All grit and plenty play makes Sun Valley Primary kids anything but dull

Imagine no school bells‚ no detention‚ and being allowed to play whenever you want to - this is Sun Valley Primary‚ where children are encouraged to play more and learn less.

The school has received much attention after the principal decided to do away with homework and other traditional methods that would have otherwise defined a school.

“Children should do what comes natural to them‚ and that is playing‚” says principal Gavin Keller.

Keller says that he was inspired by the works of Stanford University’s Professor Carol Dweck and American psychologist Angela Duckworth‚ and their work on growth mindset and grit‚ respectively. He says that the best way to produce grit is to instil a growth mindset. A growth mindset encourages development and adequate learning‚ whereas a fixed mindset prizes accuracy and knowledge‚ which‚ for Keller‚ is not the best way to teach a child.

School awards have been replaced with grit awards where the school gives recognition to every leaner’s level of grit. At the age of 10‚ pupils carry out parent-teacher interviews‚ in which the learner tells the teacher and parent what their individual academic goals were for the year and what they have achieved. The length of the class will be determined by the teacher. So‚ if after 20 minutes‚ learners lose interest in the class they are allowed to go outside and play before resuming learning.

The school has disbanded the traditional marking system instead of putting a right tick or wrong tick next to learners’ work instead the teacher will either put “yet” or “not yet”.

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“It is the doing away with the ticks and crosses‚ and telling pupils you haven’t understood the concept just yet‚ so struggle a bit longer. We are telling them that it is ok to get it wrong”.

Walking through the colourful passage of the school‚ it is not hard to see why Keller says that there has been an increase in school attendance and children overall are happier since the stresses of academia has been relaxed.

Keller recalls that he jokingly made a deal with the pupils that if a teacher gives them work‚ he would see to it that their salary is not paid.

“The emotional reasoning of the pupils has definitely increased since the new teaching method”‚ said the school’s counsellor‚ Michael Raven. He has been at the school for five years and says that‚ since the introduction of the new teaching system‚ he has seen a tremendous change in the pupils. “Sun Valley kids are undoubtedly highly confident and there is less need for punitive discipline”.

Once the pupil enters Grade 4‚ they receive an iPad to facilitate their learning and when they eventually reach Grade 7‚ the iPad becomes theirs. Each class has two teachers; one for teaching and another who will give individualised attention to those who need it.

“You have to give up and persevere‚ and never give up on what you do”‚ says a Grade 4 pupil at the school when asked what the school’s teaching method means to her. “I wrote a song and sang it in front of the school‚ and even though I didn’t want to because I was nervous I was able to do so because I had grit.”

“The school’s decision to scrap homework has been extremely positive for my children”‚ says Liesl Krog‚ who has two children attending Sun Valley.

As a result‚ Krog adds that the family is able to spend quality time with one another instead of a hustle and bustle to finish homework.

“Reading time has increased dramatically and we have also seen academic improvement”.

The school is also inclusive of pupils with all learning needs.

“We have one Down syndrome pupil‚ ADD (attention deficit disorder) and many others that would normally not be at a mainstream school”. - TMG Digital