The Learning Approach

The SynEDgy Schooling Approach to Learning and the Curriculum

Description of The SynEDgy Schooling Approach
The Life Capabilities and competencies we aspire to.
Competencies in the child that the school will support
Competencies of the teacher that the school will support
Competencies in the parent that the school will support

For more details on the Emergent Curriculum see here. Our approach to the way in which we run the school and the design of the curriculum is based on the Principles of the SynEDgy Schooling Approach. These are:

Focuses on the quality of relationships
SynEDgy Schooling fosters the patterns, behaviours, understanding and skills needed to be in effective relationships throughout our lives. We integrate differences rather than having the pretension to eliminate them. We give value to negotiation as a 'strategy of the possible'.
Develops core values of dignity, respect, integrity, confidence and creativity
These values inform the content of conversations and encounters, as well as our behaviours and relationships as educators. Each person is supported in building self-esteem and sense of personal identity and core being. It is the search for the self as well as for the other and others that surround each individual.
Incorporates the current and traditional educational expectations of primary and high schooling
We work with current educational systems to ensure maximum choice and options for further learning. We focus on the synergies between relationship, academic, and content learning approaches.
Draws on a range of learning experiences
Our methods include group work, casual conversation, play, activities, formal work, work with individuals, and case work. We also work with ordinary life experiences to create further learning opportunities. We use conflict and negotiation as drivers of growth, and build specific skills to facilitate this. We encourage individuals to develop and articulate their own views and understanding.
Encourages enjoyment and brings a sense of achievement
We encourage laughter, enjoyment and fun, and develop these aspects as central to positive self-development and the schooling experience.
Takes place in all settings and times
We recognise the importance of the unexpected, and create an environment where there is no such thing as wasted time. Teachers know how to give all the time that is needed. We recognise the unpredictability of 'learning moments'. Here emphasis is placed on the questions, issues and feelings that are important to the individual, rather than what we think might be significant.
Works through and is driven by dialogue, conversation, communication and language
Conversation is placed at the centre of the activities. The quality of communication reflects the quality of the relationships.
A culture of living and learning
We regulate the relationships between the individual and community in which he or she lives in such a way to strive toward a place where culture is constructed and democracy is put into practice.
Involves active participation and active learning
We value creating a sense of belonging, not only for families but for everyone. We provide for a vision that engenders a sense of indefiniteness and ample spaces of possibility.
Develops partnerships
The responsibility for learning is shared. At the same time the teachers shape and construct this learning environment. Partnerships are developed between learner and teacher, teacher and community, teacher and parent and between learners themselves. It is a choral effort with the participation of everyone, open to others, open to doubt, and open to acceptance of error and uncertainty.
Views teachers as dynamic people, facilitators and coaches
Teachers recognise and discover ways to communicate and document the children's evolving experiences at school. The challenge is for teachers to initiate and nurture situations that stimulate learning appropriate to each child's needs. Teachers offer themselves as resources to enrich the learning experiences of those in their care.
Accommodates family life
We work to create partnerships with parents and caregivers and take into account the practical demands of family life
Encompasses a life-long process of learning and of learning the process of life
This approach supports personality development. Our individual construction exists with others and through others during encounters with the physical world, and through communication. We have the right to be who we really are, and we help make one another who we are by how we treat one another. These experiences help individuals grow in all aspects; in knowledge and skills, in health, in feeling and judgement, in sense of responsibility, and in creativity. It is life long education.

Such a school requires careful thinking and planning concerning procedures and methodology. It works to develop ways of getting along together, of enhancing relationships among children, teachers and parents, while at the same time assuring complete attention to the issues of education.
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The life capabilities we in the school aspire to:

CREATE MEANING: This is the capability to feel that their life has worth and meaning. It is a unique process and different for each child. It is recognition of one’s value and worthiness and the ability for a child to feel create their own understanding of themselves and their environment and the dynamic interaction of them both.

ATTITUDE: The mind set of one’s perception of one’s life view/ meaning. The listening you have, or choose to have.

