YRPS 2017 Curriculum Outline

Located at -

222-228 Yarra Rd Croydon Nth 3136

Ph: 03 9723 4182

Fax: 03 9725 3485

email: yarra.road.ps@

edumail.vic.gov.au

Principal: Kate Perkins

Assistant Principal:

Meriden James

Enjoying the Road to

Success

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Enjoying The Road To Success

Curriculum Outline 3

Kagan Cooperative Learning

Staff Provisioning 2017

4

Literacy Curriculum 5

Numeracy Curriculum 6

Humanities and Specialist Curriculum 7

Specialist Programs 8-10

Digital Technologies 10

Student Wellbeing 14-15

Contents

School Values:

Respect

Responsibility

Excellence

Confidence

Resilience

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Yarra Road

Primary School

offers a caring

supportive

learning

environment

and curriculum

designed from

The Victorian

Curriculum

Yarra Road Primary School encourages all students to explore their talents, strengths and

individual learning styles. The school is focused on improving the achievement learning

levels and the learning skills of all students particularly in Numeracy and Literacy.

The teachers create a welcoming atmosphere in classrooms and offer a caring supportive

environment. They are committed to using effective, flexible teaching methods and keep

up to date as professional educators. In addition they work together as a team to create

better opportunities and working partnership with parents of all our families.

Yarra Road Primary School provides an education program that encompasses the

learning areas of English, Mathematics, Science, Technology, Humanities and Health.

Specialist teachers provide learning programs in the areas of Visual Arts, Performing

Arts including Music, Physical Education, and Languages Other Than English

(Indonesian). These are delivered in the context of our guiding principle to encourage all

children to achieve their maximum potential - intellectually, physically, emotionally,

culturally and socially.

The Foundation to Year 10 Victorian Curriculum provides a single, coherent and com-

prehensive set of prescribed content and common achievement standards, which schools

use to plan student learning programs, assess student progress and report to parents. The

Victorian Curriculum incorporates elements of the Australian Curriculum F-10 with an

emphasis on knowledge and skills transferrable across the Curriculum including; Critical

and Creative Thinking, Ethical Capability, Intercultural Capability and Personal and So-

cial Capability. Embedded throughout the Curriculum is the Cross-Curriculum Priorities

of: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s en-

gagement with Asia, and Sustainability. The Victorian Curriculum has adapted content to

cater to the needs of all students. At Yarra Road Primary School we recognise the im-

portance of individual learning styles and provide additional support for students with

disabilities and English as an Additional Language (EAL). Students requiring further

support in class are placed on Individual Learning Plans in consultation with Parents,

Teachers and the School Principal. Literacy and Numeracy classes from Grade 2 are dif-

ferentiated according to ability to allow teachers to provide targeted support and encour-

agement to succeed in learning. Digital Technologies are perceived as vital to the teach-

ing and learning process at Yarra Road and students are given access to various tools to

support and extend their learning. The structure of the Victorian Curriculum is based on

achievement standards which reflect the broad standards of schooling.

Years Prep to Grade 2 Years 3 to 8 Years 9 and 10

Foundation Stage Breadth stage Pathways Stage

Curriculum Outline

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Cooperative

Learning is at

the forefront of

our approach to

Education at

Yarra Road.

Curriculum Outline

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COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Cooperative Learning is a learning environment where students work together to

learn and are responsible for their teammates’ learning as well as their own. With Kagan Cooperative Learning, the basic elements are: 1. Positive Interdependence – occurs when gains of individuals or teams are positively correlated. 2. Individual Accountability – occurs when all students in a group are held accountable for doing a share of the work and for mastery of the material to be learned. 3. Equal Participation – occurs when each member of the group is afforded equal shares of responsibility and input. 4. Simultaneous Interaction – occurs when class time is designed to allow many stu-dent interactions during the period.

STAFFING 2017

Foundation

Alycia Maher Ryan Vorherr Rhiana Macrae

Grade 1

Rachel Baum

Grade 1/2

Erin Dixon

Grade 2

Grace Eisenhut Rachel Davis & Meriden James

Grade 3/4 Literacy Support: Judy Haysom

Jocelyn Pfander & Narelle Hurley

Jodie Ross

Andrea Jackson & Kerry Halliday

Rachael Amarsi

Grade 5

Narelle Cooper & Daniel Quick

Ciaran Hanley

Grade 6

Hazel van Loenen Shanae Stevens & Andrew Smith

Student Wellbeing PSD

Andrew Smith

Visual Art Kerry Halliday

Performing Arts

Judy Haysom

Physical Ed-ucation

Daniel Quick

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The strong

emphasis on

literacy at Yarra

Road can be

seen throughout

the school.

