additional programs
Quicksmart
The Quicksmart Numeracy and Literacy programs support the improved learning for many students within our school. The prime purpose of the Quicksmart in Schools program is to reverse the trend of ongoing poor academic performance for students who have been struggling at school and who are caught in a cycle of continued failure.
These targeted students experience significant and sustained difficulties in basic mathematics and/or literacy, and have a profile of low progress despite attempts to overcome their learning problems. Many such students have not drawn lasting benefits from other in-class and withdrawal instructional activities.
A second purpose concerns the professional learning program designed for classroom teachers, special needs support teachers, and paraprofessionals to learn how to work with, and significantly improve, the learning outcomes in basic mathematics and/or literacy of underachieving middle-school students.
The literacy workshop program features professional learning and support for working in a small-class instructional setting with two students, using a specially constructed teaching program supported by extensive material and computer based resources.
The Quicksmart Numeracy and Literacy interventions were developed through the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) at the University of New England, Armidale. The Quicksmart programs have been under continuous development and improvement since 2001, based on the results of many tens of thousands of students
Support for Students with Diverse Learning Needs
Mater Dei Primary is committed to the development of a high-quality curriculum for all students that promotes excellence and equity in education. All students are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning programs drawn from a challenging curriculum that addresses their individual learning needs. The NSW Curriculum recognises that the needs of all students encompass cognitive, affective, physical, social, and aesthetic
curriculum experiences.
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) provides the policy framework for the Australian Curriculum. It includes two goals:
Reading Recovery
Reading Recovery is an early intervention designed to reduce literacy failure initiated and developed in New Zealand by educator and psychologist Dame Marie Clay.
It aims to accelerate student progress, to the average level of their grade in their school, as quickly as possible so students may obtain maximum benefit from classroom instruction.
Reading Recovery is supplementary to classroom literacy instruction. Teachers trained in the delivery of Reading Recovery provide daily individual instruction for 30 minutes over an average period of 12 to 20 weeks.
There are two positive outcomes from this intervention:
Digital Learning
Mater Dei Primary encourages innovative and varied means of learning to enrich the curriculum and bring students face to face with authentic learning experiences. Digital technologies are embedded throughout the curriculum to enable and enrich learning and teaching.
GSuite for Education is ubiquitous across the system. Access to the cloud-based applications has fundamentally shifted practice and thinking about communication, collaboration and learning.
Our school has a Digital Pedagogy Leader [DPL]. The role of the DPL is to provide leadership and support to teachers, teams of teachers and students with the integration of digital tools to improve learning and teaching. The DPL supports the coherent and skilled integration of technology into staff professional learning and classroom practice.
STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics]
Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga [CSWW] have responded to the National STEM Strategy by developing its own STEM strategy. The aim of the strategy is to raise the profile of STEM within Diocesan schools through supporting initiatives that develop:
Our teachers have the opportunity to be a part of the National Music Teaching Mentor Program to develop their Music Curriculum pedagogy. This involves the classroom teacher working closely with a Music Specialist in their classroom to enhance their programming. Our students become inspired and actively participate in singing, moving and playing each Music lesson.
Our stage three students enthusiastically participate in the Australian School of Performing Arts Choral development program whereby teachers work with staff and students over a term on choral and dance repertoire, culminating in a collaborative performance with other schools within their cluster.
Students are given the opportunity to participate in an instrumental program which gives them access subsidised lessons and band ensemble time. Lessons can take place at the school or via video conferencing.
Aboriginal Education
Effective Aboriginal education in Catholic Education in the Dioceses of Wagga Wagga includes the following foundations and are the basis for learning and teaching programs:
Royal Far West
Royal Far West in Sydney offers integrated health, education and disability services to rural and remote communities. Mater Dei Primary works in partnership with Royal Far West to deliver evidence-informed speech, occupational therapy and psychology programs which include assessment, therapy and parent and teacher capacity building. These programs are delivered by specialist pediatric allied health staff through teleconferencing. Programs are offered to 20 percent of our Kindergarten cohort and limited places are available to students across other grades who may require additional support.
The Quicksmart Numeracy and Literacy programs support the improved learning for many students within our school. The prime purpose of the Quicksmart in Schools program is to reverse the trend of ongoing poor academic performance for students who have been struggling at school and who are caught in a cycle of continued failure.
These targeted students experience significant and sustained difficulties in basic mathematics and/or literacy, and have a profile of low progress despite attempts to overcome their learning problems. Many such students have not drawn lasting benefits from other in-class and withdrawal instructional activities.
A second purpose concerns the professional learning program designed for classroom teachers, special needs support teachers, and paraprofessionals to learn how to work with, and significantly improve, the learning outcomes in basic mathematics and/or literacy of underachieving middle-school students.
The literacy workshop program features professional learning and support for working in a small-class instructional setting with two students, using a specially constructed teaching program supported by extensive material and computer based resources.
The Quicksmart Numeracy and Literacy interventions were developed through the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) at the University of New England, Armidale. The Quicksmart programs have been under continuous development and improvement since 2001, based on the results of many tens of thousands of students
Support for Students with Diverse Learning Needs
Mater Dei Primary is committed to the development of a high-quality curriculum for all students that promotes excellence and equity in education. All students are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning programs drawn from a challenging curriculum that addresses their individual learning needs. The NSW Curriculum recognises that the needs of all students encompass cognitive, affective, physical, social, and aesthetic
curriculum experiences.
