Curriculum

Australian Curriculum

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The Australian Curriculum sets out the core knowledge, understanding, skills and general capabilities important for all Australian students. The Australian Curriculum describes the learning entitlement of students as a foundation for their future learning, growth and active participation in the Australian community. It makes clear what all young Australians should learn as they progress through schooling. It is the foundation for high-quality teaching to meet the needs of all Australian students.

The Melbourne Declaration guides the development of the Australian Curriculum on Educational Goals for Young Australians, adopted by the council of state and territory education ministers in December 2008. The Melbourne Declaration emphasises the importance of knowledge, understanding and skills of learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities as the basis for a curriculum designed to support contemporary learning.

The Australian Curriculum describes a learning entitlement for each Australian student that provides a foundation for successful, lifelong learning and participation in the Australian community. It acknowledges that the needs and interests of students will vary and that schools and teachers will plan from the curriculum in ways that respond to those needs and interests. The Australian Curriculum acknowledges the changing ways in which young people will learn and the challenges that will continue to shape their learning in the future.

The Australian Curriculum will eventually be developed for all learning areas, and subjects set out in the Melbourne Declaration: initially for English, mathematics, science and history; followed by geography, languages, the arts, economics, business, civics and citizenship, health and physical education, and information and communication technology and design and technology.

NSW Curriculum

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Schooling in NSW is based on the mandatory NSW syllabuses for students from Kindergarten to Year 12. The syllabuses are developed and endorsed by NESA. 

St Francis Xavier follows the approved syllabuses with the exception of Religious Education, which is approved by the Bishop.

Please visit the New South Wales Education for more information on the NSW syllabuses: Standards Authority (NESA) website.

Subjects are called Key Learning Areas (KLAs).

They are:

  • Mathematics
  • Science and Technology
  • English
  • HSIE
  • Personal Development Health and Physical Education
  • Creative Arts
  • Religious Education

As a Catholic school, Religious Education is both a Key Learning Area and integral to our way of life.  

As a school of the 21st century, St Francis Xavier provides students with learning environments that encourage investigation, exploration, and creativity. Students are provided with opportunities to develop technical information and higher-order thinking skills as they develop an understanding of how they learn. Through reflection and evaluation, the children are empowered to independently extend their learning.

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Literacy & Numeracy 

Literacy

A strong foundation in literacy is vital for students, and it enables them to reach their full potential. At St Francis Xavier, our students are exposed to elements of the whole class and small group learning experiences, which are formulated around the Gradual Release of Responsibility model. Students are given the opportunity to learn and be exposed to explicit literary skills before having a turn collaboratively and independently. English skills are taught through the use of quality texts to ensure rigorous learning experiences creating confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. With various intervention and extension programs available, students’ individual needs are catered for across the school.

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 Numeracy

We pride ourselves on tracking student growth across all year levels and offer targeted intervention to accelerate learning. With a focus on establishing strong foundation skills and meaningful and relevant conceptual understanding, we strive to support our students in developing a balanced mastery of Mathematics.

Specialist individual and small group intervention support are provided where required for students in both Literacy and Numeracy.

Learning and Teaching Framework

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At St Francis Xavier, we are committed to excellence and equity in the growth and development of all students as lifelong learners who are actively engaged with a passionate curiosity and wonder about the world. At its heart, education equips students with the attributes, knowledge, skills and confidence they need to live fulfilling, productive and responsible lives. Students engage with a range of people, places, and disciplines to grow as critical and creative problem-solvers who embrace society in all its diversity.

Learners in our school are empowered to become co-responsible for their learning as they explore an increasingly interconnected and complex world through:

  • a rich curriculum that engages;

  • pedagogy that empowers;

  • environments that enable;

  • a powerful culture of learning for continual growth.

These four dimensions are at the heart of learning and teaching, inspiring, challenging, empowering, and developing students' love of learning. We draw on the Catholic tradition, providing direction and meaning for students as they engage with their lives' religious and spiritual dimensions.

Highly skilled teachers, and those who support them, have a central role in the learning process as they use their expert knowledge, skills and dispositions to engage in learning and feedback in partnership with students. They build learning communities that inspire, engage and challenge students as they seek to make sense of their world and their role in it. They model lifelong learning through intentional collaborative practise, feedback and reflection. Through deep thinking and meaningful engagement, they challenge themselves and their students to co-construct and apply new knowledge in a range of contexts.

Teaching is a vocation that calls for recognition that we recognise that we are walking on the 'sacred ground of the other' (Evangelii Gaudium, 169).