The curriculum has three interwoven purposes; to equip students with capacities to

manage self and relations with others; understand the world and act effectively. To

achieve these purposes, the curriculum is organised into Achievement Standards. Each

Achievement Standard of the curriculum describes the essential knowledge, skills and

behaviours students need to prepare for further education, work and life.

LITERACY

The strong emphasis on literacy at Yarra Road can be seen throughout the school.

The English curriculum comprises reading, writing, speaking and listening. In the Jun-

ior school the Early Years Literacy Program offers daily activities of guided reading,

discussions and related comprehension activities.

Our whole school spelling program Soundwaves enables students to focus their learning

of phonics through study of particular sounds each week. Students are given spelling

words to practise throughout the week at home from the sound focus of the week. The

whole school learns the same sound at the same time to encourage continuity in learning

across the levels of the school. The Writing program, 7 Steps to Writing Success

provides an opportunity for all students to develop a variety of skills in their writing

through 7 unique ‘steps’. In the junior years students learn the first three steps, ‘plan for

success, sizzling starts, and tightening tension’ to provide a foundation for learning

writing skills. This learning is scaffolded in the senior years in Grades 3-6 with students

learning all seven steps across each school year.

The Premiers Reading Challenge which encourages all children to read and record their

progress is an annual activity throughout the school. Our Literacy Co-ordinator leads

the staff in professional learning programs to constantly improve outcomes for students

in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The co-ordinated work of Parents, Aides,

Mentors and Peer Tutors support children at all levels with their literacy learning. To

support literacy learning the school is committed to providing a support program, ‘Toe

by Toe’ for selected students in Grades 1-6 to receive additional tutoring in learning

phonics and maintaining an up to date Library / Resource Centre. Further information

can be provided on request from classroom

teachers.

Library The Library supports Literacy throughout

the entire school. Library lessons are taken

by class teachers. Students are allowed to

borrow books at a time for a period of up to

2 weeks.

Curriculum Outline

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The

Mathematics

program at

Yarra Road

Primary School

aims to develop

fully the

numeracy skills,

language and

conceptual

understandings

of the students

NUMERACY

The Mathematics program at Yarra Road Primary School aims to develop the

numeracy skills, language and conceptual understandings of the students allowing them

to confidently take their place in a numerate world.

The program is delivered through daily lessons where children experience learning

Mathematics through the whole school enVision Maths program. This program aims to

provide continuity for students in their numeracy learning as they progress through lev-

els of the school. It provides a specific language for students and teachers to use to en-

sure consistency in numeracy teaching and learning throughout the school. enVision-

Maths provides interactive graphics, game cards, activity cards, digital learning cards,

student workbooks and levelled worksheets to allow students to learn at their individual

pace. Students are exposed to a range of mathematical experiences in class to incorpo-

rate as many practical and problem solving experiences as possible to enable the stu-

dents to see the connection with real-life.

The mathematics program follows the Victorian Curriculum with the learning strands of

Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. An

understanding and application of mathematical ideas are developed through practical

and problem solving activities using a wide range of concrete materials.

Our Early Years Numeracy program allows teachers to assess the fundamental

understandings of children from Prep to 2 in a one-to-one interview which forms the

basis for future teaching directions.

Curriculum Outline

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Physical

Education and

Sport is a

feature of our

school.

MAPPEN:

In 2017 Yarra Road will be introducing a new program to the school ‘Mappen’ which

provides integrated units encompassing various subject areas including Science, Tech-

nology, History, Geography, Economics, and Civics and Citizenship. The learning capa-

bilities of Intercultural Understanding, Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Ca-

pabilities and Critical and Creative thinking skills are also incorporated into the inte-

grated units. These key learning areas are blended into interesting topics to be explored

throughout the school. Mappen is a whole school initiative and students of all levels will

explore a set topic, with a new topic set each term in a two year cycle allowing students

to explore a common topic from different learning perspectives.

Topics:

2017

2018

Yarra Road Primary School’s integrated curriculum studies is supported by an extensive

excursion and camps program (refer General Information) and lunch time co-curricular

activities, such as Environmental Club, Photography Club, Arts and Dance Clubs.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION:

Physical Education and Sport is a feature of our school. All children have specialist

lessons in Physical Education each week. In addition to this Prep undertake extra les-

sons in the perceptual motor program (PMP). Students in Grade 3 and 4 are involved in

intra-school sports competition, and Grade 5 and 6 partake in inter-school competition

in winter and summer sports.

A feature of the Physical Education program is our House Athletics sports conducted at

Proclamation Park in Ringwood, an annual Cross Country competition, and our

intensive swimming program.

Supporting our Physical Education program are various co-curricular activities; these

include coaching clinics in sports such as

Hockey, Football and Volleyball. Chil-

dren from Grade 1 to 6 can partake in our

Afterschool Basketball Competition and

have the opportunity to represent the

school in Hooptime competitions.

Curriculum Outline

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4

Community Sustainability Social Justice Creativity

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4

Identity Change Necessity Curiousity

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Students are

given the oppor-

tunity to partici-

pate in an annu-

al school pro-

duction.

THE ARTS:

In the Victorian Curriculum F–6, the Arts includes the disciplines: Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts and

Media Arts. The Performing Arts teacher is responsible for teaching Dance, Drama and Music. The Visu-

al Arts teacher is responsible for Visual Arts and Media Arts. Students are both the artist and audience.

They make and respond and learn to appreciate the specific ways this occurs in the different disciplines.

The students from Prep – Gr 6 will participate in both a Performing Arts lesson and a Visual Arts lesson

once a week for 45minutes each. The following program is assessed over a two year period.

Drama

Foundation

The students will portray a variety of characters through dramatization – happy person, sad, angry etc.

They will act out characters in known stories and display how the character is feeling. They will act out

scenarios such as walking a dog, building something or celebrating a birthday.

Gr 1/2

The students will explore Drama elements and conventions such as costumes and props to create a char-

acter based on their observation and perception of a character in a well-known story as well as communi-

cating a character’s feelings through facial expressions and gestures. They will act out scenarios for other

students to guess the situation.

Gr 3/4

The students will discuss the possibilities of communicating without words. They will be given an event

and they need to mime what may have happened before and then after the event. They will be involved in

activities that communicate a character’s feelings through facial expressions and gestures. Students will

also participate in Theatre Sports which develops thinking skills, improvisation and creativity.

Gr 5/6

The students will collaborate to plan, create and perform drama that communicates ideas. They will role-

play situations and develop and sustain their chosen character. Students will also participate in Theatre

Sports which develops thinking skills, improvisation and creativity. The Grade 6 students will be in-

volved in activities such as voice control and the use of facial expressions to help them with their audi-

tions for this year’s production.

Dance: All the students will learn about the impor tance of warming up the body before dancing

and performing safe moves.

Foundation

They will be involved in movement activities eg communicate the idea of a leaf in the wind by using

body movements to shift body weight in different ways. They will create their own moves to music and

they will be taught set dances to follow.

Gr 1/2

They use the elements of dance and fundamental movement skills to make and perform safely, dance se-

quences that express ideas. They will also be taught set steps and routines to follow.

Gr 3/4

Students will be involved in creating their own movement sequence. They will describe and discuss simi-

larities and differences between dances they make, perform and view. They will also be taught set rou-

tines to follow.

Gr 5/6

Students will be involved in activities that mirror the movements of a partner and then they will perform

these same movements expressing contrasting emotions. They describe characteristics of dances from

different social, historical and cultural contexts and discuss how these influence their dance making. They

perform dances for audiences, demonstrating technical and expressive skills and safe dance practice.

Curriculum Outline

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Visual Art

student work is

often show-

cased in our

school

Newsletters

Music:

All students will be provided with activities that will help them appreciate and enjoy various styles of

music.

Foundation

The students will be involved in beat activities (body percussion to songs such as ‘I am a fine musician’

and the use of percussion instruments to tap out the beat of songs), rhythmic activities (clap out syllables

of names and repeat given rhythm), melodies (sing rhymes and songs) and pitch and tempo (listening to a

variety of music). They will create music to show their understanding of beat and rhythm.

Gr 1/2

The students will sing songs and play percussion and tuned instruments. They will learn about crotchets

and quavers and play rhythms on the bongo drums. They will also play known songs such as Hot Cross

Buns on the glockenspiels and notes such as EDGB to play along with songs such as ‘Bilby Blues’. They

will have the opportunity to create their own music as well as listen to and respond to music that has al-

ready been composed by others.

