English
Being able to communicate effectively is a vital skill for all human beings. Assisting our students to become functionally and critically literate will help our students to become confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and socially engaged and informed citizens.
At Burns Beach Primary School, we will support students to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in speaking and listening, reading and viewing and writing and creating.
Pre-primary to Year 2
From Pre-primary to Year 2, students engage with purposeful listening, reading, viewing, speaking and writing activities for different purposes and contexts.
The curriculum in these years aims to extend the abilities of students prior to school learning and to provide the skills, knowledge and understandings needed for continued learning. The study of English in PP to Year 2 develops students’ skills and disposition to expand their knowledge of language as well as strategies to assist that growth. It aims to do this through pleasurable and varied experiences of literature and through the beginnings of a repertoire of activities involving listening, viewing, reading, speaking and writing. (SCASA, K-10 Outline)
All students in PP-Year 2 will participate in Sounds-Write, our structured synthetic phonics program. Sounds-Write is an exciting and highly successful approach to the teaching of reading, spelling and writing using a linguistic phonic approach. It teaches the skills, conceptual knowledge and code knowledge that are essential for learning to read and spell successfully.
Years 3-6
Students in Year 3-6 practise, consolidate and extend what they have learned in PP-Year 2. They develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of grammar and language, and are increasingly able to articulate this knowledge. This deeper understanding includes more explicit metalanguage, as students learn to classify words, sentence structures and texts. Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment and participate in a range of activities including, but not limited to, guest speakers, workshops and visiting performers and poets to provide authentic and engaging learning experiences. (SCASA, K-10 Outline)
Maths
Learning Mathematics creates opportunities for, and enriches the lives of our students. We aim to ensure that our students are confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics, able to investigate, represent and interpret situations that are presented to them in their lives.
At Burns Beach Primary School we will support students to develop their essential mathematical skills and knowledge in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.
Pre-primary to Year 2
Students at this level can access powerful mathematical ideas relevant to their current lives and learn the language of mathematics, which is vital to future progression. They have the opportunity to access mathematical ideas by developing a sense of number, order, sequence and pattern. Students will also have the opportunity to pose basic mathematical questions about their world and to strengthen their reasoning to solve personally meaningful problems. Learning is hands-on, using concrete materials and manipulatives to support students’ understanding of more abstract concepts. (SCASA, K-10 Outline)
Year 3-6
In Year 3 to 6, the emphasis is on the importance of studying coherent, meaningful and purposeful mathematics that is relevant to students’ lives. Students still require active experiences that allow them to construct key mathematical ideas, but will also gradually move to using models, pictures and symbols to represent these ideas.
In these years, it is important for students to develop a deep understanding of whole numbers to build reasoning in fractions and decimals and to develop a conceptual understanding of place value. These concepts allow students to develop proportional reasoning and flexibility with number through mental computation skills, and to extend their number sense and statistical fluency. (SCASA, K-10 Outline)
Early Childhood Education
Our school provides a high-quality Early Childhood learning and teaching environment for our students. Our programs assist in the development of competent, creative, and confident learners who grow to become responsible citizens. Our educators use the Early Years Learning Framework and the Western Australian Curriculum to develop high quality early childhood programs that are aligned with our whole school approaches. Our programs complement and motivate children’s natural curiosity, sense of fun and eagerness to learn. Their opportunities to learn are provided through a nuanced and balanced approach to play, deliberate and intentional teaching, learner agency and spontaneous experiences.
We understand that parents are our students’ first educators and involve families in supporting their children’s learning. We will develop effective partnerships with all stakeholders that are built on common goals and expectations, clear communication, and mutual respect.
HaSS
Humanities and Social Sciences is the study of human behaviour and interaction in social, cultural, environmental, economic and political contexts. Humanities and Social Sciences has a historical and contemporary focus, from personal to global contexts, and considers opportunities and challenges for the future.
In the Western Australian Curriculum, the Humanities and Social Sciences learning area comprises four subjects: Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography and History.
By studying Humanities and Social Sciences, students will develop the ability to question; think critically; make decisions based on evidence; devise proposals for actions; and communicate effectively.
Science
Our Science Specialist teaches students from PP to Year 6. The Western Australian Curriculum is taught using the Primary Connections resources. Science Understanding, Inquiry Skills and Science as a Human Endeavour are taught through Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Space Sciences each year. Our students are fortunate to have access to a purpose-built Science Room to support and inspire student learning.
