Learning and Teaching
Columba Catholic Primary School Learning and Teaching Policy
The challenge of schooling in the global knowledge economy of 21st century, is to equip students with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to prosper in our modern and ever-changing world. At Columba Primary School, we endeavour to instil in children the skills and confidence to use their talents, gifted to them by God, and to use these skills to make a difference in their world.
At Columba we aim to equip our students with important skills through focusing on four areas of student learning,
- Creativity
- Reflection
- Collaboration
- Questioning
At Columba we are a collaborative, challenging, open and engaging learning community. We know that high quality teaching and learning comes from the following:
There are high expectations on learning outcomes
- At Columba we are consistently improving school based and standardized assessment results.
- We always use data purposefully to drive our teaching and learning.
- Students are always clear about expectations and indicators of achievements.
The learning environment is engaging and purposeful
- Students at Columba are active participants in becoming responsible learners.
- Through engaging and purposeful learning environments, we know student's motivation will increase.
- Students at Columba see themselves as successful learners.
Staff are active learners within a high performance development culture
- Collaboration between staff to improve their own teaching as well as the teaching within the whole school.
- Staff are committed to personal learning goals and professional learning plans.
- Staff are open to constructive feedback.
Strong pedagogy around teaching and learning
- Columba displays and implements a vibrant contemporary curriculum.
- Contemporary learning tools are being used in all classrooms.
- A strong professional learning community is developed.
Curriculum
Columba understands the importance and value of The Victorian Curriculum as it is a curriculum which provides a single, coherent and comprehensive set of prescribed content and common achievement standards, which schools use to plan student learning programs, assess student progress and report to parents. The Victorian Curriculum assist teachers to understand what is essential for students to achieve from Foundation to Year 10, in Victorian schools. In addition, it offers guidance for those students who are not yet at Foundation stage of learning through the ABLES currciulum.
ABLES (Abilities Based Learning and Education Support) is aligned to the Victorian Curriculum F–10, with a focus on the Towards Foundation Victorian Curriculum (Levels A–D). Students with disability and diverse learners can engage with the curriculum provided reasonable adjustments are made. Towards Foundation Levels A–D are designed to support these students in moving toward the learning described at the Foundation Level of the curriculum.
Learning Areas and Capabilities
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 learning areas are a clear and deliberate reaffirmation of the importance of a discipline-based approach to learning, where learning areas are regarded as both enduring and dynamic. These include: English, Mathematics, Science, The Arts, Humanities, Technologies, Health & Physical Education and Languages.
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 includes capabilities, which are a set of discrete knowledge and skills that can and should be taught explicitly in and through the learning areas, but are not fully defined by any of the learning areas or disciplines.
The four capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum F–10 are:
- Critical and Creative Thinking
- Ethical
- Intercultural
- Personal and Social
