Curriculum Opportunities

We pride ourselves on a wide range of curriculum opportunities for our students

It’s not the curriculum that we offer that sets us apart, it’s the manner in which it’s delivered

Any school can teach a curriculum. Amazing schools like ours is full of teachers actively and passionately exploring the possibilities of making their teaching practice more innovative, engaging and fun at every turn. This is the single ingredient that drives the most growth in our students.

The success we attain is not only evidenced by the assessment data – but it’s seen through the smiles and joy we see on our student’s faces as a concept is grasped. This is the indefinable element that drives us as teachers to produce and grow our own teaching skills year in, year out.

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Student Wellbeing

Literacy

At St. Joseph’s we believe the ability to read, view, speak, listen and write effectively are essential in developing independent lifelong learners.

Numeracy

Mathematics provides students with access to important mathematical ideas, knowledge and skills that they will draw on in their personal and work lives. The curriculum also provides students, as life-long learners, with the basis on which further study and research in mathematics and applications in many other fields are built.

Faith

St Joseph’s is a Catholic community which is distinguished by “the value it holds for the dignity of the human person, a preferred culture of community and its commitment to social justice and service of the common good”.

Physical Education

The Health & Physical Education program promotes lifelong participation in physical activity through the development of attitudes, skills and movement competence.

Visual Arts

At St Joseph’s Learning in Visual Arts involves students making and responding to artworks, drawing on the world as a source of ideas.

Performing Arts

At St. Joseph’s School the Arts curriculum seeks to provide students with experiences to stimulate their creativity, imagination and linguistic skills.

S.T.E.A.M.

STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Languages

Languages other than English contribute materially to the universal purposes of schooling and to the development of skills in thinking and reflection. At St Joseph’s the children from Years Prep-6 learn Italian.

Digital Technologies

Digital Technologies provides the hardware and software that enables data to be digitally processed, stored and communicated.

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Meet our principal, teachers, current students, parents, learn about our curriculum opportunities and tips for a smooth start to school.

Student Wellbeing

Everything we do at St Joseph’s is based on the wellbeing of all. Student wellbeing is at the forefront of what we do but the parents and staff are critical in the development of happy, healthy, well adjusted children.
BeYou supports teachers to help our children to better mental health. eXel is a document produced by CEM Focussing on Wellbeing for Learning.
As a Visible Learning School we are committed to developing learners that can independently manage themselves through the use of clear learning and speaking protocols, Growth Mindsets (The power of YET), Zones of Regulation (Identifying their emotions) and as part of the Resilience Project looking at the use of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy.