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) provides the policy framework for the Australian Curriculum. It includes two goals:
- Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence.
- All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.
- The Australian Curriculum in NSW has been designed to address these goals with the objectives of the Australian Curriculum being the same for all students. These objectives are based on a set of propositions, outlined in the Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools(NSW) Manual December 2017 (Section 5.3) , which guide the development of the Australian Curriculum in NSW as a curriculum for all learners. These propositions include:
- The understanding that each student can learn and the needs of every student are important.
- A recognition of the entitlement of each student to knowledge, understanding and skills that provide a foundation for successful and lifelong learning and participation in the Australian community.
- High expectations to be set for each student as teachers account for the current level of learning of individual students and the different rates at which students develop.
- The acknowledgement 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.
- NSW Curriculum provides teachers with flexibility to cater for the diverse needs of students across Australia and personalise learning.
Reading Recovery
Reading Recovery is an early intervention designed to reduce literacy failure initiated and developed in New Zealand by educator and psychologist Dame Marie Clay.
It aims to accelerate student progress, to the average level of their grade in their school, as quickly as possible so students may obtain maximum benefit from classroom instruction.
Reading Recovery is supplementary to classroom literacy instruction. Teachers trained in the delivery of Reading Recovery provide daily individual instruction for 30 minutes over an average period of 12 to 20 weeks.
There are two positive outcomes from this intervention:
- Students who have successfully discontinued from their series of lessons. These students are able to profit from literacy instruction provided by the classroom teacher.
- Students who have not successfully discontinued their series of lessons and have not established patterns of effective literacy learning.
- Reading Recovery aims to ensure that:
- students have access to the best possible learning opportunities;
- students receive the help required to develop an effective processing system in reading and writing;
- equitable outcomes are achieved by all students;
- the cost of remediation in later years is reduced.
Digital Learning
Mater Dei Primary encourages innovative and varied means of learning to enrich the curriculum and bring students face to face with authentic learning experiences. Digital technologies are embedded throughout the curriculum to enable and enrich learning and teaching.
GSuite for Education is ubiquitous across the system. Access to the cloud-based applications has fundamentally shifted practice and thinking about communication, collaboration and learning.
Our school has a Digital Pedagogy Leader [DPL]. The role of the DPL is to provide leadership and support to teachers, teams of teachers and students with the integration of digital tools to improve learning and teaching. The DPL supports the coherent and skilled integration of technology into staff professional learning and classroom practice.
STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics]
Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga [CSWW] have responded to the National STEM Strategy by developing its own STEM strategy. The aim of the strategy is to raise the profile of STEM within Diocesan schools through supporting initiatives that develop:
- Critical and creative thinkers
- Problem-solving capabilities
- The effective use of digital technologies
- The STEM strategy is informed by the two goals of the National STEM School Education Strategy 2016 – 2026:
- Ensure all students finish school with strong foundational knowledge in STEM and related skills
- Ensure that students are inspired to take on more challenging STEM subjects
- The Diocesan STEM strategy is aligned to the five focus areas identified in the National Strategy and describes actions at school and system level which will drive improvement initiatives.
The five focus areas are: - Increasing student STEM ability, engagement, participation and aspiration
- Increasing teacher capacity and STEM teaching quality
- Supporting STEM opportunities within schools systems
- Facilitating effective partnerships with tertiary education providers, business and industry
- Building a strong evidence base
Our teachers have the opportunity to be a part of the National Music Teaching Mentor Program to develop their Music Curriculum pedagogy. This involves the classroom teacher working closely with a Music Specialist in their classroom to enhance their programming. Our students become inspired and actively participate in singing, moving and playing each Music lesson.
Our stage three students enthusiastically participate in the Australian School of Performing Arts Choral development program whereby teachers work with staff and students over a term on choral and dance repertoire, culminating in a collaborative performance with other schools within their cluster.
Students are given the opportunity to participate in an instrumental program which gives them access subsidised lessons and band ensemble time. Lessons can take place at the school or via video conferencing.
Aboriginal Education
Effective Aboriginal education in Catholic Education in the Dioceses of Wagga Wagga includes the following foundations and are the basis for learning and teaching programs:
- Seeking cultural advice and understanding
- Sharing of Indigenous history
- Student engagement
- Embedding Aboriginal histories and cultures into the school strategic plan
- Building students leadership capacity
- Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students coming together
- Building connections and relationships within and beyond the classroom
- Aboriginal content and perspectives embedded in the school curriculum
- Building staff and students cultural knowledge about Aboriginal culture, histories and experiences
- Building staff cultural competencies
- Valuing Aboriginal culture in the school environment
- The Aboriginal School and Community Worker initiative was introduced to support;
- Aboriginal students and their families.
- Engagement and Connection with local Elders and Community Organisations
- The integration of the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures for all students.
Royal Far West
Royal Far West in Sydney offers integrated health, education and disability services to rural and remote communities. Mater Dei Primary works in partnership with Royal Far West to deliver evidence-informed speech, occupational therapy and psychology programs which include assessment, therapy and parent and teacher capacity building. These programs are delivered by specialist pediatric allied health staff through teleconferencing. Programs are offered to 20 percent of our Kindergarten cohort and limited places are available to students across other grades who may require additional support.