Gr 3/4

Students describe and discuss similarities and differences between music they listen to, compose and per-

form. The students will create music that shows variation in rhythmic patterns and contrasts in pitch and

duration by using body percussion, percussion instruments and tuned instruments. Students will need ex-

perience in activities that involve beat, rhythm, melody, pitch and tempo as well as listen to a variety of

music. They will be given the opportunity to play simple tunes on the glockenspiel and will learn the

scale of ‘C’.

Gr 5/6

The students will revisit the elements (beat, rhythm, pitch, melody and tempo) of music to explain how

they are combined to communicate ideas, concepts and feelings by comparing music from different cul-

tures, times and locations. They will experiment with different scales and play percussion and tuned in-

struments to create their own arrangements as well as already composed pieces of music.

Production

Every year the students in Grade 6 are given the opportunity to have a speaking role in the school produc-

tion. The other grade levels use their skills in dance and or singing to participate. The production provides

students with an opportunity to perform in front of a large audience, to see what happens back stage and

to be part of a whole school event.

Visual Arts

The Visual Arts develops skills in using textiles, clay, drawing, printing, painting and media studies to

create both 2 and 3 dimensional pieces. We explore the elements of art including line, form, shape, tex-

ture, colour, and space. Time is spent equipping students with a wide variety of skills to assist them to

make choices about visual arts processes in examining their own work and the work of others.

In Foundation, Grade 1 and 2 ‘Creating and Making’ is the only component of the Visual Arts explored

by the children.

In Grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 ‘Exploring and Responding’

is added, as a second component of the Visual Arts

Program.

Experiences are given to assist students to express

the main focus of a topic and their own ideas.

In Grades 5 and 6 much emphasis is also placed in

providing experiences that develop research skills.

Work introduced is usually integrated and comple-

ments current Geography, History or Science units.

Historical and

Curriculum Outline

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Over the past

few years there

has been major

growth in

Digital

Technologies at

Yarra Road

Primary School.

LOTE (Indonesian) Yarra Road has a long history of teaching Indonesian for the LOTE program. Students

develop intercultural understanding and an appreciation of diversity through an explora-

tion of art, music, dance, cuisine and cultural beliefs and values. Learning another lan-

guage allows students to explore the conventions of languages and practice communica-

tion skills. Yarra Road prides itself in the cultural program delivered including an Indo-

nesian Restaurant incursion for Grade 5/6 students and a relationship with a Balinese

school that allows our Grade 3/4 students to send and receive pen pal letters with Bali-

nese children. Students in junior grades enjoy learning Indonesian through song and bi-

lingual picture story books.

Class lessons include a wide variety of teaching strategies to enable boys and girls to

communicate in Indonesian through Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing activities.

There is also an intercultural dimension where units compare and contrast similarities

and differences between Indonesian and Australian societies.

There is strong parental support for Indonesian with many parents taking holidays in

Bali. A large proportion of our students continue their Indonesian studies at secondary

level.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

At Yarra Road, we acknowledge that learning technologies bring the whole world into

our classrooms. Information from around the globe is literally at our fingertips.

To enable our teachers to deliver rich learning experiences using innovative technology

and teaching strategies, every classroom at Yarra Road has an interactive whiteboard or

large screen television. In 2017 the school will lease 195 Chromebook computers with

children from Foundation to Grade 6 having access to these devices at the following rati-

os: Grade 5 and 6 will each have access to a device, Grades 2, 3, and 4 will have 1 device

available between 2 students and the Preps and Grade 1s will have a bank of 23 Chrome-

books. We will provide 83 iPads, distributed mainly across Prep and Grade 1, with the

remainder in banks for access for Grades 2-6 when needed. The provision of Digital De-

vices enables students to create digital stories, access programs that teach our students to

become responsible digital citizens, communicate with their peers from across the world

and interact with a range of educational applications to complement classroom core cur-

riculum. We also provide safe and secure social networking environments through

Skooville, where children aged 6-14 years learn to be smart and responsible online.

REPORTING STUDENT PROGRESS TO PARENTS

Written reports on academic progress are given at the completion of the first half year’s

work, and again, at the end of the year. These, together with the two formal interviews,

provide a comprehensive reporting process.

Curriculum Outline

Students

develop an

appreciation

and

understanding

of diverse

cultures through

the Indonesian

LOTE program.

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In a school of

this size,

teachers quickly

know children

and their

families.

