Storypark

Storypark is an online community portal for updating parents on student learning. Creating partnerships with families in order to communicate their children’s learning is an important aspect within our centre.

Teachers in our Early Learning, together with the Digital Learning Mentor of Early Learning and the Junior School, undertook research to engage more effectively with families and to collaborate with them about their children’s learning. The online portal, Storypark, was chosen to be trialled.

We have been pleased with how our community has engaged with this initiative and parents are also sharing, through comments and photos, the learning the children achieve outside of Ruyton’s Early Learning. As the trial has progressed parents have increasingly commented on their child’s activities, both within and outside the Early Learning environment. There is still the opportunity to document and highlight the essence of the program in traditional ways, but Storypark offers an instant link to parents and grandparents alike, which they can access. This is another example of digital devices and technology being integrated seamlessly into our programs to enhance a student’s learning experience and parents’ insights into this. Storypark has been so successful as a tool for collaboration and communication, we are exploring ways in which it can be extended to the other Early Learning groups at Ruyton.

Here is an example of how Storypark works:

The Henny Penny Hatching Program has arrived

At lunchtime today the girls were very excited to see the chickens and eggs arrive. “Oh they are soo cute,” said Alexandra. The three chicks were placed in the brooding box in the curious garden with some food, water and a light for heat. The 12 eggs were placed in an incubator and we now watch and wait to see them hatch over the coming days.

Comments:

Steven (parent)

‘Welcome to the world, little chicks! They are so cute!

Are they keeping warm?

What are they eating?’

Mrs W (Girls’ Pre Prep teacher)

“Thanks for these great questions, Steven. I asked the girls for their answers.”

“They are in a hot cage,” said Chloe F.

“They are eating seeds,” said Natalie.

“They are in an incubator,” said Georgia.

“Just like they were under their mummy hen’s bottom,” said Eloise.

“They are very cute now, though they were wet when they came out,” said Emerson.