Curriculum

Literacy at Yea Primary School

At Yea Primary School we follow a Structured Literacy approach from the first year of school and beyond. This ensures all children, particularly those most at-risk of literacy difficulties, receive the high quality literacy instruction they need for reading, writing, spelling and academic success. The English program is based on the Victorian Curriculum. It incorporates a daily literacy block focusing on Explicit Instruction.

Students in our Junior School participate in the InitiaLit Program. InitiaLit has been developed by MultiLit, a research-based initiative of Macquarie University. This to ensure that all children get off to the best possible start. InitiaLit teaches children how to read and spell through daily lessons, using research-based teaching methods. It also uses a range of good quality storybooks to develop children’s vocabulary and oral language.

Students in our Senior School, participate in daily structured literacy sessions ensuring that phonology, morphology, orthography, syntax and semantics are explicitly, systematically and cumulatively taught.

Writing is incorporated into structured literacy sessions. We focus on handwriting and students begin writing at a word level moving to sentence level and then paragraph level. Students write for a variety of purposes using a range of genres.

Speaking and Listening are as important as reading and writing and they are woven into our curriculum. Speaking and listening plays a part in reading and writing, but also in other curriculum areas such as Inquiry, HPE, Art and Science. Students are given opportunities for public speaking at our assemblies, during focus times in class and during Passion Projects. Students learn to speak for a range of purposes requiring a range of skills.

Essential elements to the program are:

Assessment:Continual progress monitoring and assessment and regular one to one conferencing.
Learning focus: Lesson focus is made explicit through the explanation of learning intentions and success criteria.
Daily Review: Review of learning that happened yesterday, last week and last month.
Explicit instruction:Whole class direct instruction using modelling techniques, digital technologies and other resources.
Independent Practise: Independent reading of both choice and set texts, including decodable texts. Independent writing of both choice and set topics and text types.
Variety of Resources:A range of text types available through our class and school library.
Technology: Multi modal approach including studyladder, use of iPads, interactive whiteboards, viewing and use of notebooks for publishing and drafting of writing.
Individualised learning goals: Every student has individual learning goals that are practised daily in student independent work time at school and home.
Reflection:A whole class reflection and share time, as well as opportunities to practice oral language.
Extension / Support programs:Additional evidence-based intervention for reading and writing- MiniLit Sage (grades 1 and 2) and MacqLit (grades 3-6). Students have the opportunity to access high ability programs in the upper years and are supported to work at their own level in the classroom through their personal goals.

Numeracy at Yea Primary School

Numeracy at Yea Primary School is guided by the Victorian Curriculum and is delivered using our schools Instructional Model. Throughout each year, students will focus on concepts within the areas of Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. Every mathematics lesson is taught consistently and daily throughout the school.

Essential elements to the program are:

Assessment: Summative and formative data-driven teaching and learning that is used to monitor and assess student learning and plan future lessons.
Learning focus: Lesson focus is made explicit through the explanation of learning intentions and success criteria.
Explicit instruction: Whole class direct instruction using modelling techniques, digital technologies and other resources.
Independent Practise: Time for independent practice, focused teaching groups, partner and small group work that is differentiated and targeted to individual student needs.
Variety of resources: Students are exposed to a wide range of manipulatives to help develop an understanding of mathematical concepts, as well as open-ended, critical thinking problem solving activities and real-life projects.
Technology: A variety of digital technologies to enhance learning, such as netbooks, iPads, interactive whiteboards and mathematical software.
Individualised learning goals: Every student have individual learning goals that are practised daily through number fluency activities.
Reflection: Whole class reflection and share time, as well as opportunities to discuss successful strategies and misconceptions.
Extension/support program: A streamed extension and/or support program is also offered for students in levels 3-6 who show advanced capabilities in all areas of mathematics.