Literacy

Rationale:
“The study of English is central to the learning and development of all young Australians. It is through the study of
English that individuals learn to analyse, understand, communicate with and build relationships with others. It helps
young people gain the knowledge and skills needed for education and the workplace, as well as helping them become
ethical, thoughtful and active members of society.” [Victorian Curriculum- Foundation-10]
At St. Joseph’s we believe the ability to read, view, speak, listen and write effectively are essential in developing
independent lifelong learners. We focus on incorporating the three interrelated strands of the Victorian English
Curriculum:- Language: knowing about the English language, Literature: understanding, appreciating, responding to,
analysing and creating literature, and, Literacy: expanding the repertoire of English usage into our approach.
Goals:
The ability to speak, listen, read, view and write with enjoyment, purpose, effect and confidence in a wide range of
contexts.
Knowledge of the ways in which language varies according to context, purpose, audience and content, and the
capacity to apply this knowledge.
A knowledge of linguistic patterns used to construct different texts, and the capacity to apply this knowledge.
A broad knowledge of a range of visual and printed texts and a capacity to relate this to aspects of contemporary
society and personal experience.
The capacity to discuss and analyse texts and language critically.
Knowledge of the ways textual interpretation and understanding may vary, according to cultural, social and personal
differences.
The capacity to develop reasoned arguments about interpretation and meaning.
That students can articulate and set their own learning goals for English.
That students will develop an informed appreciation of literature.
Implementation: Foundation to Year 6
All students are introduced to a variety of multimodal texts and genres, directed by the Victorian English Curriculum and
as defined in the Scope and Sequence. Effective/Successful literacy learning and teaching is structured and explicit,
visible in teacher and student voice, and in visual displays. It focuses on the learning needs of each student through the
implementation of a variety of practices and strategies taught within a two hour literacy block. It incorporates
contemporary learning tools such as Learning Intentions and Success Criteria that supports the “visible learner”,
analysis of data generated from formal and ongoing assessments, and informs planning. In practice, it supports
personalised and differentiated learning, goal setting and effective feedback between all stakeholders.
The structure of the literacy block is usually whole – small – whole with an emphasis in the early years on learning to
read and write moving through in the middle years to reading and writing to learn. We recognise that “in achieving
literacy, young children need writing to help them learn about reading, they need reading to help them learn about
writing, and they need oral language to help them learn about both.” [Roskos, Tabors and Lenhart]
Both the Reading and Writing sessions include a whole class focus and explicit oral language activities that provide
rich, structured dialogue: teaching and encouraging students to contribute, respond, question, make comparisons,
analyse thoughts and ideas, and transfer learning to new and unfamiliar contexts.
The Reading session begins with Shared Reading or Viewing of an enlarged text either in print or electronic form.
Within this time there is a mini-lesson that explicitly focuses on accuracy, fluency, expanding vocabulary and
comprehension at three different levels eg: reading on the lines [literal], reading between the lines[ inferential or hidden]
and reading beyond the lines [evaluative– what do you think?]. Success criterias are co constructed to support the
learner in learning “how” to apply effective strategies that will support reading. The Writing session begins with
Modelled or Shared Writing in which the teacher and students are reconstructing or constructing texts. Within this time
there is a mini-lesson that explicitly focuses on the author's craft, purpose, a writing trait, a specific stage in the writing
process, spelling, grammar and/or handwriting for Writing. Co created success criteria guides the writer and provides
an effective tool to audit writing and reflect on strengths and challenges within the writing.
After the whole class time comes small group time. For Reading this may be Guided Reading, Language Experience,
Reciprocal Reading, Literature Circles or Reading Conferences. For Writing this may be Guided Writing, Interactive
Writing, Language Experience, Writer’s Notebook, Writer’s Circle or Writing Conferences. While the teacher is working
with a small group or individual students, the other students will be working on small group or individual literacy tasks
appropriate to their literacy needs set out in a Daily Five or Strategy groups timetable
Whole class Share Time is part of the Reading and Writing sessions. This is a time for reflection when students
articulate their learning, audit their achievements in light of the learning intention using success criteria, rubrics,
checklists etc and discuss or reset their literacy learning goals.
Our Literacy support teachers will work with individual and small groups of children identified as requiring extra support
from data collected around their literacy needs. The following areas will be targeted:
● Phonemic Awareness: awareness of and the ability to manipulate phonemes in spoken sounds and words (eg
initial, middle and ending sounds, rhyming, syllables)
● Phonics: Knowledge of relationships between the letters of written language and the individual sounds of
spoken language (eg knowing the sounds our letters make eg sh for sh-o-p)
● Vocabulary / Oral Language development: Understanding the meaning of words in reading and writing, both in
isolation and as they occur together to communicate meaning through written language
● Fluency: The quality of reading (including the use of rhythm, phrasing, intonation, naturalness and use of voice
for different characters/moods); the accuracy (number of errors made compared to number of correct words
read) and the rate (number of words read per minute). The system we use spoken words to express knowledge,
ideas and feelings
● Comprehension: Understanding the spoken, written and /or visual text, including extracting and constructing
meaning from text.
Evaluation:
This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s review cycle.
APPENDIX:
Victorian Curriculum
Visible Learning PLUS [Corwin]
Teaching Literacy in the Visible learning Classroom
Reading to Learn: David Rose
Writing Fix.com
The Daily Five: Boushey
C.A.F.E.: Boushey
SMART spelling
SOUNDWAVES spelling
St Joseph’s Spelling Scope and sequence
St Joseph’s Writing Genre Scope and Sequence

Numeracy

Rationale:
Mathematics provides students with access to important mathematical ideas, knowledge and skills that they will draw on in their personal and work lives. The curriculum also provides students, as life-long learners, with the basis on which further study and research in mathematics and applications in many other fields are built.
The Mathematics curriculum focuses on developing increasingly sophisticated and refined mathematical understanding, fluency, reasoning, modelling and problem-solving. These capabilities enable students to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing mathematics to make informed decisions and solve problems efficiently. [Victorian Curriculum- Foundation-10]

Aims:
Mathematics aims to ensure that students: -
develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as active and critical citizens in a technological world
see connections and apply mathematical concepts, skills and processes to pose and solve problems in mathematics and in other disciplines and contexts
acquire specialist knowledge and skills in mathematics that provide for further study in the discipline
appreciate mathematics as a discipline – its history, ideas, problems and applications, aesthetics and philosophy.[Victorian Curriculum- Foundation-10]

Implementation:
Mathematics is an essential learning area of Victorian Curriculum
All Foundation to Year 6 students at our school will study a sequential Mathematics course based upon the content descriptions contained within the Victorian Curriculum, in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.
Effective teaching in Mathematics is structured and explicit, visible in teacher and student voice, and, in visual displays. It focuses on the learning needs of each student through the implementation of a variety of practices and strategies taught within a one hour Mathematics block. It incorporates contemporary learning tools such as Learning Intentions and Success Criteria that supports the “visible learner”, analysis of data generated from formal and ongoing assessments, and informs planning. In practice, it supports personalised and differentiated learning, goal setting and effective feedback between all stakeholders.
Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) is an effective teaching approach implemented to develop a deep and sustainable understanding of Mathematics in students. This essential technique of Mathematics mastery, builds on a student’s existing understanding and is a highly effective framework for progressing student’s to abstract concepts.
Student progress in Mathematics will be reported in Semester One and Semester Two end of year school reports, as well as the school’s Annual Report.

Evaluation:

This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.

Faith

Rationale:
St Joseph’s is a Catholic community which is distinguished by “the value it holds for the dignity of the human person, a preferred culture of community and its commitment to social justice and service of the common good” (Curriculum Renewal in a Catholic School)
“Learning in Catholic schools seeks out the good in every person. A sense of who I am and how I can be in the world is nurtured in an environment of trust, intellectual inquiry, inspired by the Catholic faith.”(Religious Dimension of the Catholic School, Horizons of Hope)
All teachers and leaders in our Catholic school acknowledge a sacred aspect to teaching and learning across all curriculum areas, finding God at work.

Goals:
At St Joseph’s School, we are committed to building a Catholic community where members:
- pray, learn, celebrate and belong
- contribute to and participate in a faith community that celebrates and lives out the ongoing presence of Christ in our world
- experience the Gospel values that are modelled and promoted
- are supported to grow, enlightened by faith, animated by love and a future of hope
- are invited into a rich dialogue where they can explore and develop a deeper relationship with God
- are active witnesses of their faith within the St Joseph’s Parish community and the wider community.
- develop knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and responses in faith appropriate to their stage of development.

Implementation:
Use the R.E. program which draws from the Guidelines for R.E. for Primary Students in the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the To Know Worship & Love texts.
Our program follows a 2 year cycle, and is based on the six Catholic Social Teachings.
Our planning uses a variety of resources with “To Know, Worship and Love, and RE Curriculum 2017 as our main reference materials. The program is taught by the Classroom teachers.
Whole school planning occurs every term for the following at the start of the year and the RE team offers support & resources to staff.
The program is flexible to deal with experiences as they occur. eg. death, Jubilees and special occasions such as excursions and sport.
R.E. lessons are time-tabled on a daily basis, with a time allocation of 3 hours per week. However, flexibility and variability is built in to the week with R.E. permeating throughout the day.
Our school supports the Sacramental program by focussing on sacraments from P-6 as they are being celebrated.

