St. Patrick’s Curriculum
“Catholic Schools promote students’ personal, academic and spiritual development so that they may have fullness of life. Schools make connections for and with the students through the curriculum, learning experiences, feedback, and teaching approaches so that students can develop as active and socially just citizens who integrate faith and life. Integral to improving student outcomes is learning and teaching, curriculum, assessment and reporting.” Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, 2019.
St Patrick’s curriculum is based on the Victorian Curriculum which outlines what every student in Victoria should learn from Foundation to Year 6. At St Patrick’s School, Koroit, we believe that for best learning to occur, teaching strategies must be planned remembering that all children are unique and have the right to learn. Learning is a dynamic process where children are involved and actively engaged in exploring and discovering the concepts outlined in the curriculum. All children can learn, particularly in a positive environment where they are encouraged to take risks and explore challenges.
Religious Education
Our Religious Education program is based on the curriculum document Awakenings. St. Patrick’s Koroit believes that Religious Education is a vital part of our overall curriculum. As a modern school we aim to recontextulatise our Catholic faith for our students and provide them with the spiritual and religious dimensions as expressed in these Catholic faith traditions. Our students are challenged and supported to understand themselves and the world in which they live, through a world view founded in Scripture and in the traditions of the Catholic community – its stories, its worships, its experiences and its teachings.
English
The study of English is central to the development of all young Australians. It contributes to the creation of confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. It is through the study of English that individuals learn to analyse, understand, communicate and interact with others and with the world around them. At St. Patrick’s we have a two hour literacy block each morning with a clear emphasis on the core literacy skills of reading, writing, spelling and speaking and listening. Students participate in whole group, small group and individual instruction during this time.
At St. Patrick's School, we're committed to aligning our English curriculum with evidence-based practices grounded in the science of reading. Our approach emphasises structured literacy, an approach to literacy instruction that applies a systematic, cumulative, explicit and diagnostic methodology to the teaching of phonology, orthography, morphology and etymology, syntax and semantics. This approach ensures that your child develops a solid foundation in literacy upon which they can build as they progress through their schooling journey. With 10 hours of English instruction each week, your child will have ample opportunities to develop essential language competencies and foster a genuine enthusiasm for language and literature.
Our English instructional program is enhanced by our Response to Intervention framework, which allows students to access Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions as needed, guided by data analysis. This approach ensures tailored support for students based on their individual learning requirements.
Mathematics
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.
At St. Patrick's Primary School, we are dedicated to fostering a strong foundation in mathematics for all students. Our curriculum is structured around three main strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.
In our mathematics lessons, we prioritise the Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) model, where teachers carefully explain and demonstrate new concepts before guiding students through practice in an interactive and responsive environment. We integrate daily, weekly, and monthly review sessions into our curriculum to interrupt the forgetting process and help students retain information in their long-term memories. This systematic approach ensures that students not only understand concepts in the short term but also develop a deep and lasting understanding of mathematical principles over time.
Additionally, we encourage a culture of risk-taking in mathematics, both within the school and classroom settings. We believe it's essential for students to feel safe and supported in making mistakes and taking chances to learn. This approach ensures that students feel empowered to have a go and explore mathematical concepts without fear of judgment.
At St. Patrick's Primary School, we provide students with 5 hours of focused mathematics instruction each week. In addition, we implement a Response to Intervention approach, ensuring that students have access to Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions tailored to their individual needs, as determined by data analysis. This personalised support system enables us to address specific learning gaps and provide further assistance to students who require it.
Inquiry & Discovery Play Based Learning
Through Inquiry and play based discovery learning, students are encouraged to be curious, ask questions, explore ideas and make connections with the world around them.
Learning experiences are provided through areas including History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, with our knowledge rich Literacy units also informing and connecting with Inquiry learning. This approach provides students with opportunities to build strong background knowledge, develop vocabulary and make meaningful connections across different areas of the curriculum. Students cover these learning areas across a two year scope and sequence and have the opportunity to learn through a variety of learning experiences such as hands on, inquiry projects, investigations and posing questions to explore and find answers to.
In our junior area, our dedicated play space supports guided play based learning, providing opportunities for students to explore, create, collaborate and problem solve. Teachers intentionally plan, guide and extend these experiences through purposeful questioning, explicit teaching and opportunities for discovery.
Our junior students also participate in a Perceptual Motor Program (PMP), providing structured opportunities to develop coordination, balance, spatial awareness, body control and other foundational skills that support learning and participation.
Across these experiences, students are supported to wonder, investigate, create, collaborate, problem solve and reflect, developing the knowledge, skills and confidence to better understand themselves, their community and the wider world.
Auslan
Auslan is taught by our specialist Auslan teacher to all students F-6 once a week. We believe that learning languages in addition to English extends student’s literacy repertoires and their capacity to communicate. It strengthens student’s understanding of the nature of language, culture, and the processes of communication.
Health and Physical Education
Health and Physical Education focuses on students enhancing their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity participation in varied and changing contexts. Our students are all involved in a weekly sport and physical education program. During the year all students take part in our intensive swimming program. House athletics sports are held in first term. House teams are Cork (Red), Clare (Blue), and Limerick (Green). The team names were selected to match the dominant colours of Irish County flags, reflecting the Irish heritage of many of Koroit’s early settlers.
STEM - Science, Engineering, Technology & Maths
At St Patrick’s Koroit, STEM is a hands on specialist subject that encourages students to be curious, creative and confident problem solvers.
Through practical and engaging learning experiences, students are encouraged to wonder, investigate, design, build, test and improve their ideas. They work both independently and collaboratively to solve real-world problems, explore how things work and develop creative solutions.
Our STEM program brings together learning across Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Students have opportunities to experiment, design and create, use digital technologies, develop computational thinking and apply their mathematical understanding in meaningful ways.
Science learning is also strengthened through our Literacy Block and Knowledge Curriculum, where students build rich background knowledge about the natural and physical world while developing their reading, writing and vocabulary. This allows students to make connections between the scientific knowledge they learn in the classroom and the practical investigations they undertake in STEM.
Digital Technologies is an important part of STEM. Students learn to use technology as a tool for creating, designing, problem solving and communicating, rather than simply consuming digital content. To support this learning, St Patrick’s provides one-to-one iPads for students in Foundation and Year 1 and one-to-one Chromebooks for students in Years 2–6.
Through STEM, at St Patrick’s, we aim to develop curious learners who are willing to ask questions, try new ideas, learn from mistakes and work together to find solutions.
Performing Arts
Drama enables students to imagine and participate in exploration of their worlds, individually and collaboratively. Students actively use body, gesture, movement, voice and language, taking on roles to explore and depict real and imagined worlds. Students learn to think, move, speak and act with confidence. In making and staging drama they learn how to be focused, innovative and resourceful, and collaborate and take on responsibilities for drama presentations. St. Patrick’s celebrates the performing arts and our students abilities with a biennial school performance.
Visual Arts
Visual Arts includes the fields of art, craft and design. Students create visual art works that communicate, challenge and express their own and others’ ideas. They develop perceptual and conceptual understanding, critical reasoning and practical skills through exploring and expanding their understanding of their world, and other worlds. Students at St. Patrick’s participate in weekly specialist visual arts classes.
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