Languages - Auslan
Auslan is short for Australian Sign Language, a language developed by, and for, Australians who are deaf or hearing impaired. It’s a visual form of communication that uses hand, arm and body movements to convey meaning.
Learning Auslan benefits students because it:
- Reinforces the development of neural pathways and processes in ways only a visual language can
- Strengthens the memory and brain function of children
- Improves visual-gestural communication skills which can be applied in International or cross-cultural settings
- Allows hearing students to see deafness and disability in a positive light as ‘different’ , and the acquisition of Auslan as a valuable tool for communicating with deaf people
- Accessibility for visual learners and other non-traditional learners including students with some forms of disability. The visual-gestural nature of sign language may appeal to children who have good kinaesthetic skills, and who find it easier to learn concepts and information when they are incorporated with physical movements (Estelle Borrey, EISAU)
Health
In Health, students learn how to enhance their own and others’ health, safety and wellbeing in varied and changing contexts. The Health curriculum offers students an experiential curriculum that is contemporary, relevant, challenging and enjoyable.
Students with higher levels of wellbeing are more likely to have higher academic achievements, better mental health, display pro-social attributes, actively contribute to their community and make responsible decisions. (WA Speaking Out Survey, 2019)
In Health lessons, students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to make decisions and take action to strengthen their sense of personal identity and autonomy, build resilience, manage risk and develop satisfying, respectful relationships. They learn to take a critical approach to questioning physical activity and health practices and to use inquiry skills to research factors that influence the health, safety, wellbeing, and physical activity patterns of themselves, individuals, groups and communities. As students grow and mature, they learn to access, analyse and apply a variety of resources for the benefit of themselves and the communities to which they belong.
At Burns Beach Primary School we teach the following whole school, evidence-based, best-practice programs:
- Friendly Schools Plus
- Protective Behaviours
- Zones of Regulation
Technologies
Technologies enrich and impact on the lives of people and societies globally. Technologies can play an important role in transforming, restoring and sustaining societies and natural, managed and constructed environments.
The Western Australian Curriculum: Technologies describes two distinct but related subjects:
- Design and Technologies, in which students use design thinking and technologies to generate and produce solutions for authentic needs and opportunities
- Digital Technologies, in which students use computational thinking and information systems to define, design and implement solutions
Technologies provides students with authentic learning challenges that foster curiosity, confidence, persistence, innovation, creativity, respect and cooperation. These attributes are necessary when using and developing solutions to make sense of complex ideas and relationships in all areas of learning. Technologies helps students to be regional and global citizens, capable of actively and ethically communicating and collaborating. (SCASA, K-10 Outline)
Music
Our Music Specialist teaches students from PP to Year 6. Students are involved in listening and responding to music, exploring and making music, and performing to an audience, in a range of mediums and forums. Students learn and experience a variety of instruments including body percussion, percussion, glockenspiel, recorders, drums and xylophones. We also provide an afterschool instrumental music program run by Musicorp.
The Burns Beach Primary School Choir rehearse weekly and perform at a range of school and community events.
Burns Beach Primary School partners with the Instrumental Music School Services (IMSS).
The instrumental music service provided to schools through IMSS enhances student learning in music. Participation in instrumental music is offered to selected students who show keen interest and aptitude in music and who indicate willingness to make an ongoing commitment to instrumental music activity over a number of years.
IMSS is selected annually through an aptitude test which will be administered during a Music lesson is Term 4.
Art
Our Art Specialist teaches students from PP to Year 6. Students will participate in a wide range of Arts experiences from drawing to ceramics, including reflecting on the work of varying artists, as well as on their own work. A celebration of the students’ creations will occur with an annual Art Show. Our students are fortunate to undertake their Art lessons in a purpose-built Art classroom complete with a kiln for ceramics and glass art.
Physical Education
Our Physical Education Specialist teaches students from PP to Year 6. The physical education program focuses on supporting and progressing students’ fundamental movement skills and object control skills when participating in physical activities and games. Students will also learn about the benefits of physical activity and fitness, whilst learning to work cooperatively and follow rules to ensure activities are fair and safe. Students will participate in a range of sports and games across the course of the year.
Additionally, all students will participate in in-term swimming lessons, the faction athletics carnival and daily fitness activities. Senior students will also have an opportunity to participate in interschool lightning, cross-country and athletics carnivals.
