CURRICULUM PLAN

Curriculum Plan 2009
Pedagogy
• Our school is organised on a year and level plan. All planning is across grade as well as across school, with Essential Learnings tracked across 2 years. Level meetings, Grade meetings and school based meetings are held to unite planning. Work units and excursions are grade based connected to level appropriate outcomes.
• Our curriculum organisers are literacy, numeracy and integrated studies. Integrated studies incorporates Science, SOSE, HPE, The Arts and Technology Outcomes as appropriate for each integrated unit. Literacy and Numeracy is embedded within these units as well as featuring in English and Mathematics topics.
• Unit Plans are recorded on a planning matrix which incorporates the Multiple Intelligences and Blooms Taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking.
• Annual tracking documentation is reviewed and upgraded annually.
• A coloured folder system flags students requiring additional support and a database of all students with special needs exists and is kept current by the Learning Support teacher.
• Students’ end of year, and competition results across all grades are compiled and analysed by the admin team, progress is internally monitored. The same process is applied to Year 3,5,7 NAPLAN tests.
• Staff and community have engaged in discussions regarding preferred futures for FTPSS students. From these conversations teaching staff have analysed processes that will best maximise learnings for our students.
• The planning process has involved analysis of syllabus documents and the KLA outcomes desired. The planning of interesting purposeful units of work will provide many opportunities for students to achieve the syllabus outcomes. These units and associated excursions form the basis of our integrated planning. Expenditure for resources is allocated directly to integrated unit plans.
• Our professional conversations focused upon the assessment process, developing meaningful assessment tasks, the recording and tracking of achievement and incorporation of ICT into the many and varied facets of learning.

Our curriculum plan is designed to:

• comply with all Education Queensland requirements
• increase intellectual engagement and relevance across the Years P-7
• strengthen Learning and Teaching
• engage with future scenarios and technologies
• consider and incorporate the cross curricular priorities

Assessment Practices
• Teachers gather and record sufficient valid evidence to support reliable judgement about student performance.
• Analysis of state testing program information is conducted by School Administrators, upon the data returning to schools in November. Class teachers involved with students in the testing programs (Year 2,3,5,7) are provided with this data when available. The analysis of data is shared with staff at staff meetings early in the subsequent year.
• Analysis of Science, Mathematics, Writing and English competitions are dispersed in a similar way as this becomes available.
• Class and grade records are kept in any given year and available for the following teacher. Formal grade and school based collections take place towards the end of the school year, these are specified by the Principal and endorsed by staff.
• Close monitoring of results allows the school’s administration to consider trends and improvements over time. Formal review is considered in any given year prior to the development of the School Annual Operation Plan.
• Success is monitored through improved results across state based and school based testing and assessment programs.
• Not all outcomes can be measured and teacher’s professional judgement is duly considered. These judgements will be best identified and articulated through the school based monitoring process. Student work is assessed against a clear and transparent set of criteria. The criteria has been developed from the planning and teaching process and encompass a focus upon the standards matrix work initiated by Kerr and Wall and refined to a process usable in the FTPSS context.

Reporting
• Formal reporting to parents/carers continues twice per year and summarises information collected in individual student portfolios. Students are reported on each of the eight key learning areas. Reports of students social development also occurs at these times.
• A generic report card structure is used for students in Years 4-7. Year 1,2,3 reports progress against the developmental continua (First Steps Literacy and Numeracy) and report specifically to the priority learnings characteristic of these grades.
• Interviews are held for each family at the end of Term 1 and again in Term 3 or by request during the year.
• Reporting school progress occurs monthly at P&C Meetings and through the weekly newsletter at appropriate times.
• Feedback is provided to individual families by class teachers during the year, as necessary.
• There are several reward/award systems in place both in classes, grades and across the school. These systems are positive and reward appropriate behaviour.

Focus for 2009
• Continue to improve and refine planning, assessment and reporting practices.
• Refine in-class enrichment program.
• Student negotiated plan built on MI matrix in context of unit of work.
• Continue and add to enrichment opportunities.
• Continue to track and analyse individual student achievement over time.