The Foundation to Grade 6 Victorian Curriculum sets out what every student should learn during their first 7 years of schooling. The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship.
At Toorak Primary School, we teach literacy skills using an explicit and systematic approach. Our daily literacy lessons are designed to provide the best possible environment for all students to develop their reading, writing, and language skills.
Our goal is to ensure that every student gains a strong foundation in literacy, enabling them to read, write, and understand the rules that govern the English language.
Spelling is taught with activities involving students spelling, blending and segmenting words as well as dictation exercises. Sight words and different syllable types assist with the spelling of complex words.
Foundation to Year 2, students participate in daily Sounds-Write lessons, whilst Year 3 to 6 students follow the Spelling Mastery program supplemented by the Orton Gillingham Approach benefiting children with dyslexia.
Reading and writing instruction are closely linked together in the classroom. Writing skills and strategies focussing on:
These ensure that our students develop the skills needed to write with confidence, purpose and enjoyment.
Students engage in 5 hours of Mathematics instruction per week and are supported to achieve a high standard of proficiency.
Our comprehensive curriculum is organised into six strands:
Teachers explain and model new concepts and skills in each of these strands before guiding students to practise in an interactive and responsive environment.
Our curriculum caters to different levels of understanding in mathematics, providing tasks that match individual abilities and extend students beyond their current level. We believe students learn best when they are engaging in real-life mathematical situations and can work collaboratively to problem solve and learn from each other. Ongoing assessments throughout mathematical topics are used to evaluate understanding and target teaching to specific learning needs.
By incorporating these elements, we ensure that students at Toorak Primary School are engaged, challenged, and supported in their mathematical learning journey.
Each term, our students engage in a unit of work centred around a key learning area, such as Science, Geography, or History. Topic lessons are timetabled throughout the week, during which children are taught essential skills and knowledge in the focus subject. Students explore the subject creatively and challengingly through experiments, learning expos, projects and presentations. Additionally, the school implements several core knowledge units to build foundational knowledge for students, often integrating these units into our reading and writing lessons.