CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

Purpose

To develop a high quality and consistent approach to the delivery of teaching practice and learning experiences across all levels and classrooms.

The purpose of this framework is to outline Ardeer South Primary School’s organisation, implementation and review of curriculum and teaching practices and to ensure that, taken as a whole, all eight learning areas are substantially addressed, unless an exemption applies. 

The framework shows how the school will deliver its curriculum, how the curriculum and teaching practice will be reviewed, how we assess student learning, how we record and monitor student performance, and when and how we report to parents. This curriculum framework should be read alongside our whole school, curriculum area, year level and unit / lesson curriculum plans.

Overview

Ardeer South Primary School provides all students with a planned and structured curriculum to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to become lifelong learners.

Ardeer South Primary School is committed to implement a dynamic curriculum program that:

• is outcome focussed;
• is engaging and relevant and enables students to develop deep levels of knowledge, processes and skills for life-long learning;
• is differentiated in approaches to teaching that cater for the needs of students with a range of interests, abilities, skills, and motivation;
• provides opportunities for students to think, reflect and become independent, resourceful and adaptable learners;
• enables students to interact with other students and the wider community;
• is compliant with Department of Education and Training (DET) policies and based on the Victorian Curriculum. Refer to: https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/

Ardeer South Primary School  is committed to offering a comprehensive curriculum based on the Victorian Curriculum F-10. The key points in this framework, and in line with the F–10 Revised Curriculum Planning and Reporting Guidelines, are a commitment to:

•       A defined curriculum content is the basis for student learning
•       Curriculum planning that is based on two-year bands of schooling rather than each year level
•       Developing and publishing a separate whole-school curriculum plan that documents our teaching and learning program
•       Reporting student learning against the achievement standards in the curriculum
•       Reporting student learning to students and parents in line with the Department’s Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10 policy.
•       Complying with Departmental policies relating to curriculum provision, including:

o   Physical and Sport Education — Delivery Outcomes

o   Sexuality and Consent Education

o   Holocaust Education – Delivery Requirements

Ardeer South Primary School is committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students, staff and members of our community. Our school recognises the importance of the partnership between our school and parents and carers to support student learning, engagement and wellbeing. We share a commitment to, and a responsibility for, creating an inclusive and safe school environment for our students.

Ardeer South’s vision is to provide a comprehensive learning program that supports and develops each student’s academic, emotional, physical, social and cultural needs. Students will work in an inspiring environment to achieve skills to enable lifelong learning and to achieve the goal of “Preparing for the Future”.

Ardeer South’s mission is to provide a welcoming environment that is positive, safe, inclusive and supportive for all students and members of our school community.  

Implementation

Ardeer South Primary School implements its curriculum by providing sequential learning and teaching programs that deliver a comprehensive and inclusive curriculum to all students, whilst working to foster an increasing sense of student voice and learner agency. We have high expectations for all of our students, academically, socially and culturally by striving for excellence and honouring our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Effort and Safety. 

Ardeer South Primary School provides a comprehensive curriculum with a strong focus on Literacy and Numeracy. In addition to the Literacy and Numeracy programs, we have a scope and sequence which addresses the curriculum areas of Humanities, Science, Technologies, Civics and Citizenship, Health and Wellbeing. Specialist teachers provide instruction in Healthy and Physical Education, Visual Arts, Performing Arts and LOTE (Italian). 

Interdisciplinary, personal and social capabilities are addressed across the curriculum and by explicitly teaching the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program. This is also supported by our camps, incursions and excursions programs as well as our interschool initiatives. Our school is an active participant in district sporting competitions. The teachers work as a team to ensure that the Victorian Curriculum is implemented across the school. Intervention approaches such as Literacy Intervention, the placement of Education Support staff, the development of Individual Education Support Plans and modified programs for individual students, provide the additional support for our students when it is needed.  

Further information on how our school implements the curriculum, including the learning areas provided at each year level/band of schooling, and the capabilities that are developed by students across these learning areas and the approximate time allocations for each learning area, is provided in our whole school, curriculum area, year level and unit / lesson curriculum plans.

