Curriculum Notes and Documents
St Joseph’s School supports the parents in their role as the first educators in faith, learning and culture. ‘Learning’ is central to the school’s purpose and there are high expectations set for all children in their learning, with the conviction that each child has the ability to learn and to achieve their potential with appropriate and sensitive teaching.
Through regular professional learning, all staff members have a thorough and up-to-date knowledge of how children learn considering their culture, at particular stages of development and within all learning areas. Staff members aim to know their children well: their backgrounds, culture, interests, needs, motivations and learning styles so that they can encourage each child to accept responsibility for their own learning and guide them in becoming ‘lifelong learners’. St Joseph’s also strives to develop a sense of belonging and pride within each child, by providing a physical and social setting that is safe, well organised and caring.
At St Joseph’s a child’s individual skills and talents are nurtured, while their achievement and self-esteem are strongly promoted. Mutual respect and trust are seen as keys to developing a strong, positive school culture. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to take an active role in the life of the school with opportunities ranging from assistance in the ‘day to day’ work of the school through to representation on the School Board.
Religious Education is the first learning area in all Catholic schools. At St Joseph’s School, students are guided to study, research and learn what the Catholic church teaches about the distinctive vision of how Christian people live. Our school offers families an opportunity to experience community life in a faith filled environment where each child is moved to find God, meaning and value in life through prayer, liturgy and celebration.
St Joseph’s School seeks to recognise and affirm successful learning and high achievement. The school places special emphasis on developing and enhancing children's skills in all learning areas, especially Literacy and Numeracy. Our aim is to adopt the ‘whole child initiative’, which is based on the premise that 21st century demands require a new and better way of educating children. This whole-child approach to education holds that each child:
- Enters school healthy, and learns about and practices a healthy lifestyle.
- Celebrates cultural differences.
- Learns in an intellectually challenging environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults.
- Is actively engaged in learning and is connected to the school and broader community.
- Has access to personalised learning and is supported by qualified and caring educators.
- Is challenged by a well-balanced curriculum and is prepared for success in further study and for employment in a global environment.
St Joseph’s is a small school with composite classrooms. We have 2 year levels in each classroom. The teachers have constant professional development on ways to teach a wide range of abilities within one classroom. The St Joseph’s approach that best addresses this is whole –small- whole teaching strategy where the whole class is introduced to the teaching topic, then the class works in small ability groups with the teacher, the Aboriginal Teaching Assistant or independently. The small groups are rotated to give each child two sessions with an adult learning and practising the concept, and then some time working on the work independently.
St Joseph’s has 10 learning areas. They are:
- Religious Education
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Physical Education
- Health
- Art
- Science
- Humanities (History & Geography)
- Technology (Digital and Design)
- PATHs (Social/Emotional Learning)
