Curriculum
The academic core of Edgars Creek Primary School’s curriculum is the development of literacy and numeracy skills in students across all year levels.
- Students participate in focused English and Mathematics lessons on a daily basis where they are supported in developing their understanding and skills through a variety of teacher led, small group and individual tasks.
- Our teachers use the Victorian Curriculum to assess and plan for student learning in English and mathematics
Individual learning needs are catered for by students working on tasks addressing their specific needs and learning goals. - We support our students to identify and set personal learning goals that assist them to progress in their learning.
- We value and support effective parent involvement and provide parent helpers’ training in literacy and numeracy.
Our Learning Communities
At Edgars Creek Primary School, students belong to a Learning Community consisting of a number of Home Groups. Every student belongs to a Home Group that has a specific teacher leading it.
All Home Groups meet every morning, in a designated learning area. A number of learning activities are completed in Home Groups throughout the year. Students also attend their specialist lessons in their Home Group.
The teachers in each Learning Community use student data to inform fluid groupings for literacy and mathematics. Students participate in lessons with different teachers withing their Learning Community, in different learning areas, depending on student needs. The teachers in each Learning Community collaboratively plan and prepare learning activities that address individual student learning needs.
Literacy
Our school literacy program focuses on supporting students to develop a strong understanding of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. These three language modes are immersed in and taught across all curriculum areas. A whole school literacy model identifies key lesson features and evidence-based teaching practices that our teachers employ to support student learning in these three language modes.
In the Early Years, our school focuses on providing students with rich language experiences that support them to learn new ways to apply the skills of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening while developing their understanding of language and vocabulary. Students are explicitly taught the relationship between the sounds (phonemes) of spoken language, and the letters (graphemes), groups of letters, or syllables of written language. Our teachers support students to develop and apply their understanding and skills through a variety of teacher led, small group and individual learning tasks focusing on specific student needs.
As our students progress in their learning, our staff teach and support them to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose. We support our students to appreciate, enjoy and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade and argue.
Premiers’ Reading Challenge 2024
Numeracy
Mathematics and Numeracy
Our school Mathematics and Numeracy program is based upon our core vision of ‘Edgars Creek Primary School empowers all students within Mathematics teaching and learning to be curious, confident and critical-thinking mathematicians; who develop the passion, skills and dispositions they need to be numerate in daily experiences.’
This vision is enacted through six Victorian Curriculum 2.0 strands of Number, Algebra, Measurement, Shape, Statistics and Probability.
Students are exposed to Number, Algebra, Measurement, Shape and Statistics in each year level, with Probability introduced to students working at Level 3 and beyond. These strands are taught using a combined curriculum approach which allows students to make and see connections between different areas of mathematics and numeracy.
Our program focuses on both Mathematical skills and concepts as well as Numeracy, where students apply the Mathematical skills through real-life contexts. Teachers develop units of work that allow students to develop mathematical understandings over several weeks, with the teacher providing explicit teaching, opportunities for students to practice and master new knowledge, a range of challenging maths tasks, application of skills in problem-based scenarios, and related key vocabulary.
Throughout all units of work the four proficiencies of understanding, fluency, problem solving and reasoning are embedded to ensure our students become all rounded mathematicians that can respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations using mathematical strategies to solve problems efficiently.
Early number sense informs much of the number work in our Early Years classrooms. The key concepts of counting, subitising, part-part-whole, trusting the count and place-value are taught through hands on, concrete learning experiences that allow for students to create mental objects of numbers. Students can then move on to the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Teachers represent these operations first using physical models, then with verbal and symbolic representations. As students progress, they extend their ideas about multiplication and division to make connections to fractions, decimals and percentages.
Teachers at Edgars Creek Primary School enable students to gain a deep understanding of these core concepts by tracking students’ misconceptions and targeting learning to the point of need in small group instruction. Using developmental sequences of learning, teachers assist students to set individual goals, allowing active participation from students and empowering them to become independent, critical-thinking learners.