Guidelines

• The Principal has the overall responsibility for the implementation of curriculum at the school. Aspects of this role can be delegated to other staff members and curriculum leaders who will work in conjunction with the principal in developing curriculum delivery and programs. Strategic Teams will be formed to develop specific curriculum areas and provide advice to the staff as a whole.
• This policy works in conjunction with the Mathematics and English policies.
• This policy works in conjunction with the Assessment and Reporting and Homework policies.
• The curriculum taught at Ardeer South Primary School will encompass all the areas in The Victorian Curriculum.
• The school will ensure that it has a comprehensive budget to support curriculum programs. Budget requests will be formulated by program leaders in October before the next school year. These will be compiled by the Principal and discussed in the Finance Subcommittee meeting. Indicative budgets must be approved by the School Council prior to the school year. Program Leaders are strongly encouraged to expend curriculum budgets in the first and second terms of the school year.
• The ASPS Strategic Plan is the school’s statement to its community about what it stands for and intends to do, over the next four years, to improve student outcomes. It defines what the school values most and sets out the school’s goals and targets, key strategies for improvement and its resourcing priorities.
• The ASPS Annual Implementation Plan outlines one-year goals that are steps towards achieving the broader targets set in the Strategic Plan. It also provides a reference point for monitoring the school’s progress in meeting the goals and targets set in its Strategic Plan.
• Each term, level teams will produce a curriculum planning document detailing the learning focuses of the term. Weekly Professional Learning Team meetings will have a focus on student learning data and planning in order to provide differentiated approaches to teaching that cater for the needs of students with a range of interests, abilities, skills, and motivation. This will include references to the Victorian Curriculum. http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/.
• Curriculum and level leaders will ensure the Victorian Curriculum scope and sequence and curriculum coverage is monitored across the school. Strategic teams and professional learning, teaching and learning teams are responsible for core curriculum development and delivery.
• The school has developed a structured approach to curriculum planning that ensures a shared vision within the school on curriculum development, common documentation and common understandings of the whole school curriculum.
• The teaching of literacy and numeracy will be an integral component in all curriculum planning and delivery.
• Learning about the cross-curriculum priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia and Sustainability is embedded in the learning areas of the Victorian Curriculum F–10.
• The school will have a range of specialist programs to deliver various curriculum programs such as Languages, Physical Education, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. These will be offered depending on school/DET priorities, access to qualified teaching staff, and timetable provisions.
• ASPS curriculum will incorporate the guided inquiry approach which encourages purposeful cross curriculum opportunities to enhance learning through meaningful context. A range of thinking curriculum tools will complement this curriculum.

• A range of DET programs will support curriculum delivery in the school. These may include English as an Additional Language (EAL), Literacy Intervention, Health Education, Drug Education, Koorie Education, Gifted Education and the Program for Students with Disabilities. (PSD) For more information about the PSD see:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/governance/spag/curriculum/programs/disabilities.htm.

Student Learning Overview

Student learning is shaped by four connected components which will be outlined in this policy: 

Curriculum (what) – defines what it is that students should learn and the associated progressions or continuum of learning. Ardeer South Primary School, follows the Victorian Curriculum F-10, including levels A,B, C, D Towards Foundation. 

Pedagogy (how)- describes how the students will be taught and supported to learn. 

Assessment (how well)- identifies how well the student has (or has not) learnt specific content. The teachers at Ardeer South Primary School follow the school assessment schedule, which is reviewed annually. 

Reporting (where) – this explains to the student and family where a student is on a learning continuum at the end of a specified period and where this places them in relation to the standard expected of their current year level. Data plays an important role in the ongoing school improvement and student monitoring processes. 

Curriculum:

The following table provides the time tabled allocation for the Victorian Curriculum learning domains at Ardeer South Primary School.  In addition our inquiry approach encourages purposeful cross curriculum opportunities to enhance learning through meaningful context. The curriculum will be implemented in accordance with the school’s Time Allocation Per Learning Area Outline

Curriculum Content

The Victorian Curriculum F–10 sets out what every student should learn. The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship. The following elements of the curriculum are embedded into whole school teaching and learning plans including Yearly Curriculum Overviews at each level, Term Planners, Unit Planners and Weekly Work Programs. Teaching staff follow the Ardeer South Primary School Planning for Learning process to plan programs that include teaching of all key learning areas.

English learning encompasses the modes of Reading and Viewing, Writing and Speaking and Listening as outlined in Victorian Curriculum. It is expected that a two hour literacy block be scheduled each day. This can include integrating literacy teaching across other areas of learning. English as an Additional Language is offered to those students whom English is not their home language. Through the EAL curriculum pathways, students develop English language competence. 

Mathematics teaching encompasses the areas of Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability as outlined in Victorian Curriculum. It is expected that an hour numeracy block be scheduled each day. This could be integrated across other areas of learning.

