Statement of philosophy which includes Mahogany Rise Primary School s vision, mission, values and objectives.

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1 Statement of philosophy which includes Mahogany Rise Primary School s vision, mission, values and objectives. Our school s vision is to prepare young people to become active, engaged and responsible citizens of the local and global community. Mahogany Rise Primary School s imperative to build a community of life-long learners forms the school s core purpose. Learning and teaching at Mahogany Rise Primary School is concerned with developing skills and building capacity in reading, writing, speaking and listening and numeracy in order to ensure that each child has every opportunity to achieve their greatest potential. School entry and academic assessment data continually reinforce the notion that children enter school with a vast array of unique learning needs. A significant number of children at Mahogany Rise Primary School begin their schooling with developmental delay or having experienced of trauma or exposure to other risk factors (Appendix B) and this impacts on both entry skills and academic progress. A smaller number of children enter ahead of expected levels and learning for these, and indeed all children, is continually extended. When designing our curriculum, Mahogany Rise Primary School is strategic in identifying the specific skills and next steps each student requires in order to continually progress in literacy and numeracy learning. This provides for explicit learning and teaching at individual point of need to bring about the best possible learning outcomes. The school values respect, responsibility, resilience and belonging. Sitting at the centre of its work, the school believes in high expectations in all students and a commitment to hard work. The programs of, and teaching in, the school will support and promote the principles and practices of Australian democracy including a commitment to: An elected government. The rule of law. Equal rights for all before the law. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech and association. The values of openness and tolerance. Statements which affirm the school s principles are found in the vision of the school and in documents such as prospectus and handbooks. Enactment of school philosophy. In all documents, in all practice by students and teachers, in work with the School Council and the community, in all teaching and learning programs, in all school initiatives, in all internal and external interactions, in all organisational structures and practices the vision of the school will sit at the centre and there will be expectations about all work aligning with the

2 school vision. Regular evaluation processes will be in place to measure performance in all areas of the school with respect to the implementation of the vision and values of the school. The process at our school can be represented as the vision, values and beliefs at the centre. In an outer ring there will be a set of principles. As a further outer ring will be a set of practices. A detailed list of school policies will sit within this framework. In all work in the school, the question Is this work or process in line with the school vision, values and beliefs? This question will be a fundamental part of the practice of all leaders in the school. What do we teach? Mahogany Rise Primary School designs its curriculum around the learning outcomes central to AusVELS and is based on individual and whole class needs. Literacy learning and teaching is delivered daily through a whole of school two-hour literacy block. The reading component of the two-hour literacy block concerns: 1. Word work - phonics, phonemic awareness, manipulating words (chunking, syllables, synonyms, antonyms, digraphs, bigraphs, trigraphs) 2. Mini lessons focussing on specific reading skills such as decoding and comprehension of text (see below) 3. Independent reading tasks for children to put into practice what has been learned in the mini lesson 4. One to one conferencing between teacher and student 5. Guided Reading group reading sessions designed to address specific learning needs 6. Reflection and sharing students reflect on their learning including successes and difficulties encountered and whether their learning goals have been achieved Explicit teaching of decoding includes such skills as: Phonic and phonemic awareness Stretching and sounding words Chunking words Using context and visual clues to decipher text Using syntax to self-correct and predict text Explicit teaching of comprehension includes such skills as: Questioning Predicting Analysing and synthesising Summarising Sequencing Inferring Understanding text purpose and audience Understanding text setting Sequencing, retelling Critical thinking Understanding features of various text genre

3 The writing component of the two-hour literacy block consists of: 1. A mini lesson featuring a daily VCOP focus: Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers, Punctuation, Big Write 2. Explicit teaching of text types features text structure, grammar and grammatical language structures, editing, use of text supports (e.g. diagrams, illustrations) and publishing 3. Handwriting focus Speaking and listening is taught throughout the reading and writing components of the twohour literacy block. Additionally, explicit one-hour per week oral language sessions are delivered by speech pathologists and classroom teachers. These oral language sessions explore speech and language skills such as: Expressive language Receptive language Phonemic awareness Understanding paragraphs During the oral language lesson, children are engaged in a range of activities that extend their skills in the above four areas. Each classroom has a unique program that is designed to cater for its specific language needs that have been identified through various speech and language assessments and screen tests carried out through the school year. Each class participates in a one-hour numeracy block. The numeracy learning and teaching program explores a range of mathematical skills and concepts from the three AusVELS strands of Number & Algebra, Measurement & Geometry and Statistics & Probability. Numeracy topics include: Number and place value Money and financial maths Patterns and algebra Using units of measurement Shape Geometric reasoning Location and transformation Chance Data representation and interpretation Specialist classes include art, information and communication technologies (ICT) and physical education (PE). Explicit teaching of emotional intelligence and resilience is delivered through the school s Bounce Back program. Volunteers and philanthropic supporters provide children with experiences around woodworking, craft, choir and guitar lessons.

4 How do we teach? Mahogany Rise Primary School s approach to teaching and learning combines: Collaborative planning for learning and teaching informed by student learning data and AusVELS curriculum Explicit teaching of skills and concepts delivered at individual student point of need Early Years Whole-Part-Whole lesson structures Guided Reading and Independent Reading Model Big Write & VCOP Models for writing A range of resources, mediums, concepts and topics The provision of real life and real life relatable experiences Extracurricular activities to engage students within and across school and broader community Explicit teaching of the metalanguage central to all areas of school life and student learning so that children are constantly exposed to the language of learning Extension and additional assistance Information and communication technologies Local and global perspectives PE, Art and ICT specialist staff working as literacy teachers in the school s two-hour literacy block Assessment for learning, self and peer assessment How do we know our students are learning? Student learning and next steps are determined by data gleaned from: Running records Writing samples Conferences Guided Reading On Demand Testing National Assessment Program: Literacy & Numeracy (NAPLAN) Anecdotal observations South Australia Spelling Test M100W 100 and 200 word lists (reading and spelling) Benchmarking English Online School Entry Assessments Early Years Literacy survey Class designed assessment tasks Peer and self assessment Engagement/on task behaviour observations SPAT ERRNI CELF Attitudes to School Survey Data Parent Opinion Survey Data The school maintains an up-to-date assessment scope and sequence (Appendix J: Assessment Schedule). Assessment data is maintained on whole school Student Assessment Tracking Spreadsheets ( ) and has recently engaged the use of GradeXpert software (2014)

5 How do we provide feedback to our students and families on learning progress? Mahogany Rise Primary School provides feedback to students and families on learning progress through: June and December Student Reports Running record results as children progress through reading levels Annotated work samples NAPLAN Student Reports Parent/Teacher Interviews Informal, anecdotal verbal feedback to parents Formal test reports (e.g. speech and language reports) Student self-assessment tasks Student of the Week/Assembly award certificates