The Junior School Curriculum is based on the Australian Curriculum which sets out the sequence of learning across the years of schooling Prep to Year 10. Teachers use the Australian Curriculum to develop teaching and learning programs that build on student’s current learning. It enables teachers to plan rigorous, relevant and engaging learning and assessment experiences for all students.
English
Throughout the study of English, students learn how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning.
Students in Prep to Year 4 are provided with a range of experiences with spoken, written and multimodal texts. These experiences are included in the curriculum as valid ways of communicating and as rich resources for further learning about language, literature and literacy.
Students engage with purposeful listening, reading, viewing, speaking and writing activities for different purposes and contexts. Students learn to use language to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain and persuade with growing accuracy and fluency.
The study of English is central to the learning and development of all young Australians. The Junior School English program aims to create confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. The English curriculum includes reading, writing, spelling, speaking and listening. A specific emphasis on reading provides a long life endeavor which is systemically and efficiently taught by educators with advanced knowledge and expertise in this area.
THRASS (Teaching of Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills) has been adopted as a major tool to promote extended English development in the Junior School. THRASS provides an evidence based system which enhances the learning of phonics. Overnewton Junior School has been trained to deliver the THRASS approach as a Mastery Level.
Mathematics
The early years lay the foundation for learning Mathematics. Students in Prep to Year 4 are exposed to powerful mathematical ideas relevant to their current lives and learn the language of Mathematics, which is vital to future progression.
Through active experiences, students construct understanding of key mathematical concepts and gradually move to using models, pictures and symbols to represent these ideas.
Junior School students have the opportunity to access mathematical ideas by developing a sense of number, order, sequence and pattern; by understanding quantities and their representations; by learning about attributes of objects and collections, position, movement and direction, and by developing an awareness of the collection, presentation and variation of data and a capacity to make predictions about chance events.
These foundations also enable students to pose basic mathematical questions about their world, to identify simple strategies to investigate solutions, and to strengthen their reasoning to solve personally meaningful problems.