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 at St Joseph’s 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

Children are given opportunities to develop skills which promote resilience, problem solving and the ability to make good choices. We encourage empathy towards the feelings of others and respect for the rights of all.

Literacy

The study of English is central to the learning and development of all our students. Our English programme seeks to develop confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens.

Numeracy

Mathematics involves the ability “to use mathematics effectively to meet the general demands of life at home, in paid work and for participation in community and civic life”. (Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers 1998).

S.T.E.A.M.

Science, tech, engineering, art & mathematics sets students up to be critical thinkers for life. Ask any student at our school about STEAM & you will probably hear it’s one of the highlights of the week.

The Arts

The Arts are a fundamental means of expression and communication in all societies. Through the Arts we gain a sense of our social and individual identity. Study in the Arts gives students access to the cultural diversity in their community and the broader Australian and international context.

Japanese

Our Japanese program (LOTE) is planned with the focus on units for relevant and purposeful language acquisition to meet practical aspects of every day life, the student’s interest, learning abilities and student centered class activities.

Physical Education

St. Joseph’s P.E. and Sport Program promotes the physical, social and emotional dimensions of physical activity. Our program promotes lifelong participation in physical activity through the development of attitudes, skills and movement competence.

Faith

Our Parish School provides an education that is holistic, pastoral and spiritual. At St Joseph’s we strive to achieve the fundamental values of Catholicism and cultivate the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love by developing a community centred on Christ in the world and in the Eucharist.

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Student Wellbeing

Everyone in our school has the right to be happy and feel safe. Behaviours such as bullying is dealt with seriously and action is taken to prevent this from occurring. Students are encouraged to be assertive and take action by being responsible and telling teachers if they feel uncomfortable.

Prevention – promoting health and building belonging

Large open and safe play environment
Children’s participation in school life – student leadership group, choir, camp and buddies
Recognition of positive behaviour

Early Intervention – strengthening coping and reducing risk

Individual learning plans
Friendship groups
Drug education program (Seniors)

Intervention – accessing support and providing treatment

Referrals to specialists e.g. - Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Educational consultants, community agencies
Seasons Program (for children experiencing loss or grief)
Behaviour management plans

Recovery - restoring positive relationships

Monitoring of children with special needs through Program Support Groups and Individual Learning Plans
Awards and acknowledgement of effort and achievement

Literacy

English involves the ability to develop the skills to learn and communicate confidently
at school and to become effective individuals, community members, workers and
citizens.

The teaching and learning of English provides students with a strong grounding in
fundamental and critical literacy skills and understandings so they can recognize and
apply these skills accurately and purposefully within and across all learning areas.

These skills include:
- Speaking and Listening
- Reading and Viewing
- Writing, Speaking and Creating Print
- Visual and Digital Materials

Lessons involve:
- explicit and focused learning tasks designed to challenge individuals
- authentic tasks to engage students
- focused teaching to small groups of children
- nurturing a love for language and learning
- integrating English learning across all areas of the school curriculum
- engaging parents and our school community
- providing a variety of support instruction to vulnerable learners
- ensuring that all our students are encouraged to extend their learning.

Our English program is supported through:
- An experienced Learning & Teaching Leader providing guidance and direction
- Daily 2-hour literacy block
- Effective teaching strategies
- Regular assessments of learning and teaching
- Reading Recovery, intervention
- Leveled Literacy intervention
- Parent helpers

At St Joseph’s we believe that all children will achieve when given sufficient time and support.

Numeracy

The Key Learning Area of Mathematics provides students with a strong grounding in mathematical skills and understandings so that they recognise what mathematics to use and how to use it in different contexts.