ACTIVISM OR CHALLENGE: The capability to realise and be active in one’s truth and meaning while maintaining core values.

SELF-DIFFERENTIATION, SELF-DISCILPINE and SELF MOTIVATION: The ability to perceive oneself as a differentiated being. This perception is reflected in a person with high self esteem and their ability to stand on their own. It views the motivational force, driver and passion as coming from within and not as an external source or need of others.

JOURNEY TO AWARENESS: The capability to become aware of self, others and of their surrounds. It is seeing the connections and effect of one’s living. Taking cognisance of one’s presence, actions and thoughts. Not necessarily understanding them.

RELATIONSHIPS: This is the capability to relate to and interact with others and capability to form meaningful relationships.

APPLYING KNOWLEGDE WITH UNDERSTANDING TO CREATE WISDOM. Applied information is knowledge. Applying knowledge with an understanding of it creates wisdom.

COMPASSION: the capability to resonate with passion and sincerity with another and share an understanding of their state of being while at the same time standing for their greatness and limitless potential.

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The skills and competencies in the child that the school will support and guide are:

ANALYTICAL ABILITY: the raising of cognition and consciousness. The strengthening of thought and abstract thinking. Includes concepts like reflection, comprehension,

FRAMING AND PROBLEM SOLVING: The skills to understand their role in conflict, their understanding of it and a process to work through resolving it.

COMMUNICATION: The skills to effectively articulate their thoughts and being. The skill to engage and share with another.

INTER-RELATEDNESS/ TEAM: The skill to engage with another person or group while being able to self differentiate.

CREATIVITY: The skill to use and express an innate ability. The ability to find a variety of ways of expression.

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY: The skill to align actions with consciousness, understanding and intent.

AWARENESS: The competency to see (acknowledge) self, others and their surrounds. It is seeing the connections and effect of one’s living. Taking cognisance of one’s presence, actions and thoughts. Not necessarily understanding them.

ATTITUDE: The mind set of one’s perception of one’s life view/ meaning. The listening you have, or choose to have.

RESILIENCE: The ability to maintain meaning through hardship.

EXPRESSIVENESSskill to translate one’s interpretation for others to understand.

CURIOSITY AND LEARNING: A competency that reflects an openness and willingness to learn and develop and to continue reflecting on ‘truth’.

SELF-DIFFERENTIATION: The ability to perceive oneself as a differentiated being. This perception is reflected in a person with high self-esteem and their ability to stand on their own. It views the motivational force, driver and passion as coming from within and not as an external source or need of others.

COMPETITION AND ACHIEVEMENT: The ability to take measurement of one’s skills (not one’s worth) in relation to others.

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The skills and competencies that the teachers require and will develop:

ANALYTICAL SKILLS: The capacity for higher cognition and consciousness. The strengthening of thought and abstract thinking. Includes concepts like reflection, comprehension. The ability to reason, theorise and develop concepts through thought. Ability to translate awareness into action plan.

RESEARCH/ ENQUIRY: The capacity for searching for knowledge and understanding. The capacity for continuous learning and educational growth.

FACILITATION AND COACHING: The capacity and skill of empowering, guiding and supporting the development and growth of individuals, teams and systems. Creating an environment of life-learning. Ability to create awareness in others.

INTUITION: The skill to listen to details and trust the apparent illogical.

EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT: The skill of nurturing, listening to and surrendering to energies and situations that work deeper than our consciousness. Awareness of the issues that appear incomprehensible.

COMMUNICATION AND ARTICULATION: The skills to translate and understand thought and intent accurately into a language medium to convey or interpret meaning.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: This is the skill to implement their own life learning, either of themselves or work. An attitude of continuous learning which leads to vision and purpose.

CREATIVITY: An ability to convey information, knowledge and meaning in diverse and multiple ways. The ability to translate imagination into a transferable medium.

ADMINISTRATION AND DOCUMENTATION: The capacity to document and articulate ones thoughts and work coherently and effectively. The capacity to handle resources in an efficient manner.