The Humanities and Science curriculum are taught through units of work. A whole school inquiry scope and sequence is to be implemented through a two-year cyclical model, reflected in the school's organisation into Prep, Junior School (Years 1 & 2), Middle School (Years 3 & 4) and Senior School (Years 5 & 6). Year level teams will regularly review and analyse content, resources and teaching techniques before, during and after each unit of work. The scope and sequence developed by the school outlines the units from Foundation to Year 6. Learning is organised and based on a two-year cyclical model reflecting Victorian Curriculum level requirements.

Technologies including Digital Technologies and Design and Technologies provide a framework for students to learn how to use technologies to create innovative solutions that meet current and future needs. In Design and Technologies, students use design thinking and technologies to generate and produce designed solutions. In Digital Technologies, students use computational thinking and information systems to analyse, design and develop digital solutions. At Ardeer South Primary School our students have the opportunity to use the schools 1:1 iPad program to engage in practical opportunities to be users, designers and producers of new technologies.

Learning Languages in addition to English extends students' literacy repertoires and their capacity to communicate. It strengthens students’ understanding of the nature of language, culture, and the processes of communication. The Languages curriculum aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that students communicate in the language they are learning, understand the relationship between language, culture and learning, develop intercultural capabilities and understand themselves as communicators. Students at Ardeer South acquire these skills through learning Italian. 

In the Victorian Curriculum F–10, The Arts includes Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design.

The Arts enable students to develop their creative and expressive capacities by learning about the different practices, disciplines and traditions that have shaped the expression of culture locally, nationally and globally. Students are both artists and observers in the Arts. They make and respond and learn to appreciate the specific ways this occurs in different disciplines. Students at ASPS have the opportunity to engage in explicit teaching of Visual Arts for an hour a week. Performing Arts is taught through incidental opportunities to perform in various assemblies and celebrations throughout the year including an end of year performance to the school community. Students are given opportunities through equity funding to participate in the Footsteps Dance Program. 

Health and Physical Education focuses on students enhancing their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity participation in varied and changing contexts. Our school is committed to health and physical education. We take great pride in being an Active School and the delivery of quality physical education – our specialist physical education teacher is experienced in the high-quality implementation of PE and Sports programs. Health and Physical Education focuses on students enhancing their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity participation in varied and changing contexts. 

In Health and Physical Education, students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to strengthen their sense of self, and build and manage satisfying relationships. The curriculum helps them to be resilient, and to make decisions and take actions to promote their health, safety and physical activity participation. (Victorian Curriculum Rationale). In alignment with DET policy ASPS follows the minimum delivery times for physical and sport education. Prep - Year 3 (minimum 20-30 minutes per day) and Year 4-6 (1 hour and 30 minutes per week). The Physical Education program will be supplemented by outside sporting associations that may run clinics in Physical Education sessions to support the development of specific sporting skills. The swimming program runs once per year for each year level. 

We work within The Active Schools Framework which supports schools to take a whole-school approach to physical activity, recognising there is no single solution to shifting inactivity; it takes a multifaceted and system-wide effort. We strive to ensure that all students have the skills, confidence and motivation to be active in life. As an Active School we work hard to ensure we provide students opportunities to be active through the six priority areas outlined in the Active Schools Framework.

The Victorian Curriculum Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural and Personal and Social) are embedded throughout ASPS learning experiences to support student development in key skills and understandings within each capability. Ardeer South Primary School utilises the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework to ensure every student within our school maximises their wellbeing and learning potential. This framework incorporates School Wide Positive Behaviour Support frameworks to cater for the whole child. It provides universal, targeted and tertiary interventions and supports academically and behaviourally.

The Capabilities curriculum is strongly embedded throughout all learning areas and levels, ensuring that students are continually developing knowledge, understandings and skills in Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural and Personal and Social capabilities. The Capabilities are explicitly taught through our Social and Emotional Learning Program of Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships. 

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials have been designed for teachers to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills. The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and secondary education: Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships.

Pedagogy:

Teaching and learning is based on DET’s Practice Principles for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. In particular, these include:

• having high expectations for all students to achieve;
• providing a supportive and productive learning environment that promotes inclusion and collaboration;
• giving students voice and agency in their learning, collaboratively planning in teams for a differentiated and challenging curriculum for all students;
• rigorous assessment practices including student feedback;
• developing deep learning challenges including opportunities to apply new knowledge by developing critical, creative and higher order thinking skills; and
• using evidenced based strategies to drive improvement, such as, assessment, moderation and analysis of student data.

Students are engaged at their level of need, or Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and supported throughout the learning process. To cater for individual student learning needs, the curriculum is differentiated so that teachers can scaffold, stimulate and challenge students at a point of need, maximising their learning.

