Banksia Park Primary School

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Curriculum

Banksia Park School R-6 delivers DECD procedures of:

High quality learning and care for South Australian children and students must be  based on an excellent curriculum. As curriculum is the sum of total of all teaching and learning activities in our schools and children’s services it is every educator’s priority concern.

All schools in South Australia are required to implement the Australian Curriculum in all areas of learning effective as of 2016. Whilst we have been transitioning to the Australian Curriculum over the last few years, 2016 will see its full implementation at Banksia Park School R-6.

General Capabilities

As part of all the curriculum areas, the following skills are developed:

Literacy

Students become literate as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to interpret and use language confidently for learning and communicating in and out of school and for participating effectively in society. Literacy involves students listening to, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating oral, print, visual and digital texts, and using and modifying language for different purposes in a range of contexts.

Numeracy

    Numeracy encompasses the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations. It involves students recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully.

Information and Communication Technology

    Students develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school. ICT capability involves students learning to make the most of the digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment.

Critical and Creative Thinking

Thinking that is productive, purposeful and intentional is at the centre of effective learning. By applying a sequence of thinking skills, students develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the processes they can use whenever they encounter problems, unfamiliar information and new ideas. In addition, the progressive development of knowledge about thinking and the practice of using thinking strategies can increase students’ motivation for, and management of, their own learning. They become more confident and autonomous problem-solvers and thinkers.

Ethical Understanding

Ethical understanding involves students building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty, and to develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others. It does this through fostering the development of ‘personal values and attributes such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others’, and the capacity to act with ethical integrity, as outlined in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008, p. 9).

Personal and Social Capability

    Students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively. Personal and social capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible decisions, working effectively in teams, handling challenging situations constructively and developing leadership skills.

Intercultural Understanding

    Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. Intercultural understanding involves students learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

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Assessment And Reporting

Throughout the year, teachers will gladly arrange interviews with parents who wish to discuss a child’s learning or any matter of concern.

Term Activity
Term 1 Reverse Interviews (week 3)
Parent Teacher Interviews (week 9)
Term 2 Written report
Term 3 Parent Teacher interviews
Term 4 End of Year Summary Report

Homework

The most important benefit for homework in the Primary School is the opportunity it provides for children to share their learning with parents. It also provides a means for children to accept responsibility for some learning outside the classroom, particularly in the upper grades. It loses value when it becomes a tedious chore without relevance to the child. Homework is not intended as a imposition but rather as an indication to children that learning is a whole-of-life process. Homework reinforces learning that has occurred in the classroom, homework will never be 'new learning'

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