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABLILITY: The skill to align actions with consciousness, understanding and intent.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT SKILLS: The capacity to develop a group of people as a unit. These include problem solving, conflict resolution, framing, contributing to team, vision, and communication.

SELF DIFFERENTIATION: The capability to perceive and understand one self as a connected individual in a larger setting. Being aware of the one’s relating to others.

ATTITUDE: The mind set of one’s perception of one’s life view/ meaning. The listening you have, or choose to have.

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The skills and competencies that the parents require and will develop to support the development of their child:

ANALYTICAL: The capacity for higher cognition and consciousness. The strengthening of thought and abstract thinking. Includes concepts like reflection, comprehension. The ability to reason, theorise and develop concepts through thought. Ability to translate awareness into action plan.

COMMUNICATION: The skills to translate and understand thought and intent accurately into a language medium to convey or interpret meaning.

ATTITUDE: The mind set of one’s perception of one’s life view/ meaning. The listening you have, or choose to have and embracing the differences between other people's varying attitudes.

PARTICIPATION: The capability to share/ be involved and convey interest in another’s creation of meaning while supporting self differentiation:

SELF DIFFERENTIATION: The capability to perceive and understand one self as a connected individual in a larger setting. Being aware of the one’s relating to others.

We have truly left behind a vision of the child as egocentric, focused only on cognition and physical objects, and whose feelings and affectivity are underestimated or in some way diminished.

Welcome to Synergy School.

See why we love our school...

Social Integration
1 year 28 weeks ago
Multi-age time at Synergy
1 year 29 weeks ago
Teachers in training!
1 year 44 weeks ago
Transformation in action!
1 year 47 weeks ago
Changing people's lives
1 year 48 weeks ago
Parent Sharing After our workshop on Self Esteem
1 year 50 weeks ago
We made the best decision!
1 year 51 weeks ago
Soccer for Fun
2 years 2 days ago
Playing soccer!
2 years 1 week ago
A box of chocolates
2 years 9 weeks ago

Synergy Schooling News

Listen to the SAFM interview of Robin's workshops. This interview covers a wide range of topics including Manipulation, Discipline, Parent Support, Techniques etc. Highly recommended listening (16 minutes).
Read the Staff Personal Reflections for 2009 here!
Robin presenting at Montessori Conference and another one Education Week Conference
Listen to Robin's radio Interview on the Siblings workshop April 2009
Robin has been invited to write for the Mail and Guardian Thought Leader Blog

What do more Educators say...

Claire Fisher, art therapist and facilitator

I received an incredibly warm welcome from all at Synergy and was made to feel ‘at home’ immediately. Greetings by friendly and enthusiastic teachers first thing in the morning set the tone for a wonderful day.

To start off with, I spent some time in the Junior playground and observed how the variety of mini obstacle courses, swings and open grass areas provides an exciting environment for friendships to be made and physical abilities to be discovered. In the sandpit, three young boys were working on a tunnel and moat system, which they very proudly showed me, was able funnel water from one level on to another – engineers in the making! Clearly these children are encouraged to play creatively and discover practical ways of applying their technical discoveries.

Today was a special day for Carrie’s group as parents were invited to join in the morning discussion circle. This interactive approach, where parents are encouraged to become actively involved in their children’s educational experiences, confirmed my understanding that Synergy aims to include all aspects of a child’s growth in the school experience. Therefore, parents, teachers and children are supported to establish a symbiotic relationship where dynamic learning can take place.

From early on, children learn the skills of respectful listening and sharing. This was evident in Carrie’s methods of making sure that everyone had a chance to speak – following the opportunity for the children to question each other about their ‘show and tell’ objects. In this way, the learning which takes place is highly relevant to everyday experiences. Children are given the opportunity to encourage and learn from each other as well as from teachers and parents.
Following the ‘show and tell’ discussion circle, I made my way up to the senior’s area. This building overlooks a large grass area where many games of soccer are enjoyed by both girls and boys alike. The first exercise in Tahirih’s class was spelling. Unlike my schooling days where the teacher wrote down words on a blackboard which we were expected to copy in silence, Tahirih introduced today’s focus which was words ending in ‘ed’ and then gave each student an opportunity to think up words ending in ‘ed’. I was amazed to see words appearing in different colours on a large piece of paper which included ‘motivated’, ‘organised’ and ‘supported’.