Student agency and voice is promoted school wide so as to promote students’ responsibility for and agency in their learning. All students are provided with opportunities to be involved in and drive their learning and school experience, including individual learning goals. Students are also able to provide feedback to teachers via the Attitude to School survey in Years 4-6. These survey results also directly inform the school’s Annual Implementation Plan and School Strategic Plan.

The pedagogical approach at Ardeer South Primary School follows the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM) which supports teachers and school leaders to focus on high impact teaching and learning and make evidence-based decisions to improve student learning and wellbeing. The Quick Guide to the VTLM (pdf - 611.17kb), released in 2022, aligns the VTLM with the core elements of the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) 2.0.

The VTLM consists of five components:

• A vision for learning and wellbeing helps create a unified set of values and beliefs to drive a high performance learning culture.
• The practice principles for excellence in teaching and learning (practice principles) are nine signature pedagogies which make the difference in improving student achievement and motivation.
• The pedagogical model describes what effective teaching looks like in the classroom and helps teachers apply the practice principles.
• The high impact teaching strategies (HITS) are ten instructional practices that reliably increase student learning wherever they are applied.
• The High Impact Wellbeing Strategies (HIWS)  are seven practical, evidence-based strategies that have a significant and positive effect on student wellbeing.

Students with Disabilities

• The Department of Education and Training and Ardeer South Primary School are committed to delivering an inclusive education system that ensures all students, including students with disabilities, have access to a quality education that meets their diverse needs.

• ASPS will liaise with DET to provide suitable programs and resources to support the delivery of high quality schooling for students with disabilities.

Planning for Learning follows the Ardeer South Planning for Learning Process

Ardeer South Primary School

Planning for Learning

Planning and Documentation Process

Our Instructional Model is broken down into key components that incorporate the High Impact Teaching Strategies

Assessment

Ardeer South Primary School assesses student progress in line with the Department’s Assessment of Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10 policy. 

ASPS is a Professional Learning Community (PLC) school, one that prioritises intense and ongoing staff professional development to maximise the ‘ability to recognise, describe, evaluate and support high quality teaching that is focused on ensuring the successful learning of every child’ (DET, 2019). This program ensures a consistent and rigorous teaching and assessment cycle is maintained across all year levels of the school and that staff work collaboratively in teams to gather, analyse and determine next steps to improve student outcomes. This explicit process addresses and maintains a shared teacher understanding of what high quality teaching is in all curriculum learning areas. This is also supported by the participation and guidance of our Leadership team and Learning Specialists throughout these cycles.

Teachers follow consistent practices as outlined in the Ardeer South Assessment Handbook and PLC Handbook. This handbook is designed to create and sustain consistent assessment practices aligned with our whole school Assessment Schedule. Students at Ardeer South Primary School will have multiple and varied opportunities to demonstrate learning and achievement. Teachers use assessment tasks that cover multiple curriculum levels to ensure that evidence of learning and growth is captured for every student.

Data Collection- The school will continuously monitor student learning outcomes by a range of assessment strategies and tools that include NAPLAN, English Online Interview, Mathematics Online Interview, Fountas & Pinnell Reading Assessment, South Australian Spelling Test, Writing Moderation Tasks, Essential Assessments Number Moderation Tasks, PAT Testing, BURT word test, OnDemand and the Student Attitudes to School Survey. 

Teachers are supported to develop formative assessment practices so they can work to consistently and systematically gather data as evidence of learning, provide feedback and set individual learning tasks and targets. 

Data Analysis-  All teaching staff will implement the school’s assessment schedule. A variety of approaches will then be used to analyse data at an individual, group, cohort and whole school level to further teaching and learning.  The use of data will inform curriculum planning and key documents such as the Annual Implementation Plan and School Strategic Plan.  Staff will supply electronic copies of their student data at required intervals.  Data will be used to identify students who are deemed “at risk” and in need of individual support, specialised programs and further specialised assessments.

