Deputy News   

Harnessing Attention for 100% Participation

Our teachers use a range of intentional, research-based practices to ensure every child is actively involved in every lesson. Clear routines, consistent cues, structured questioning and regular opportunities for students to respond mean that learning is never passive. All students are thinking, speaking, writing and demonstrating their understanding throughout each lesson. This means every learner is 100% part of the journey, because we know at Sacred Heart, learning is not a spectator sport! Through a variety of high-impact teaching strategies, lessons are paced for success, with regular checks for understanding and immediate feedback so that every child is included, supported and appropriately challenged.

Low Variance Curriculum: What This Means for Your Child

We implement a low variance curriculum, ensuring that the high-quality teaching and learning your child experiences is consistent across every classroom and year level. Lessons follow a shared structure and are grounded in high-impact teaching strategies, meaning students benefit from familiar routines, clear explanations, guided practice, and purposeful review, no matter which class they are in. This approach supports equity and excellence, providing every child with access to the same strong instruction and ensuring learning builds smoothly from year to year.

Our Low Variance Approach Helps Us To:

1. Share and strengthen good practice: Teachers collaborate, observe one another, and refine what works best.
2. Improve the quality of instruction over time: We identify the “best bets” for teaching each concept and continually improve curriculum materials.
3. Provide students with a consistent learning experience: Common routines and expectations help students transition smoothly between classes and year levels.
4. Reduce teacher planning and preparation load: Shared units and resources free teachers to spend more time supporting student learning.

5. Build a strong instructional culture: Teaching decisions are made collectively, ensuring a cohesive, evidence-informed approach across the whole school.

    

At Sacred Heart, this approach ensures every child has access to a rich, high-quality curriculum and allows teachers to focus on supporting all students to thrive.

Reducing Cognitive Overload to Maximise Learning

By establishing familiar routines this in turn helps reduce cognitive overload, allowing students to focus their brainpower on new learning rather than on figuring out what to do next. When expectations, structures, and language are familiar, working memory is freed up to think more deeply, make connections, and retain new knowledge. This is important because it supports confidence, increases success for all learners, and ensures that every child can fully engage with and understand the content being taught.

LITTLE GEMS💎

We loved this little photo all the way from Canberra, while visiting Questacon, Mr Homer still found time to catch up on our staff professional learning.

Kate & Bronagh

Deputy Principals