From early on in the day, reference was made to classroom ‘agreements’, which I soon learnt are ‘codes of conduct’ agreed to be reasonable in order for learning to take place. The revolutionary thing about these agreements is that they refer to manners of behaving which both student and teacher come up with. If anybody is excessively disruptive or acts disrespectfully towards peers or teacher, they are given warning and then if the disruptive behaviour persists, that person is asked to move into the ‘break-away’ area. Students are not ridiculed or belittled for bad behaviour, but learn to take responsibility by having time to reflect alone and then ask for the opportunity to return to the learning group with the understanding that co-operation is the name of the game. This progressive method of behaviour modification is balanced by the encouragement which comes with receiving recognition in the form being given greater personal autonomy through the choice to have ½ hour extra time on the computer or the flexibility of either having extra time to work on a creative project or playing outside.

The day was punctuated with visits from a specialist music teacher and a ‘nature network’ teacher. Heidi took great care to make sure each child grasped the concept of reading music notes, understanding rhythm and counting beats, as well as playing the tune on the recorder both individually and in unison with the group. Rian encourages students to consider various aspects of nature and included in her programme today, an exercise which stimulated both creativity and rationality in one. This exercise paralleled the current research project, which I was introduced to earlier on in the day. This gave me a practical example of how various skills are integrated through a common subject matter. The amazing thing about research projects is that Tahirih encourages the students to formulate their own questions with the aim of guiding research and making it relevant to the children’s level of interest. This method of project development has the added advantage of inspiring and supporting creative, analytical thought processing which results in the development of active, enquiring young minds.

Sitting in on the younger group in the senior section, I observed how Cindy handled the discussion of a contentious issue with great democratic skill. Each child was affirmed by Cindy speaking in phrases beginning with “I hear you” and “I’m hearing”. In this group children were given the opportunity to share thoughts and feelings around a decision which in my schooling days would have been made by the powers that be and which we were expected to simply accept without question. It seems that at Synergy, children are nurtured and supported in finding their authenticity at the same as respecting others.

My visit today has given me great hope for children of the future. In today’s dynamic and challenging world, it seems that Synergy offers an exciting and progressive method of equipping and empowering young people with relevant skills for developing creative, integrity-filled thoughts and actions. Thank you Synergy.

Gillian Roy, 'My Montessori' owner and School Directress

The lessons are guided by the children and enjoyed greatly, as it is about things relevant to there life and the questions they may have in accordance to there daily events.

I Loved listening to the children in grade one grapple with the understanding of a classmate who is ill and requires a blood transfusion, the details of how, why and what if helped the children be more understanding, compassionate and loving of one another in the classroom and outside in the world. The children understood the details and therefore felt empowered ,instead of fearful.

I enjoyed watching how a new classmate who had just joined the school be given the opportunity to form closer friendships with the others in his class and be told by these children what it is that makes him special to them. The children gave freely of their compliments acknowledging his drawings, how they enjoyed playing with him outside in the garden or how he made fantastic chameleons.

It gave them all the opportunity to express there gratitude of one another creating an atmosphere of appreciation , which in turn is the foundation of friendships, communication skills and emotional and social development.

The focus of the positive aspects in the classroom can be a rare experience in most schools with all the testosterone in boys and competing in girls,it was wonderful to see this happening in the classrooms daily.

In the Grade 5 and 6 classrooms the focus also being on empowering and teaching the children to self discipline and be the driver of their own education was fantastic, the dynamics of the class allowed the children to be individuals and not to feel as if they have to conform to a specific way of being but are encouraged to mannage themselves.

