Here at SIS Zürich-Wollishofen, we have a strong sense of community. With our day school structure, our students, families and staff are not just community members – we are an SIS family. One way we encourage our students to feel at home is through the use of bulletin boards. We have many bulletin boards throughout both the kindergarten and primary school buildings. Common themes are staff information, news from the student council, special events, and celebrations of student academic work.
Teachers, assistant teachers and students update the classspecific bulletin boards together and assistant teachers take care of the school-wide ones. For example, assistant teachers personalise and update the birthday board every month with pictures of the students. The birthday board helps students feel part of our community. They feel special every time they walk through the halls during their birthday month and see their photograph. The class-specific bulletins where student work is displayed are very important, as they celebrate student success. The students are reminded of their personal triumphs when they see their work and parents are able to see the topics their children are learning about as well as the great progress they are making throughout the school year.
Bulletin boards help respecting one another's work
As a teacher assistant, I enjoy having students help me. Students are a wonderful resource, as they develop exciting ideas to decorate the bulletin boards. More importantly, when students participate in these projects, they feel even more included in our school community. We have observed that the more comfortable students feel at school, the keener they are to be active learners and take care of their fellow students and teachers. Moreover, with the bulletin boards, we teach our students to respect one another’s work and to appreciate the hard work that staff members have invested in them.
When creating the bulletin boards, I like to do my best to make the students feel special and recognised for the many achievements they have made throughout the year, both individually and as a class. An added benefit is that with the help of these bulletins, visitors to the school feel welcomed into the community that we have the privilege to work every day. Here at SIS Zürich-Wollishofen, we take great pride in making our students and our teachers feel part of a big family as well as making them feel accepted no matter their backgrounds. This is one of the many reasons why it makes me proud to help our school create an awesome sense of community on the school grounds, with the hope that it expands outside our school and into their homes.
Maria Del Vecchio, Teacher Assistant