Teaching
and
Learning
Daily Schedule
Our Learning Communities
At Barrawang Primary School, students belong to a Learning Community consisting of several Home Groups. Every student belongs to a Home Group that has a specific teacher leading it.
All Home Groups meet every morning in their designated learning space. Several 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 numeracy. Students participate in lessons with different teachers within 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.
Currently we have the following groups:
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Foundation Learning Community - 4 groups
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Junior Learning Community 1 - 4 groups made up of year 1 students
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Junior Learning Community 2- 2 groups made up of year 2 students
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Middle Learning Community - 3 groups made up of year 3/4
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Senior Learning Community- 3 groups made up of 5/6 students
Community Teachers
Within each learning community there are several groups, depending on the total number of students. Group sizes are always kept at or below the teacher/student ratio that is funded by the Department of Education and Training. Each group has an assigned Community Teacher. The Community Teacher is your point of contact for all things related to your child and school. The groups also have a designated home zone where they begin each day.
Our learning spaces open for the students each morning at 8.50am and they are welcomed in by the teaching team. They unpack their bags, change their take home reading book, and get ready for learning.
The Welcome Circle begins at 9am providing a positive start to the day. Community teachers are available between 3.30pm and 3.40pm to speak with parents and families as they collect their child/ren at the end of the school day.
Needs-based Learning
After beginning each day with their learning community teacher all students move off to their reading groups for needs-based reading instruction. Such grouping enables all children to work with other children of similar need. This enables our teachers to target the needs of each group more effectively, as the spread is not as great as in a traditional grade. Every five weeks, teachers use assessment tasks to ascertain achievement, growth and then the next steps in learning. This information is then used to regroup students and allocate teaching staff to the group based on skills and expertise. Information through learning tasks is sent home every five weeks so you are kept informed of your child’s group focus, learning needs and progress towards their goals.
Like needs groupings are utilised for maths and writing as well as reading.
Inquiry learning, wellbeing and our specialist classes are undertaken in learning home groups.
Instructional Model
Subjects
Mathematics
At Barrawang Primary School our teaching and learning programs are aligned to the Victorian Curriculum F-10. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 sets out what every student should learn during their first eleven 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.
The mathematics curriculum aims to ensure that students:
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Develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as active and critical citizens in a technological world
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See connections and apply mathematical concepts, skills and processes to pose and solve problems in mathematics and in other disciplines and contexts
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Acquire specialist knowledge and skills in mathematics that provide for further study in the discipline
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Appreciate mathematics as a discipline – its history, ideas, problems and applications, aesthetics and philosophy
English
At Barrawang Primary School our teaching and learning programs are aligned to the Victorian Curriculum F-10. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 sets out what every student should learn during their first eleven 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.
The English curriculum aims to ensure that students:
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Learn 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
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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
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Understand how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning
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Develop interest and skills in inquiring into the aesthetic aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature.
Specialist Program
Students at Barrawang Primary School participate in four timetabled specialist lessons each week:
Physical Education
STEM
Performing Arts
Visual Arts
A specialist lesson focussing on a Language Other Than English (LOTE) will be implemented from 2025 onwards.
Home School Partnerships
We believe in working with our families to support the learning of our students. Research has shown that strong home school partnerships improve student learning outcomes. We aim to develop effective communication channels and to gather feedback from our families to inform our practices. Each year we will hold our community information nights in which all families are invited to attend an information session with their child’s community teachers. Teachers will regularly update families about progress and achievement through the learning tasks that are provided through Compass, our communication and management platform.
Two written reports that summarise progress and achievement will be provided to parents each year. Student Learning Conferences are offered to discuss semester reports.
Our reporting to parents process is very important at Barrawang Primary as we understand the value and impact families have in supporting student learning.
What is School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)?
The School Wide Positive Behaviour Support is an evidence-based framework for preventing and responding to student behaviour, actions and misconceptions. It aims to create a positive school climate, a culture of student competence and an open, responsive management system for all school community members. It includes analysis of data in professional learning teams, implementation of evidence based practices and organisational systems for establishing a safe, purposeful and inclusive school and community learning environments, while providing the individual the support needed to achieve academic and social success.
The benefits of School Wide Positive Behaviour Support provides the opportunity to focus on relationships and classroom instruction. Students and staff benefit from:
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increased respectful and positive behaviour
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increased time focused on instruction
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improved social-emotional wellbeing
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positive and respectful relationships among students and staff
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increased adoption of evidence-based instructional practices
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a predictable learning environment with improved perceptions of safety and increased attendance
How is SWPBS implemented at Barrawang Primary School?
At Barrawang Primary School all students follow the same set of rules and behaviour expectations throughout all areas of the school. When students follow the rules and expectations, they are recognised, acknowledged and celebrated. When students do not follow the expected behaviours, there are planned responses to help students develop an understanding of their mistake and opportunities to learn from their action.
All students are allocated to a House group when they start at Barrawang Primary School and remain in the same House throughout their seven years at the school. The House system provides another level of connection to the school and fellow students.
School Houses help to:
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Develop interpersonal skills and team building
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Encourage participation and 'having a go'
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Engage students by providing leadership opportunities
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Assist transition across the school
When we are working together as a whole school team, we work under the Barrawang house
Students are also grouped into 4 separate house groups.
Our 4 houses are named after native Australian animals
Through these Houses, students can participate in a range of different activities and House events. These include House swimming, House athletics and House cross-country.
Students are encouraged to participate in as many House events as possible to foster team spirit and to help their House succeed.
House name | Mascot | Colour |
|---|---|---|
Marram | Kangaroo | Red |
Dhurrong | Kookaburra | Yellow |
Dulaiwurrung | Platypus | Green |
Walert | Possum | Purple |
House system