Evaluation:
This program will be reviewed as part of our review cycle.

Physical Education

Rationale:

The Health & Physical Education program promotes lifelong participation in physical activity through the development of attitudes, skills and movement competence. The program helps young people learn about factors, including nutrition, that promote and protect the physical, social and emotional health of individuals, and they learn to identify harms associated with particular situations and behaviours, and how to take action to minimise these harms.

Aims:

Health & Physical Education encourages students to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that enable them to:
⦁ maintain good health and live a healthy lifestyle
⦁ understand the role of physical activity in ensuring good health
⦁ engage in physical activity.

Implementation:

⦁ Health & Physical Education is an essential learning area of the Victorian Curriculum.
⦁ All Foundation to Year 6 students at our school will study a sequential Health and Physical Education course based upon the content descriptions contained within the Victorian Curriculum learning area.
⦁ All teachers are required to work with their respective professional learning teams to contribute to the development and implementation of a viable, guaranteed and sequential Health & Physical Education course for all students and to implement student needs based lessons using agreed planning templates, assessment tools and lesson structures.
⦁ Teachers will be expected to incorporate all aspects of the capabilities and cross curriculum priorities into their work with students in Health and Physical Education.
⦁ The school will form a Health and Physical & Education curriculum team to develop and implement Health & Physical Education across our school.
⦁ The Health & Physical Education leader will be responsible for coordinating the school’s athletic, swimming and inter-school and sports programs.
⦁ Student’s individual abilities will be measured and reported against the expected Victorian Curriculum achievement standards, particularly at the commencement of each unit of work, and learning opportunities must be provided that cater for the identified needs of each student.
⦁ Student progress in Health & Physical Education will be reported in mid and end of year school reports.
⦁ Students in Foundation-Year 4 will be timetabled for a minimum of 2 hours of physical education per week, while students in Years 5-6 will be timetabled for 3 hours per week including a maximum of 90 minutes for sport, the balance dedicated to physical education.

Evaluation:

⦁ This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.

Visual Arts

At St Joseph’s Learning in Visual Arts involves students making and responding to artworks, drawing on the world as a source of ideas. Students engage with and develop knowledge of visual arts, skills, techniques and processes, and use materials as they explore a range of forms, styles and contexts from Prep to 6.
Through Visual Arts, students learn to reflect critically on their own experiences and responses to the work of artists, craftspeople and designers and to develop their own arts’ knowledge. They learn, with growing sophistication, to express and communicate experiences through and about visual arts.

Performing Arts

Performing Arts is a physical, mental, and emotional journey about personal betterment and the vitality of human connection. At St Joseph’s Performing Arts inspires the creative nature within each child, while developing their confidence. They problem solve and collaborate with each other in developing performances to share with an audience. Performing Arts provides the opportunity for all children to explore the richness of their expressive abilities.

S.T.E.A.M

STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. Here at St Joseph’s we aim to provide learning opportunities where our children can take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process. These skills they develop are those of the innovators, educators, leaders, and learners of the 21st century.

Languages

Rationale:
Languages other than English contribute materially to the universal purposes of schooling and to the development of skills in thinking and reflection. They support the moral, social and economic initiation of young people into the culture and wider civilisation that surrounds them. Learning a language nurtures reflective, deep and creative thinking in specific ways, cultivates culturally distinctive fields of knowledge, and stimulates awareness of intellectual functioning.

Aims:
⦁ In learning a language, students aim to develop communication skills and knowledge and come to understand social, historical, familial relationships and other aspects of the specific language and culture of the speakers of the language they are studying.
⦁ Learners are also provided with the tools, through comparison and reflection, to understand language, culture and humanity in a broad sense.
⦁ In this way, language learning contributes to the development of interculturally aware citizens, of increasing importance at a time of rapid and deep globalisation.