Specialist Program
Students at Edgars Creek Primary School participate in six timetabled specialist lessons each week:
- Physical Education
- Science
- The Arts (Performing Arts for 6 months, Visual Arts for 6 months)
- Spanish
- Digital Technologies
- Oral Language (Prep – Year 1)
- STEM (Years 2-6)
Physical Education
At Edgars Creek Primary School, we value physical activity for all students and their families. Weekly Physical Education lessons allow students to be active and develop their thinking towards physical activity and living a healthy life.
Prep – Year 2
- Fundamental Movements Skills – jumping, hopping, skipping, running, leaping, galloping
- Playground safety
- Mini Athletics
- Ball Skills – catching, throwing, rolling, target games, ball bouncing and kicking
- Spatial Awareness
- Taking turns, sharing, team work
- Mini Gymnastics
- Values Education
- Two handed strike
- House Sports
- Health awareness – some aspects include healthy eating, hygiene and building new friendships
Year 3-6
- Extending their Fundamental Movement Skills in various Teaching Games for Understanding Units – Invasion Games, Target Games, Striking/Fielding Games and Net/Wall Games.
- Athletics
- Hot Shots Tennis
- Community Building
- Gymnastics
- Values Education
- House Sports
- Incorporating ICT into physical activity
- Health awareness – some aspects include healthy eating, community work, social media, how to stop bullying and hygiene.
Science
The science program at Edgars Creek Primary School offers students a chance to experience exciting and hands-on learning. The program teaches traditional subjects like biology, physics, chemistry and earth sciences, but also offers new and innovative programs in the integrated fields of technology and engineering. Together with mathematics, these subjects are recognised world-wide as STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).
The aim of Edgars Creek Primary School’s STEM program is to facilitate students’ natural curiosity about the world. Through teaching the scientific inquiry method, the program aims to support students to make sense of the things they wonder about and experience in their everyday lives. The program also encourages students to think globally to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Students from select year levels will have the opportunity to participate in environmental programs within the local community to further develop their passion and understanding of sustainability and sustainable practices.
Overall, the program aims for Edgars Creek Primary School students leaving Year Six to have a real passion for science as well as a solid grounding in scientific and technological understandings and skills. This will place students in an excellent position for future studies, as well as equip them with the skills necessary to participate fully in society as critically thinking and active citizens.
The Arts
Edgars Creek Primary School provides an outstanding Arts Program for all children encompassing Visual Arts and Performing Arts. All students from Years Prep to Grade 6 participate in a weekly specialist Arts lesson (6 months of each).
Performing Arts at Edgars Creek Primary School allows all students to participate in lessons that incorporate Dance, Drama and Music. Students are given many opportunities to perform, act, sing, dance and gain overall confidence in a safe and encouraging environment. Lunchtime Dance Clubs are offered to all students where they learn dances and perform them at school assemblies.
Visual Arts at Edgars Creek Primary School allows all students to explore their creative side. Students are given opportunities to feel free and confident to express ideas in a calm and friendly atmosphere and are encouraged to respond to the artwork of others. Students learn art techniques, skills and styles from various artist and then have the opportunity to incorporate them into their own art piece. The Visual Arts program incorporates both art making, art appreciation and understanding of art in our world today.
Digital Technologies
Edgars Creek Primary School promotes the use of the BYOD iPad program where students can bring their own iPad to school. This allows for ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning and specific tailoring to students’ needs.
For those who cannot provide their own iPads, a limited supply of iPads are available.
At Edgars Creek Primary School, digital learning is integrated across all areas of the curriculum where students are able to make real world connections with their learning. These connections aim to engage and inspire students to learn new skills and strive to be active learners.
Students develop curiosity and a deep understanding of digital systems and processes whilst maintaining integrity through respectful, ethical, and safe digital practices.
Edgars Creek Primary School encourages students to be critical when analysing data from a variety of sources and communicating as active members of their community. They evaluate the benefits and potential risks of solutions in order to improve our society and the greater environment.
