosures;
• In Year 1, students explored the big question ‘What is happening to the bees?’ They learnt about the importance of bees to the environment, relocated a native beehive and designed and created a bee hotel to best support the needs of solitary bees;
• Year 2 students became scientists and engineers designing, prototyping and testing their own balloon-powered vehicles;
• Year 3 students hosted a Tourism Expo sharing their knowledge of a selected country and promoting tourism to their country. Students built famous landmarks to enhance their tourism displays;
• Students in Year 4 explored the impact of the First Fleet on Australia. They created a theatrical presentation to share their knowledge and a virtual reality experience using the Cospaces app;
• Year 5 students created a business venture to sell their product at the HUB Market. Students designed a prototype, ‘shark tanked’ their idea to our finance team to apply for a loan from the school and then produced and marketed their products. At Exhibition Evening, students shared their business journey looking at sales, profits and their reflections; and
• Year 6 students investigated the reasons why people around the world are forced to move. They engaged in research into immigration, refugee experiences and the concept of global citizenship. Students designed a refugee pack to support children on their arrival in Australia.

While each of these products is amazing, the learning journey is of the most value. Students fully embrace the opportunity to share with you their learning and both the highs and lows that went into their individual projects. I want to thank you all for being part of our learning community and helping to celebrate and encourage our students’ work.

- Bianca Ravi, Director of Learning