Curriculum

The English Learning Area has been a priority at Dalyellup Primary School since 2008, with particular emphasis being placed on Reading and Writing with a focus on a whole school approach to spelling. Our Vision at Dalyellup Primary School is that:

VISION: All students achieve the literacy skills that enable them to become ‘Life Long Learners’

MISSION: A commitment to provide a literacy environment that is: inclusive and nurturing, encouraging and affirming, educative and challenging and aims to have every child achieve their potential.

ETHOS: To provide an environment that supports the Principles of Teaching and Learning.

AIMS:  Ensure that all students:

• Learn to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose
• Appreciate, enjoy and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with other, entertain, persuade and argue
• Understand how SAE works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning
• Develop interest and skills in inquiring into the aesthetic aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:

• Ensure that staff is actively involved in inducting parents, families and the community into the ethos and philosophy of the school.
• A collaborative environment is established to involve parents, families and the community in developing the ethos and philosophy of the school
• Parents are encouraged to contribute their ideas, knowledge and skills.
• Staff display a positive attitude towards parents as partners in student English acquisition

EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAMS:

Dalyellup Primary School has implemented whole school programs and processes in the English Learning Area:

• Guided Reading is a strategy used to ensure all students learn the skills of reading.
• Smartwords is the spelling program used for the majority of students from year 2 – 6.
• PLD phonics begins the students introduction to phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge for students in K-1.
• Minilit and Maqlit are programs catering for students who are struggling with the acquisition of phonic skills
• An extension program is being established for the high achieving year 6 students, focussing on word origins.
• Staff are being given professional learning on using the writing evaluation tool Brightpath to teach specific skills in writing.

For more information on the specific  Literacy Plan in your child’s classroom, please make an appointment to speak with your child’s teacher.

We strive to inspire Mathematics success for all students through Growth Mindset and innovative teaching.  We aim to bring about high levels of student engagement and achievement by giving all our students equal access to rich mathematical experiences and effective research-based teaching.

At Dalyellup Primary School, we place an emphasis on the establishment of a safe mathematical environment in all classes. Teaching students about the Growth Mindset and the power of accepting mistakes as a part of the effective learning process are the key components of our approach to teaching Mathematics.

We focus on developing students’ understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills embedded in the Mathematical concepts of the Western Australian Curriculum.

The development of Number Sense, the students’ ability to interact with numbers flexibly and conceptually, has been a recent priority. The Number Talk strategy, promoting the dynamic development of our students’ number sense, has been adopted across the school. The Number Talk sessions are conducted four times per week at the same time across all classrooms from Year 1 to Year 6.

Mathematic language development continues to be another of our prime focus areas. We acknowledge the importance of improving our students’ ability to comprehend mathematical problems as well as develop their ability to express their understanding and communicate strategies employed to solve them.

At Dalyellup Primary School our students have access to engaging, hands-on, open-ended maths experiences, supported by the oral, visual and digital fluency practices on a daily basis.

Society is rapidly moving into an age of rich online digital information, touch screen technologies and portability of devices.

Today’s students are visual learners more than ever before, and their capacity to adapt to and manipulate new technologies is far greater than most adults.  It is therefore our belief that our school’s learning environment should also be equally rich in ICT, compatible with children’s home and social contexts.

Learning with ICT

Background:

Traditional school technologies are fast becoming obsolete as society rapidly moves into an age of touch screen technology and portability of devices. Today’s students are visual learners more than ever before, and their capacity to adapt to and manipulate new technologies is far greater than most adults. It is therefore our belief at Dalyellup Primary School that our learning environment be equally rich in such technologies, and thus compatible with each child’s home and social contexts.

“Augmented Reality is here to stay”

Dalyellup Primary is committed to the development of ICT skills in our students so they can interact in the future with the ever changing technology.

Learning & Teaching with ICT

Commencing in 2013, the students and staff at Dalyellup Primary School were be provided with a range of modern learning technology devices designed to replace the existing infrastructure.  Such devices included iPads and MacBooks, and since their introduction, through their versatility and functionality, they have proven to be an outstanding resource that supports and enhances student achievement.

In 2013, the school focussed on providing students and staff from Pre-Primary to Year 6 with access to iPad devices to support teaching and learning. The purpose for this was to use the devices to support student and staff skill development in using this type of technology in the classroom setting.

In 2014, the school introduced a 1:1 BYOD iPad program for all students in Years 4 to 6. This involved all of these students being given to opportunity to bring their own apple device to school to use as a tool to support their learning in the classroom. This program was preceded by extensive community consultation and a series of workshops aimed at informing the parents of the benefits such a program could offer. Students in Pre-Primary to Year 3 have access to iPads at the school, with each classroom being provide with approximately 6 devices each, and often pooling these devices so that each child has access to their own device. The 1:1 program has been very advantageous as the students are able to transfer their skills and work to home. This was used extensively during the disruption created by the lockdowns due to COVID.

To date the 1:1 BYOD iPad program has been an outstanding success, with in excess of 85% of all students in Years 4 to 6 participating in the program by bringing their own iPad to school each day. The use of these devices in all classrooms from Pre-Primary to Year 6 has had a significant impact on student achievement, contributing to an improvement in NAPLAN and school-based testing results across a range of areas.

For our teachers, the ICT structure has enabled the design and delivery of flexible and engaging learning opportunities and improved monitoring and assessment procedures relating to student progress. For our students, it has facilitated learning that is responsive to their own individual styles and needs.

We will continue to move with the development of new technologies and upskill our staff to ensure we are current and able to assist our students in their development into the future.

At Dalyellup Primary School, we aim to cater for the diverse educational needs of all students and pride ourselves on providing programs that cater for students with needs at both ends of the learning spectrum.

Students who require additional support with their learning in order to further develop their skills and conceptual development are catered for through differentiated programs that all teachers offer within the classroom; as well as specialised programs for identified students that involve support staff working with individuals and small groups in a safe and supportive environment.

Students who require academic enrichment and extension are also catered for within the classroom through differentiated teacher prepared programs; in addition to dedicated enrichment and extension programs that are conducted by a specialist teacher.  The Enrichment and Extension program focuses on extending students’ critical and creative thinking skills.

The Learning Support Coordinator (LSC) assists teachers in differentiating their programs to support students with specialised needs and learning dispositions.  The LSC oversees the implementation of the school’s MiniLit and MacLit programs.  This involves training  Education Assistants in these programs, assisting with assessments and screening, and being a member of the school’s Student Services Committee.

 Dalyellup Primary School offers specialist learning programs in;

• Physical Education
• Visual Arts
• Performing Arts / Music
• Technology
• AUSLAN is the specialist language

Students from Years 1 – 6 attend each of these specialists lesson every week.

Uniforms can be purchased from Uniform Concepts, 4/118 Spencer St, South Bunbury, WA, 6230.

Opening hours are;

Monday:  9:00am to 5:00pm

Wednesday:  9:00am to 5:00pm

Friday:  9:00am to 5:00pm

Saturday:  9:00am to 12:00pm

Email:  bunbury@uc.nellgray.com.au

Website:  nellgray.com.au