As sourced from the Australian Curriculum, Mathematics is investigated under the three inter-related dimensions of:

Number and Algebra
Measurement and Geometry
Statistics and Probability
It involves:
Hands On Modeling
Discussion and Investigation
Writing and Drawing
Developing and Sharing
Personal Strategies

Students learn mathematics by manipulating materials, drawing diagrams and creating mental images to relate their prior knowledge to new situations. While engaged in learning mathematics, students may be involved in:

Applying currently known mathematical skills and understanding
Making sense of new mathematical ideas
Making connections between mathematical ideas
Making a generalisation, that is, noticing patterns and properties common to several situations
Transferring a generalisation to a new mathematical idea and to other situations.
Posing and solving mathematical problems
Developing an understanding of the role of mathematics in life.

Program outline for the daily Mathematics session

Learning Intention - Outlines what is to be learned

Tool Time - Students practise numeracy skills individually, with a partner or in small groups through games and other activities

Activity Time - Students engage in activitives independently, in pairs, in small groups or as a whole class. The teacher interacts with individuals or groups of students as they work, asking questions, engaging them in mathematical conversations and providing assistance or extension as required.

The teacher may also withdraw a small focused teaching group at times, to provide further assistance or extension.
Whole class share time- Students are encouraged to reflect upon and articulate the mathematics of the session and celebrate their learning.

Learning Intention / Summary - Teacher makes a short statement telling about the learning that has taken place.
In 2011, St Joseph’s School participated in a two year professional development program in mathematics, CTLM(Contemporary Teaching and Learning in Mathematics), led by staff from Australian Catholic University (ACU). Underpinning the CTLM program are key elements of the Teaching and Learning Framework of the Archdiocese of Melbourne with particular emphasis on:

Mathematical thinking
Creating a culture of mathematical inquirers
Using effective questioning techniques to support and encourage problem solving and critical thinking skills
Recognising the value of team work, cooperation and communication as important aspects of mathematics lessons
The value of reflective practice by both teachers and students in the learning of mathematics
The use of learning technologies to build student engagement and assist students to develop their overall knowledge and skills
Contextualising learning and making connections across areas of learning
The use of rich and authentic assessment tasks to inform teaching and learning.
The foundations of this program are still being used through our school mathematics program.

S.T.E.A.M.

S.T.E.A.M.

STEAM is an educational approach that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. Students who work with the STEAM design process develop higher-level critical thinking skills and are more creative in their problem-solving approach. At St Joseph’s we believe that developing these skills during their primary education years gives our students a strong foundation to build upon when entering into higher education and future careers.

Each week students at St Joseph’s visit the Discovery Centre to participate in a weekly 90-minute specialist session in which the core Science and Visual Arts curriculum is delivered. During these sessions, students are also introduced to the engineering design process and are invited to participate in collaborative group projects and problem-solving tasks. Classroom teachers lead the core Mathematics and Technology teaching and learning as well as integrating other elements of STEAM into their classrooms where possible.

The Discovery Centre and STEAM curriculum is lead by specialist teacher Brianna Loves.

The Arts

At St. Joseph's School all students from Prep - Year 6 participate in the Performing Arts Program giving them the opportunity to:

Develop confidence, performance skills and stagecraft through a variety of Drama activities,
Learn about the elements of music and develop music reading skills,
Listen and respond to music from different cultures and times,
Enjoy singing a range of songs and improve vocal skills,
Play percussion instruments,
Compose and perform their own music.
Respond to music through informal movement and structured dance

Every second year St. Joseph’s School presents a musical production involving all students from Prep - Year 6.
All students from Year 4 - 6 have the opportunity to be part of the School Choir, singing at school events, liturgies and for community groups. The Choral Group, an advanced performance choir, caters for those with a special talent. This group has achieved great success in various competitions and is frequently invited to perform at community events.

Visual Arts

The implementation of the curriculum is conducted by a specialist art teacher. A comprehensive program is offered which covers:

Developing an understanding of art elements, skills and processes
Exploration of cultural and historical contexts and styles
Visual communication and expression
The exploration of materials and mediums
Encouragement of self expression, lateral thinking and creativity.

The six main areas of the Visual Arts that will be covered are:

Drawing
Painting
Collage/mixed media
3D,modeling and structures
Printing
Textiles.

The elements covered within these areas:

Space
Colour
Form and shape
Marks and lines
Balance and composition
Tone
Texture.

In recent years students have been involved in community projects such as the Winterfest and CreativeJunction. Students have also represented the school in the Achievement Through Arts Exhibition and the Catholic Education Week Exhibition in Melbourne. The exhibitors in both exhibitions are selected by submission from all schools in Victoria. Small exhibitions of student work are frequently on display in the school.

Japenese

At St Joseph's students from Year 3 to Year 6 take Japanese classes once a week. Our program aims to develop students’ skills in three dimensions: communicating in Japanese, intercultural knowledge and language awareness.

Communicating in Japanese

Listening – students listen to sensei (teacher), storybooks and each other.
Speaking – students imitate, repeat and practice what they are taught. They monitor peers.
Reading – students read words with the assistance of Japanese alphabet charts.
Writing – students write Japanese characters in words and sentences.

Intercultural knowledge

Students explore Japan and its culture. Our class activities include dramatization through Japanese plays, singing, viewing animated films, dance, cooking, paper folding (origami), arts and crafts, sports, celebrating annual events/festivals, etc.

Language awareness

Students are developing language learning strategies in our classes. They are encouraged to use strategies learnt from their first language acquisition.

Physical Education

Through the implementation of the VELS, the P.E. program aims to develop:

Movement patterns
Motor skills
Involvement in regular, physical activity
Improvement of individual skills, personal growth and enjoyment
Team participation in a variety of activities
Awareness of safety issues in sport
Positive social attitudes such as co-operation, fair play, gender equity and sportsmanship.

The program is implemented through weekly P.E. sessions which develop skills in the areas of:

Fundamental motor skills
Ball handling
Movement
Dance
Athletics
Orienteering
Games
Team sports

The Swimming Program

This program operates annually in Term 4, at the local indoor swimming pool. Qualified staff teach and assess students in both swimming skills and in water safety. We also participate in the Inter-school swimming sports.
St Joseph’s is a member of the Upper Yarra Primary Sports Association.

Outside School Activities

Through our affiliation with the UYPSA, students participate in many varied inter-school activities throughout the year.

Juniors School:

Photo Trail / Tabloid Sports
Junior Sports

Middle & Senior School:

Athletics Carnival
Aussie Sports
Tabloid Expo
Orienteering

Optional Activities:

Hooptime
Kayaking
Soccer
Cross Country
Interschool Swimming Sports
AFL Footy, Netball and Gold Clinics

Through this Inter-school program, students have the opportunity to represent our Zone at Championship Finals where applicable.

New to 2011 is a morning exercise program that all students participate in for 15 minutes. This is led by both teachers and senior students and is proving to be a great source of both morning energy burning and enhancing concentration levels in the classroom.

Faith

Our Parish School provides an education that is holistic, pastoral and spiritual.

At St Joseph's we strive to achieve the fundamental values of Catholicism and cultivate the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love by developing a community centred on Christ in the world and in the Eucharist. We aim to enhance the development of each student, according to their model of Jesus, by providing an integrated experience of Catholic faith, human learning and student life.

Classroom Program

Religious education is an integral part of the day-to-day life of school at St. Joseph’s. It touches each aspect of the way we communicate and live in relationship with each other each and every day. Religious education is also taught in a more formal way each day. Students have the opportunity to discover more about themselves, the people around them, their world and their faith community by participating in a range of units of work.
Students take part in the preparation and celebration of a variety of types of liturgy throughout the year. These include:
Class prayer times Paraliturgies
Class Masses
Level Masses
School Masses
Parish Family Masses
Daily Meditation

Sacramental Program

In keeping with our understanding that Religious Education is a lifelong process, student preparation for Sacraments takes place at the school from Foundation —Year 6. Each year the student’s understandings are built upon and developed.

Adult education and family preparation nights for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist take place each year. An additional Confirmation program, led by Rev Michel, is also provided for those students who are preparing to celebrate Confirmation.

Sacramental celebrations take place within our parish community.