Curriculum
Curriculum policy in ACT Government schools is the responsibility of the School Board. Calwell Primary School actively supports and implements the ACT Department of Education’s policy of school based curriculum development both for the relevance of the curriculum to the needs of students at the school and for the professional development of staff.
The School’s Curriculum is based on the ACT Department of Education’s Curriculum Frameworks and the National Learning Outcome Profiles. It encompasses the nationally agreed Key Learning Areas, and includes;
English Studies of Society and Environment
Mathematics The Arts
Science Technology
Health and Physical Education
Literacy, numeracy and the acquisition of basic skills are school priorities reflected in teaching and learning across the whole curriculum.
Curriculum delivery is organised using an integrated curriculum model. Teachers plan and implement units of work that incorporate knowledge, skills, values and attitudes from several Key Learning areas together. This integrated curriculum model promotes student understanding and the acquisition of skills across learning areas. Differences in student’s learning styles are catered for by offering students opportunities to gather information and process and apply understandings through a wide range of vehicles such as, language, mathematics, dance, music, art, drama etc.
In developing our curriculum and integrated units of learning the school has incorporated the Department of Education’s Across Curriculum Perspectives. (Details of Across Curriculum Perspectives may be found in any of the ACT Curriculum Frameworks, copies of which are held in the school library).
In general terms curriculum in each of the Key Learning Areas reflects the following priorities:
English
Calwell Primary School has adopted the ACT Department of Education’s definition of literacy as set out in the ACT English Frameworks.
Literacy is the ability to read and use written information and to write appropriately in a range of contexts. It also involves the integration of speaking, listening and critical thinking with reading and writing and includes the cultural knowledge that enables the speaker, writer or reader to recognise and use language appropriate to the social situation. In the English learning area, literacy also includes viewing.
At Calwell, we develop and implement a balanced literacy program across the school. The whole school is involved in an uninterrupted two-hour literacy block daily. We use First Steps Development Continua and Running Records to measure and evaluate student progress.
Mathematics
The school’s approach to teaching mathematics is based on the National Profile as follows.
Mathematics involves skills of observing, representing and investigating patterns and relationships in social and physical phenomena and between mathematical objects themselves.
In the teaching/learning processes undertaken at Calwell, students demonstrate skills, knowledge and understanding by:
• Working in context
• Using problem solving strategies
• Investigating
• Applying and verifying
• Conjecturing
• Using mathematical language
The framework of the mathematics curriculum is developed around eight strands. The strands are of two types, process and concept.
Process Strands (Working Mathematically)
• Attitudes and Appreciations
• Mathematical Inquiry
• Choosing and Using Mathematics
Conceptual Strands
• Space
• Number
• Measurement
• Chance and Data
• Patterns/Relationships/Algebra.
The above strands describe the knowledge, skills and processes in all levels of learning.
Count Me In Too
Calwell Primary teachers have implemented the Count Me In Too Program for all students from Kindergarten to Year 6. This program is designed to assist teachers to broaden their knowledge of how children learn mathematics by focusing on strategies which students apply when solving arithmetic and counting tasks.
Science
A knowledge of Science is necessary for all students so that they can understand the physical and biological world in which they live, value the systems and processes that support life on our planet, and take an active role in their society.
Science Education at Calwell will provide the opportunity for investigative and interactive learning thereby providing the students with the opportunity to share ideas and become responsible and active participants.
Within a positive environment the students will have opportunities to explore, test, discuss, take risks and ask questions. They will do this through the strands of learning which will encompass and include:
• Earth and Beyond
• Energy and Change
• Life and Living
• Processed and Natural Materials
• Working Scientifically
Health and Physical Education
There is increasing recognition of the importance of living an active, healthy life and of the need to make informed, responsible decisions. Health and physical education gives students the knowledge and practical skills to meet these needs and helps develop a better quality of life for all.
Health and physical education focuses on the development of the whole person by contributing to the individual’s emotional, mental, physical and social well-being. Knowledge and skills are developed and experiences provided that promote student participation in personal and group actions enabling students to become responsible members of society. Health and physical education develops a range of communication skills and offers students experiences that enable them to work effectively alone and in teams.
Students from K-2 will experience a variety of Gross Motor activities. Activities within these sessions centre around play, aiming for enjoyment and participation. Fitness will develop through student participation in class activities.
Students from 3-6 will participate in a balanced physical education and health program that includes selections from:
• outdoor activities
• gymnastics
• aquatics
• dance
• sport education
• fitness activities
• games
These sessions assist in skill development for participation in modified sports as well as participation in fitness activities.
At Calwell Primary School students participate in a range of sporting activities including; inter-school sport, coaching clinics conducted by Sport Development Officers and Aussie Sport, Learn-to-Swim program and School Carnivals for Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics.
Parents play a significant role in the coaching and managing of teams especially those operating at weekends. Participation in some activities is dependent upon the cost of transport and admission being shared by those participating.
The Arts
Dance, drama, media, music and the visual arts (incorporating art, craft and design) are the five key art forms of the arts curriculum. All art forms provide unique experiences. When students
take part in the arts as makers, presenters, critics and theorists, they learn to work within a medium to transform their perception, ideas and feelings into artistic form.
Through the arts, students learn to value, feel, respond to and enjoy artistic experiences. They learn to critically appreciate art works and arts ideas by describing, analysing, interpreting, judging, valuing and challenging.
At Calwell, students are exposed to a range of approaches to the arts. Their learning is varied, drawing on all the resources of the school and community. Together the art forms play an important role in the development of personal, social and cultural identity. Studies of Society and Environment Society and Environment is an essential part of a balanced education where all students learn about the factors that shape their individual identity and that of their society. The area is important because it expands students’ knowledge and understanding of their own society, other societies, local and global environments and the relationships between environments and societies. It develops knowledge about Australia, the diversity of its people, its cultural and natural environmental heritage, and its place in the world. At Calwell our curriculum provides opportunities for the development of:
• investigation, communication and participation skills,
• practical survival skills,
• interpersonal skills necessary for getting along with others and establishing attitudes,
values and beliefs,
• strategies for making decisions and choices,
• developing skills that enhance the ability to live in peace and harmony in our
independent and interconnected world of natural and social systems.
Technology
Students at Calwell Primary School are encouraged to develop the skills to contribute to and participate productively and innovatively in the construction, reconstruction and management of the human environment. Our technology programs equip students with knowledge and experience of the made world.
Students at Calwell will participate in Technology through:
• investigation and manipulation of materials, information and systems,
• application of an innovative, design-based, problem solving approach to
achieve practical outcomes,
• the use of knowledge and experience to create products and processes,
• the critical appraisal of the function and impact of products.
The basis for the programs is taken from the four strands of:
• Designing, Making and Appraising
• Information
• Materials
• Systems
Further details of each of these Key Learning Areas are available in the relevant ACT Curriculum Framework, copies of which are held in the School Resource Centre.