Yarra Road Primary School considers the well-being of children a paramount issue in

ensuring an excellent education for all students. In a school of this size, teachers

quickly know children and their families. We always encourage good communication

between the home and the school, as well as providing excellent internal structures to

enable information to appropriately move amongst staff. Together, we work towards

providing a safe and peaceful environment for everyone.

RESTORATIVE PRACTICES: Excellent tone and restorative practices are an integral part of the school’s operation.

The staff, school council and parents all co-operate to ensure we promote recognition of

excellent behaviour and attitude. We employ restorative practices at Yarra Road to ena-

ble students to build, maintain and restore relationships.

Yarra Road Primary School students’ self development and achievements are very

positively encouraged and rewarded. All children have the right to feel secure, both in

the classroom and playground. Interfering with the rights of other children by disruptive

classroom behaviour or anti-social behaviour in the playground will not be tolerated. In

most instances a simple warning from the teacher is sufficient to correct a problem.

However, in instances where children present a continual problem, parents are involved

as we develop strategies to assist children to change their behaviour patterns. As part of

the school’s Curriculum children are taught about bullying behaviours and resilience

building strategies. Restorative Practices ensure consistent practice across the school for

students to reflect on their decision making to act restoratively to prevent further inci-

dents from occurring. Students learn to listen to each other and accept responsibility for

their actions to develop remorse through conferencing with a teacher and involved stu-

dents.

EXTRA ASSISTANCE:

Sometimes individual children require special care or programs to deal with

educational, behavioural, social or emotional difficulties. To support the wellbeing of

students there are a number of Department of Education and Early Childhood

Development personnel and other services available to assist the school. These include:

Education Psychologist

Speech Pathologist

Visiting Teachers for Sight, Hearing and Physically Impaired students

School Medical Service

Dental Health

Kids Hope Mentors

Program for students with disabilities

Integration Aides

Access to translators

Student Wellbeing

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There are twen-

ty ‘Mateship’

Groups that that

include students

from Prep to

Grade 6. Each

group has cho-

sen a name e.g.

‘Best Mates”

and shield that

identifies their

group’s likes,

talents, values,

interests and the

qualities they

admire most.

Mateship

Groups meet

regularly and

participate in a

range of fun and

engaging

activities.

MENTORING:

“Kids Hope Aus” is a mentoring program established under the auspice of World Vision

Australia. Members of the Wonga Park Dutch Reform Church are trained to be Mentors

within our school setting, and spend an hour per week with a selected child sharing their

diverse skills to assist students with class work such as reading and mathematics. Most

importantly these mentors share their time with students to develop student’s self esteem

and encourage students to strive to achieve their personal best.

PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES (PSD)

Children who are eligible for the state government’s PSD program are well supported at

Yarra Road Primary School. Teachers, aides and parents work together to provide the

most appropriate individualised learning plan for these children. We also liaise with

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) staff and

external agencies to give the best support for learning and care that we can.

EXTENSION SUPPORT:

At Yarra Road we aim to identify, nurture and support students who demonstrate talent,

above average abilities in a range of areas. We acknowledge that there are varying

degrees of excellence in the intellectual, academic, creative, sporting and leadership

fields. All teachers are responsible for providing a broad range of experiences to enable

‘giftedness’ to emerge in all areas of intelligence and to facilitate the differentiated cur-

riculum. Outside the classroom, the children have the opportunity to be involved in many

sporting competitions, lunchtime art classes, perform in a choir, participate in Theatre

Sports and enter academic competitions such as the University of New South Wales

Competitions.

BUDDY PROGRAM:

The children in their Prep year are teamed up with a buddy from Grade Five. They spend

some class time together and participate in a variety of activities, the highlight being,

‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’, where all children wear pyjamas, bring along their teddies

and have a picnic together. The buddy system also incorporates a playground component

in which the older children offer support for their younger buddies. At the beginning of

the year the Grade Fives stay with their Prep buddy at

recess and lunchtime until the Prep child feels secure

enough in the school ground. Usually, groups of Preps

play together while the Grade Fives are close by to

take them to the toilet and return them to their class-

room at the end of recess and lunch breaks. The part-

nership continues into the following year when the

children are in Grades One and Six respectively.

Student Wellbeing The children in

their Prep year

are teamed up

with a buddy

from Grade

Five. They

spend some

class time

together and

participate in a

variety of

activities, the

highlight being,

‘The Teddy

Bear’s Picnic’.