Learning & Teaching

CURRICULUM

St Lawrence of Brindisi offers an education in all the learning areas prescribed in the Victorian Curriculum F-10. We focus on explicit teaching, relative to a child’s level of developmental progression using a framework of flexible learning.

Each child engages in English and Mathematical learning daily. Across the week, they will also participate in Discovery & Investigations (concept learning connecting other curriculum areas such as Humanities, Science, Technologies, and the Arts to student interest), Religious Education and specialist learning areas.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

As a Catholic school, Religious Education is a core learning area. Each child engages in explicit Religious Education lessons throughout the week. Children are introduced to Gospel and biblical stories that help them understand the life of Jesus and the messages he gave us to help us live a faith-filled, enriched life. A focus of our Religious Education learning is to help children connect their learning in this subject to their daily lives, through developing their understanding of Catholic Social Justice and through the care for our environment.

At St Lawrence of Brindisi, Religion is drawn from the Religious Education Curriculum Framework, developed in the Archdiocese of Melbourne and revised in 2018.

Students seek meaning through the three dimensions outlined in the RE Curriculum:

  • Knowledge and Understanding (Exploring scripture)
  • Reasoning and Responding (Developing a personal understanding)
  • Personal and Communal Engagement (Taking action, living the story)

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMS

At St Lawrence of Brindisi we believe that Sacraments are living out the faith mission of the school.  Sacraments are an integral part of our Catholic journey, they help us nourish, strengthen, and express our faith. Teachers, parents and the parish Religious Education team, work in partnership in the preparation of students for Sacraments.

Preparation and active participation in these sacraments is very important for the development of the spiritual journey of the child. It is important for families to make it a priority to enrol their child in the Parish Sacramental Program. As part of the St Anthony of Padua Catholic Parish, Melton South, we celebrate the Sacrament as follows:

  • Celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation – Year 2
  • Celebrate the Sacrament of First Eucharist – Year 3
  • Celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation – Year 5

LEARNING DIVERSITY

There are times when children require additional support or enrichment to engage with their learning. At St Lawrence of Brindisi, we carefully monitor the progress of every child in our school, and if intervention and additional support is required, we ensure this happens in a targeted and timely manner.

Every child is unique and brings with them a variety of life experiences, talents and individual needs. At St Lawrence we support a holistic approach to developing both the academic learning and wellbeing of our children. We provide support for our children in a variety of ways including:

  • Learning Support Officers (LSO’s)
  • Integrated technology
  • Targeted assessment, adjustments and modifications
  • Program Support Group meetings (PSG’s)
  • Personalised Learning Plans (PLP’s)
  • ABLES (Ability Based Learning and Education Support)
  • EAL curriculum (English as an Additional language),
  • Allied Health support sessions,
  • Learning Diversity (MACS – Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) consultations and referrals and ongoing communication with all our families.

SPECIALIST LEARNING:

At St Lawrence of Brindisi, we provide a holistic approach to education, ensuring that there are opportunities for all children to be successful. We run three specialist learning subjects that every child participates in for an hour each week:

  • Physical Education: learning of gross motor skills, games and the skills and rules for specific sports. Our children also engage in inter-school sporting events competing against other local schools
  • STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Students explore STEM using digital technologies to design, create and build both individual and small group learning projects. They investigate, inquire and collaborate to challenge their understanding of how the four areas are interconnected and important to the world around them
  • Science: The students will explore biological, chemical, physical and environmental sciences. Students will create, conduct and review science experiments, they will explore their own questions of inquiry, collaborate with others to investigate the sciences and understand their world from a new perspective

TCL:

Learning a language other than English is mandated within the Victorian Curriculum. At St Lawrence of Brindisi, our language process is a little different than in most schools and is based on a system called, ‘Teacher as Co-Learner’.

Rather than a traditional approach where children participate in a language lesson once a week, our teachers learn alongside our children every day as a key element of our literacy learning. Supported by a language assistant, the children learn the functional use of AUSLAN (the language of the deaf community), learning sign language for everyday commands and instructions such as, good morning, good afternoon etc. Our language assistant, Zoe, is profoundly deaf which means that the children need to develop their skills in order to communicate with her.

This approach has had a significant impact on our community and provided a really engaging and purposeful way for the children to learn a language.