TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teaching and Learning Update 

Hi everyone,

We’re excited to start a new year with a brilliant team here at St Agnes’! An overarching goal for us this year is to promote student voice and engagement, through a range of interesting learning experiences and evidence-based teaching practices. While 2023 is the year to embed newly introduced initiatives (like, for example, Spelling Mastery and Multi-sensory Structured Language - MSL), below is a snapshot of some bits and pieces in the pipeline…

Literacy 

In Terms 1 and 3, we’ll start with an ‘all hands on deck’ Reading Sprint model. This will involve a timetable shuffle for the duration of the sprints, enabling us to place additional staff members in the year levels. The goal is to provide a targeted boost to student reading and comprehension skills, while promoting team teaching and support. 

In Writing last year, we started each lesson with a grammar and punctuation focus. This year, we’ll refine this with a clear scope and sequence of skills, informed by The Writing Revolution and The Science of Reading. The scope and sequence is cumulative, so students will revisit the concepts multiple times throughout their primary schooling years.

Maths 

Each term will start with a whole school Maths unit, so teachers can participate in targeted professional learning and peer planning and mentoring. Our Term 1 unit is Place Value; Term 2 will start with Operations and Strategies; Term 3 will explore Fractions, Decimal Numbers and Percentages; and the focus in Term 4 will be Money and Financial Mathematics. 

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

The online world presents an interesting space for educators and parents, as students are exposed to an ever-widening array of content from a range of creators. This year, we will strengthen our existing Social and Emotional Learning program with the introduction of Respectful Relationships. The staff has undertaken some introductory training already, and we have some more formal training booked in August. The program focuses on shaping a culture of equality and respect, with a suite of scaffolded, age-appropriate and explicit lessons from Prep to Year 6. Watch this space for more detail from the Wellbeing Leader, Anthea Georgiou, in future newsletters; in the meantime, please feel free to approach me with any questions.

We’re grateful to have a team of skilled and motivated teachers, ready to take on the challenges of 2023 with us. We are all looking forward to working with you, your families and, in particular, your children this year!

Louisa Di Pietro

Deputy Principal - Teaching, Learning and Diversity