This was fascinating to watch and each child in the class took responsibility for their own learning, they made the decisions that shaped their projects or maths lessons and they struggled together in difficult areas. The experiences that they encountered in there day afforded them the ability to choose differently next time and understand the responsibility that comes with the decision or that the decision made was the right choice.

The maths lesson was fantastic to observe, the children looked at the different ways that they all worked out mathematical problems and in these maths sums , areas of difficulty arose, but with guidance from their teacher they managed to work through theses difficulties on there own as a group, instead of being given the answers to difficulties they discovered them as a class. When a child was being disruptive in the class the teacher quietly and effectively requested that the child self "discipline" and focus on the lesson.

The understanding of what the consequences are, to the choices they make in each moment provides a platform for them to take responsibility for themselves and acknowledge the impact they have on there classmates , family and in the world.

If each child lived there life learning to be responsible and live in integrity each day, there relationship to the world and the skills they learn would afford them to live a life in harmony and happiness.Just those two simple lessons which I believe that Synergy are teaching them ,give any child the best eduction possible.

I would like to say that Synergy is a special school, with passionate teachers and staff and on leaving the school every time I visit I always feel inspired to be more .

Lynne Miller , remedial teacher

After my visit to the school I found it to be an exciting and enjoyable experience. This is a leap into a new Age Education. The educator’s role is different. Here the educator leads the child with insight and by developing an enthusiasm for the task at hand. The old lecturing approach wasn’t apparent and the children were on a path to self-discovery.

Kirsetn Dale, psychology Student

The experience at Synergy School was phenomenal.
As I walked into the school I could feel a great sense love and acceptance.

I also grew up in a small school with a similar structure, but the values and principles were completely different. I’d say my old school was run like a business, and Synergy is definitely more like a home. The environment that Synergy has created is unique, dynamic and nurturing.

The children are considered valuable individuals, which builds their self-esteem and confidence. This is such an important part of growing up, and high self-esteem and confidence positively affects all aspects of their lives. If you believe in yourself, it enables you to do anything. That’s why self-esteem is so important. This was clearly evident in the children, they way they learn and the way they interact with each other. It was amazing to see how the children interact with each other, and how they encourage and compliment one another. It was truly inspiring. These children are extraordinary. They are mature, self-driven and have internal discipline.

It is a great achievement to have accomplished all that they have in such a short period of time.

Penny Dieterle , Ex-principal and school counsellor

Our visit to Synergy School in Sun Valley this morning was extremely interesting and thought-provoking. It certainly exposed us to a completely different way of engaging with young minds. Emphasis was laid on the importance of parental role involvement in the development of their children. This was evident by the number of mums and some dads who had brought their children to school and were interacting with them in the stimulating playground.

School begins each day with a community circle where goals for the day are set and any problem areas are discussed. Any interesting or important news is also spoken about. This circle has proven most useful in solving problems and increasing communication. The children were totally unphased by our interruption, introduced themselves, and carried on with their discussion.

After the circle, individual silent reading took place. Each child went and fetched a book and began to read, answer questions on a worksheet or work on some written work. All of them knew exactly what was expected of them and went about tackling their given tasks. Those needing help came to where we were chatting and waited quietly until Tahirah acknowledged them. I was impressed that when she explained that she was unable to help right then, that the children were responsive to her suggestion that they try to solve the problem on their own, look for someone else to assist them or do something else until she was available.

The whole emphasis was on a relevant, integrated approach to all subjects. Because Tahirah was really interested in, and focused on, literacy, their work in that area was strong and extensive.

All the children seemed happy, confident and very well adjusted. Much emphasis is placed on communication and team work. A most interesting morning, with some really practical ideas for helping children learn and be confident young people.

Many thanks for an amazing experience.

The Learning Approach

The SynEDgy Schooling Approach to Learning and the Curriculum

The life capabilities we in the school aspire to:

The skills and competencies in the child that the school will support and guide are:

The skills and competencies that the teachers require and will develop:

The skills and competencies that the parents require and will develop to support the development of their child:

See why we love our school...

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Synergy Schooling News

What do more Educators say...