Religious Education

Religious Education is central to and gives direction to all other curriculum areas. At St Mary’s we invite and support students to discover God’s presence in their daily lives. Within a Gospel-centred environment students are challenged and supported to understand themselves and the world in which they live through a world view founded in Scripture and Catholic traditions.

Religious Education is at the centre of the Catholic school curriculum and is reflected in our visible Catholic symbolic culture and active sacramental and liturgical practice. Our Diocesan AWAKENINGS document is used as a basis for the religious education curriculum and it aims to explore students’ life experiences in the context of Church teachings and tradition.
​At St Mary’s participation in religious education is compulsory for all students.

English

Active and effective participation in Australian society depends on the ability to speak, listen, read, view and write with confidence, purpose and enjoyment in a wide range of contexts. 
At St Mary's we aim to ensure success in literacy for all students. 

Our Literacy Program aims to develop in students:

• The ability to speak, listen, read, view, compare, research and write effectively with competence, confidence, purpose and enjoyment in a wide range of context.
• Knowledge of the ways in which language varies according to context, purpose, audience and content, and the capacity to apply the knowledge.
• A knowledge of the linguistic patterns used to construct different texts, and the capacity to apply this knowledge, especially in writing.
• A broad knowledge of a range of texts and a capacity to relate this to aspects of contemporary society and personal experience.
• The capacity to discuss and analyse texts and language critically
• Develop in students the confidence and competence to meet the demands of school, employment and further education.
• Foster in students the ability to use texts to explore ideas and to think critically about their world and the global community.
• Empower students to evoke feelings, to form and convey ideas, to inform, to discuss, to persuade, to entertain and to argue a point of view.

Mathematics

In the development of an understanding of Mathematics, St. Mary's School uses the Professional Learning Community Framework. Essential Learnings have been identified and are taught through learning cycles. All students complete Pre and Post Common Assessment Tasks. Student data is used to plan the teaching and learning. Response to Intervention Sessions are held weekly to support students closely at their point of need. 
The Mathematics curriculum aims to ensure that students:

• develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as active and critical citizens in a technological world
• see connections and apply mathematical concepts, skills and processes to pose and solve problems in mathematics and in other disciplines and contexts
• acquire specialist knowledge and skills in mathematics that provide for further study in the discipline
• Appreciate mathematics as a discipline – its history, ideas, problems and applications, aesthetics and philosophy.

Health and Physical Education

Students in all year levels participate in Health and Physical Education for a minimum of 1.5 hours each week. Children engage in physical activities primarily to have fun, learn new skills and interact with others and to experience thrills and excitement in play. St. Mary's Physical Education Program is a unique health and movement education program that utilizes the physical activity domain to develop the whole child. Our school strives to offer physical activity in an environment rich and rewarding for all participants, with the aim of promoting health for body and mind.
Health and Physical Education aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to enable students to:

• access, evaluate and synthesise information to take positive action to protect, enhance and advocate for their own and others’ health, wellbeing, safety and physical activity participation across their lifespan
• develop and use personal, behavioural, social and cognitive skills and strategies to promote a sense of personal identity and wellbeing and to build and manage respectful relationships
• acquire, apply and evaluate movement skills, concepts and strategies to respond confidently, competently and creatively in a variety of physical activity contexts and settings
• engage in and enjoy regular movement-based learning experiences and understand and appreciate their significance to personal, social, cultural, environmental and health practices and outcomes
• analyse how varied and changing personal and contextual factors shape understanding of, and opportunities for, health and physical activity locally, regionally and globally.

Assessment

We welcome your inquiries about your child's progress. Parents wishing to speak with the teachers need to phone or write so that a mutually convenient time can be agreed upon, as teachers cannot leave children unattended during class time or playground duty time. Should you have any concerns please contact the Principal. Teachers are also required to keep Monday after school free for staff meetings.

Student Led Conferences are held at the end of Term 1 and Term 3. These are a three way conversation between the teacher, parents and students on their learning. Together the learning is reflected on and goals are set for the following term. Parents are given a written report of their child’s progress at the end of Semester One and Semester Two.