Curriculum

Victorian Curriculum

St Catherine of Siena uses the Victorian Curriculum to plan for students from Prep to Year 6.

Learning areas and Capabilities

The Victorian Curriculum includes both knowledge and skills. These are defined by learning areas and capabilities.

The learning areas and capabilities taught at St Catherine of Siena:

Learning areas

The Arts (P-6) – Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts

English (P-6)

Health and Physical Education (P-6)

The Humanities -Civics and Citizenship (Yrs 3-6), Economics and Business (Yrs 5 & 6), Geography (P-6), History (P-6)

Italian (P-6)

Mathematics (P-6)

Science (P-6)

Technologies (P-6) – Design and Technologies, Digital Technologies

Capabilities

Critical & Creative Thinking (P-6), Ethical Capability (P-6), Intercultural Capability (P-6), Personal & Social Capability (P-6)

Literacy

In the Victorian English Curriculum, literacy is divided into the three key modes of Reading and Viewing, Writing, and Speaking and Listening.  At St Catherine of Siena, literacy learning occurs in dedicated literacy time and is also embedded in the teaching and learning of other learning areas.

Reading instruction encompasses a range of teaching practices that provide varying levels of support at different points of need – these practices include modelled reading (including thinking aloud), shared reading, guided reading and independent reading. Writing instruction involves students in the active process of conceiving, planning, composing, editing and publishing a range of texts. A range of texts including fiction, non-fiction and visual texts are explored, with whole class, small group and individual learning approaches utilised. Foundational early literacy skills, such as oral language and phonics, are key learning foci in the early years of learning, and are also taught as needed throughout the learning journey of each individual student.

Numeracy

In the Victorian Mathematics Curriculum there are three key strands- Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability. Students at St Catherine of Siena learn mathematical skills and understandings through a variety of whole class, small group and individual learning approaches. At St Catherine of Siena, teachers use data is used to inform teaching to ensure that students’ specific needs are met through small group teacher-led focused instruction. Mathematics areas are also reinforced and further explored in and across other curriculum areas. Through this process, students recognise that mathematics is widely used both in and outside school and learn to apply mathematical knowledge and skills in a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar situations.

Technology

New technologies are integrated, engaging children in ways not previously possible, creating new learning and teaching possibilities, enhancing achievement and extending interactions with the local and global community.

All students have access to appropriate devices, including iPads in Prep and Year 1, and laptops in Years 3 to 6. Students in Years 3-6 may also participate in a BYOD program where personal iPads and laptops can be brought to school to enhance students’ learning.

Students have access to robots right through from Prep to Grade 6; including Beebots, Dash Robots, Kai’s Clan and Sphero robots. Each are used to enhance Maths lessons and support students in learning coding and engineering problem solving.