English, Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts and Technologies.
The Australian Curriculum describes for educators, parents, learners and others in the wider community what is to be taught and the quality of learning expected of learners as they progress through school.
Using the Australian Curriculum, McAuley Community School has developed a Scope and Sequence statement for each learning area for each year from Reception to Year 6. Our educators use the Scope and Sequence statements to develop their teaching programs.
The Learning Area of Religious Education, reinforced by the other aspects of the religious life of a Catholic school, is part of the curriculum, educating learners in their spiritual awareness and religious identity, deepening their understanding of and ability to dialogue with Christian faith and its relationship with other religious worldviews, and enabling them to seek truth and meaning.
McAuley Community School has taken the Australian Maths and English Curriculum and uses them in alignment with the National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Continuums. These are deliberately designed to be viewed as a continuum of learning.
We have identified the Core Maths and English learning concepts in each of these continuums. Core learning concepts are defined as the foundational and functional building blocks that learners require mastery over to support success in life. With this focus on mastery, Core concepts have rigorous assessment processes set by the school to ensure learners are making progress.
The educators use this Core learning to effectively develop a learner’s Literacy and Numeracy. The educators in the Learning Neighbourhoods develop their Core Maths and English learning program around the needs of each learner for their year level.
McAuley’s specialist learning plays a very important role in learners’ development and is offered to provide a wide range of real-world experiences and connections, so they develop valuable skills and broaden their life experience in each learning area of Art/Design, Music, and Physical Education.
In 2022, Move to Learn and Fundamental Movement Skills have also been introduced for Reception to Year 2 and Entrepreneurial Education for Year 3 to 6.
This creates a range of engaging, challenging and fun learning experiences that:
As learners move through this program, they go from engaging in broad classroom experiences to have increasingly more choice over their experiences as they develop. This aligns with their growing skill development and understanding of themselves as a learner.
McAuley Community School is committed to inclusion and valuing differences. We meet the needs of individuals by taking positive action, so that each learner has an equal opportunity to be successful.
This does not mean we treat all learners in the same way. We take account of their varied life experiences and learning needs and make appropriate adjustments in our teaching and support.
The following principles inform and guide our practice so that each learner is successful and has a sense of belonging:
At McAuley Community School Inquiry-based learning is an interdisciplinary whole-school approach to develop in-depth understanding and critical and creative thinking.
Units of Inquiry are designed to connect learning areas and key capabilities and trigger a learner’s curiosity and actively engage them in their own learning. A Unit of Inquiry focuses on a key concept or big idea and assists them to:
Inquiry-based learning is used to develop a learner’s understanding of STEM - a term used to refer to a transdisciplinary approach to science, technology, engineering and mathematics that increases a learner’s interest in STEM-related fields and improves their problem solving and critical analysis skills. At McAuley, learners have access to programs and initiatives such as digital technologies, robotics, coding and environmental sciences to develop these skills.
See here for further information about McAuley Community School’s Yearly Learning Planner and Inquiry Framework.
More information about the Living, Learning, Leading Framework can be found here.
At McAuley Community School, assessment is designed for equity and excellence:
The information educators collect about learning is used in their planning and teaching. Educators meet to ensure consistency in judgements and that learners are attaining expected standards.
At McAuley Community School, we report regularly with parents about the learning progress of their children as part of the connection between home and the school. The reporting occurs through:
