Reflecting and Growing Together: Insights from the Floreer Visitation
At Optimist International School, we believe in continuously growing together — students, staff and parents alike. As part of Floreer’s quality cycle, our school recently welcomed a visitation team made up of fellow school leaders and educators. This visit focused on one key question:
How can we structurally encourage a reflective and active learning attitude in students?
Throughout the day, the visitation team engaged in open conversations with staff and student, and explored how our vision translates into everyday practice.
What did they see?
The team was welcomed into a warm, collaborative atmosphere where curiosity and reflection are deeply embedded in our learning culture. They noted that:
- Reflection is not an ‘add-on’ but an integral part of our daily learning.
- Teachers share a strong sense of ownership and support each other in a professional climate of trust.
- Students feel safe and respected — a key foundation for deep learning.
- Our Student Council proudly shared their ideas and highlighted their active role in shaping our school.
What can we improve?
While the reflective learning journey is strong among staff, the team encouraged us to further simplify and visualise our child rubrics, making them clearer and more engaging for students. They also highlighted opportunities to involve parents even more deeply in understanding our learning philosophy and to carve out more time for students’ ‘I wonder’ questions.
Our next steps
We greatly appreciate the thoughtful feedback and have already taken steps forward:
- An IPC development group is working on making child rubrics more student-friendly, possibly supported by AI tools.
- Next year’s professional development will focus fully on social-emotional learning.
- We aim to host more parent information moments, workshops and informal coffee mornings in our new building to strengthen our community bond.
This visitation was a valuable moment of reflection for us all — and a wonderful reminder that together we keep building a safe, inspiring, and reflective place for every child to thrive.