NET Scheme News 2024 Spring issue 45

Values and Positivity – Being a Bucket Filler Gratitude, Respect,Commitment are the 3 core values our school has emphasised and promoted to our students in recent years. Last year, we were fortunate to have the chance to collaborate with our primary school and explore these values further with our primary section. It all started with the promotion of theWeek of Positivity on the primary school campus,and thus a series of activities were designed and held during the Bucket Filling Week in April 2023. It was a meaningful collaboration between the teaching staff and students in our college and our primary school. Some senior and junior secondary students were invited to organise activities for the primary students. Based on the book on Bucket, Dippers and Lids, secondary students designed game booths and in-class activities for their primary counterparts. Language games like word puzzles, words of kindness were played to help the participants to identify / categorise the vocabulary items in conjuction with a selection of scenarios of bucket-filling and dipping being incorporated into a video for the participants to discuss and reflect on. The primary students were even encouraged to write kind messages and share various strategies to fill each other’s buckets. Indeed, the integration of values and language learning took place throughout the Week of Positivity. Modelling on the secondary students’service,P6 students paid it forward to the P5 students by serving them in the same way on the last day of the Week of Positivity. This further boosted the students’ understanding of the concept and the use of language in and outside of the classroom; as such, the most valued part is the students’ application of what they have learnt in their everyday life. Thanks to the NET Section, our team, teachers and students were invited to share in the SOW Award Presentation Ceremony and Seed Project Annual Sharing Session in October 2023. Both teachers and students had very positive thoughts about their experiences and were eager to demonstrate the games as well as share their positive experiences and reflections with other schools and guests. The whole ‘interface approach’ has not only displayed the ripple effect of kindness from secondary to primary students, but it has also fostered stronger bonding and strengthened professional development among teachers of KS2 and KS3.We would definitely like to continue such good practices in the future and plan for future collaboration. Jenny Chan,Vice Principal Elaine Lam, English Panel Chair and Bridget Ho, Literature in English Panel Chair St. Mary’s Canossian College 13 NET Scheme News Issue 45 21st Century Conferece Week of Positivity