Implementation:
⦁ The learning of Languages other than English is an essential learning area of the Victorian Curriculum.
⦁ All Foundation to Year 6 students at our school will study a sequential Languages course based upon the content descriptions contained within Victorian Curriculum.
⦁ The language selected for our school will be decided by the school after wide community consultation.
⦁ All teachers are required to work with their respective professional learning teams to contribute to the development and implementation of a viable, guaranteed and sequential Languages course for all students and to implement practical and ‘hands on’ student needs based lessons using agreed planning templates, assessment tools and lesson structures.
⦁ Teachers will be expected to incorporate all aspects of the capabilities and cross curriculum priorities into their work with students in the Languages area.
⦁ The school will appoint a Languages teacher who will coordinate the development and implementation of Languages across our school, including a language-based multicultural day.
⦁ Student’s individual abilities will be measured and reported against the expected Victorian Curiculum achievement standards, particularly at the commencement of each unit of work, and learning opportunities must be provided that cater for the identified needs of each student.
⦁ Student progress in Languages will be reported in mid and end of year school reports.
⦁ Languages activities that reflect the topics being studied at school, and are appropriate to each child’s ability, will form a regular component of each student’s homework regime.

Evaluation:
This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.

Digital Technologies

Rationale:
Digital Technologies provides the hardware and software that enables data to be digitally processed, stored and communicated. It is used to access, process, manage and present information; model and control events; construct new understanding; and communicate with others. The need to be conversant and control digital technologies to your own advantage has never been more important, and will become increasingly vital in the lives of all people.

Aims:
Digital Technology focuses on providing students with the tools to transform their learning and to enrich their learning environment. The knowledge, skills and behaviours identified for this domain enable students to:
⦁ develop new thinking and learning skills that produce creative and innovative insights
⦁ develop more productive ways of working and solving problems individually and collaboratively
⦁ create information products that demonstrate their understanding of concepts, issues, relationships and processes
⦁ express themselves in contemporary and socially relevant ways
⦁ communicate locally and globally to solve problems and to share knowledge
⦁ understand the implications of the use of technology and their social and ethical responsibilities as users.

Implementation:
⦁ Technology is an essential component of the Technologies learning area of the Victorian Curriculum.
⦁ All Year 5 & 6 students at our school will study a sequential course based upon the content descriptions contained within the Victorian Curriculum Digital Technologies learning area.
⦁ The school will appoint an elearning leader who will work with a Technology Company and staff to coordinate the development and implementation of Technology across our school.
⦁ All teachers are required to work with their respective professional learning teams to contribute to the development and implementation of a viable, guaranteed and sequential Digital technology course for all students and to implement student needs based lessons using agreed planning templates, assessment tools and lesson structures.
⦁ Student’s individual abilities will be measured and reported against the expected Victorian Curriculum achievement standards, particularly at the commencement of each unit of work, and learning opportunities must be provided that cater for the identified needs of each student.
⦁ Student progress in Digital Technologies will be reported in mid and end of year school reports.
⦁ Intervention programs will be provided for all students at all year levels identified as ‘at risk’
⦁ Digital Technology activities that reflect the topics being studied at school, and are appropriate to each child’s ability, will form a regular component of each student’s homework regime.
⦁ Substantial budgets that provide for the needs of the Digital Technology program, including the Lab, banks of computers, ipads and professional development will be developed by the elearning leader in consultation with the Principal, Leadership team and staff.

Evaluation:
⦁ This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.

Curriculum Opportunities

It’s not the curriculum that we offer that sets us apart, it’s the manner in which it’s delivered

Student Wellbeing

Literacy

Numeracy

Faith

Physical Education

Visual Arts

Performing Arts

S.T.E.A.M.

Languages

Digital Technologies

Take Our Online Tour

Book a School Tour

Isn't it time we got to know each other? Take our online VIDEO TOUR or book a SCHOOL TOUR!

Student Wellbeing

Literacy

Numeracy

Faith

Physical Education

Visual Arts

Performing Arts

S.T.E.A.M

Languages

Digital Technologies

Isn't it time we got to know each other?
Take our online VIDEO TOUR or book a SCHOOL TOUR!