•   Teachers at Ardeer South Primary School use a combination of formative assessment for learning (to focus feedback and guide future learning) and summative assessment of learning (to determine what the student has learned at the end of a sequence of learning), alongside student self-assessment and reflection.
•   Assessment is used in an ongoing way, to guide future lessons and learning, as well as to keep students and parents informed of student progress.
•   Teachers use a variety of assessment strategies to gather evidence about student achievement. The agreed assessment processes and tasks are documented in the Subject Unit Designs and Learning Sequences. The assessments may include, but are not limited to, tests and assignments, projects, portfolios, performances, discussions or student-teacher conferences.
•   Assessment tasks are developed to support students to show their knowledge, skills and understandings and will include clear instructions, relevant supporting documents (scaffolds, planning documents, etc) and allow sufficient time for completion. Teachers will make modifications to the task to cater for students with additional learning needs.
•   Ardeer South Primary School will develop Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students who are part of the Program for Students with a Disability (PSD), Koorie students and students in ‘Out of Home’ care, in consultation with students, parents and where appropriate, with outside agencies.
•   Teachers will assess the achievements of students with disabilities and impairments in the context of the Victorian Curriculum and the ‘Towards Foundation Level Victorian Curriculum’ where applicable.
•   The English language proficiency of English as Additional Language EAL students will be assessed using the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.
•   Where possible, staff will participate in cross marking of assessment tasks (moderation) involving assessment rubrics and work samples so that staff can apply consistent judgements of student progress against Victorian Curriculum Standards across the school.

PLC inquiry cycles will rotate through Reading, Writing/Spelling and Mathematics. This process will follow the same format for each of the learning areas, including the following steps:

Evaluate and Diagnose / Prioritise and Set Goals / Develop and Plan / Implement and Monitor

Student achievement data, such as NAPLAN, Victorian Curriculum teacher judgements and learning area specific assessments, are stored using our Sentral platform to track student progress across years of schooling and ensure that relevant and current information is accessible to all teaching staff and school leaders.

The Students Attitude to School survey (Years 4 - 6) is conducted every year. This survey provides an opportunity for students to voice their opinions and findings are utilised to inform the following Annual Implementation Plan (AIP).

All teachers will be supported to enhance their skills through personal and professional learning, focussing on the AIP and School Strategic Plan (SSP).

Reporting

At Ardeer South Primary School we meet our obligations relating to student reporting by strictly following the Department’s Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10 policy. 

Summary of obligations from the policy that are practices at Ardeer South Primary School:

The report is provided in a written format easy for parents/carers to understand and will be accessible in digital form with the option to translate text from English to another language, to cater to our school community. 

•   Ardeer South Primary School  will report directly against the Victorian Curriculum F-10 achievement standards or, if reporting on students for whom English is an additional language, the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL achievement standards.
•   Both student achievement and progress will be included in the report. 
•   An age-related five-point scale, where the quality of a student’s achievement against what is ‘expected’ for students of that year level at the time of reporting, will be used for reporting against the achievement standards in English, Mathematics and Science (where applicable).
•   Ardeer South Primary School will use either a learning goals scale or a learning dimensions scale for other areas of the curriculum.  
•   Opportunities will be provided for parents/carers and students to discuss the school report with teachers and/or school leaders. 

Parent-teacher interviews, conducted twice-yearly, enable the opportunity to discuss the students’ progress and how they can continue to be supported at home. Interpreting services will be made available where required. 

Curriculum and teaching practice review

School curriculum and teaching practice is reviewed against the Framework for Improving of Student Outcomes (FISO 2.0). FISO and the FISO improvement cycle help identify focus areas for improvement and to evaluate the impact of introduced initiatives.

The school’s curriculum programs will be reviewed on a cyclical basis to ensure it aligns with the Victorian Curriculum. Curriculum audits and reviews will inform future curriculum planning and implementation. The teaching staff will work together to create a culture of learning, collaboration and continuous improvement. 

Review of teaching practice

Ardeer South Primary School reviews teaching practice via:

-          Professional Learning Communities, which link the learning needs of students with the professional learning and practice of teachers and provide an opportunity for teachers to collaboratively evaluate the effect of high impact teaching strategies; and the school will utilise the DET policy guidelines, online resources, internal and external expertise, mentoring and coaching, peer observation and collegiate feedback to continually improve their method and practice of teaching. 

-          the Performance Development cycle, which provides an opportunity to provide feedback to teaching staff on their performance to support ongoing learning and development, with a focus on how student learning can be improved through improving teaching practice. All staff will participate in the staff performance and development process in which goals are aligned with the school’s Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL ) standards. 

Further information and resources

•       Policy and Advisory Library:

o   Curriculum Programs Foundation to 10

o   Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO 2.0)

o   Assessment of Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10

o   Digital Learning in Schools

o   Students with Disability

o   Koorie Education

o   Languages Education

o   Physical and Sport Education — Delivery Requirements

o   Holocaust Education

o   Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to 10

o   Sexuality and Consent Education

o   School Hours (including variation to hours)

•       This policy should be read alongside:

o   whole school curriculum plan

o   teaching and learning program for each learning area and capability

o   teaching and learning program for each year level

o   unit plans/sequence of lessons.

POLICY REVIEW AND APPROVAL