Year Level & Specialist Curriculum

Prep: 

Year One: 

Year Two:

Year Three: 

Year Four:

Year Five: 

Year Six:

Term 2 2025 Specialist Curriculum Overviews

Our Specialist programs will cover the following during Term Two

Physical Education “Every child is a winner, when they try their very best”  

Prep-  The students have come a long way from their first session in term 1.  We will focus our first session on our first House Cross Country.  Then we will continue to focus on the various fundamental skills and in doing so they will participate in many circuits and activities that will practise these skills.  We will conclude our underarm unit and then further develop our catching and overarm throw skills in various rotations and games. Throughout the term we will continue to work on demonstrating safe behaviours by following instructions and taking turns.

Year 1&2-We will continue to refine our fundamental skills this term. Focus will be on our first House Cross Country, kicking, bouncing (year 1) and punting (year 2) and conclude with some Indigenous Games. These skills will be practised during various rotations and modified games.  We will continue to work on participating in games by following rules and using equipment and space safely.

Year 3&4- We start the term off with preparation for House Cross Country.  This will encourage students to enjoy being active but also act as our trials for the District Cross Country on Friday 9th May. Following this we will be focusing on developing the students' invasion game skills. Invasion sports involve an offensive team working to maintain possession of an object while attacking (or invading) a defensive team's goal or target area. Development of specific skills and skill combinations that involve passing, receiving, shooting and defending will be our focus. In year 3 we will learn some new games/sports so we can practise these skills in a fun environment. 

In year 4 we will focus on specific sports that we may choose for Gala Day - soccer, AFL 9s and netball and basketball in term 3.  We will focus on how we call for the ball and keep possession of it and staying on our opponents when playing a game and defending our space to help our team.   Students will continue to work on their skills to work cooperatively as a team and play fairly.

Year 5&6 - Our focus in the first week will be on House Cross Country in preparation for Friday 2nd May. This will be an afternoon promoting and encouraging being active and also count as the District Cross Country trials (Friday 9th May). Following this we will focus on further developing the students' invasion strategies and techniques, particularly maintaining possession, moving into an open space (when and where to run) and effective passing options (who and when to pass). 

We will focus on team sports that we have an opportunity to participate in for our next gala day - soccer, AFL 9s, netball and our basketball day in term 3.  Students will continue to develop their skills to work cooperatively in a team and apply rules fairly.

Auslan

"Languages connect people, ideas and learning. They are our vehicle for thinking, understanding, communicating and doing."

Welcome to Term 2 in Auslan. Hopefully during the refreshing holiday break, your children were able to share some of their Term 1 food signs when celebrating at your family Easter feasts! 

Throughout our Auslan classes this term, students across the school in all levels will continue to grow their Auslan vocabulary and receptive skills through the use of targeted vocabulary activities, live demonstrations and peer interactions. The common theme for this term for most year levels is ‘sport’, which was voted for and selected by our students. The consistent vocabulary themes between year levels are intentionally chosen to encourage signed communication between siblings and friends. The depth of content and vocabulary is then varied with increasing complexity in upper levels. As always, when the semester draws to a close, it is delightful to view every student across the school give an age-appropriate signed presentation, without voice, demonstrating their growth in Auslan. 

Preps will continue their Auslan journey by learning the fingerspelled alphabet and mastering how to introduce themselves. Their main focus will be on signs associated with ‘self’, and learning to express their own preferences in sign language. This term they will learn new signed vocabulary including colours, through guided group activities, repeated language structures and games.

Year 1 and 2 will continue to consolidate their existing Auslan vocabulary including everyday conversational signs and food. This term they will extend their vocabulary to include signs related to sport, and will develop their signed presentation skills.

Year 3 – 6 will focus their learning and vocabulary extension on the areas of sport, activities and social interactions. They will maintain their use of high-frequency signs, consolidate their conversational skills and the use of non-manual features, and their ability to engage in increasingly sustained interactions, without the support of spoken language. With receptive skills as the primary focus in Term 1, students’ productive skills will be assessed in Term 2, noting the improvements in student presentation and communication skills. 

Performing Arts

Term 2 in Performing Arts promises to be exciting as we begin preparations for our upcoming school concert, scheduled for early Term 3. Throughout weekly lessons, students in all year levels will rehearse songs and dances for their class concert items, as well as learn the lyrics and actions for the whole-school finale performance. Members of the Year 3–6 Choir will also rehearse their special choir item, which will be performed in addition to their year level’s piece.

Alongside concert preparations, students at St James will participate in the following activities during Performing Arts lessons:

Prep – Prep students will explore musical instruments and the key elements of music—tempo, pitch, and volume—through Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. They will respond to the music through movement and by playing rhythm instruments.

Year 1 and 2 – Students in Years 1 and 2 will continue developing their musical skills through singing, movement, games, and the use of instruments. They will focus on the pitches So and Mi, using hand signs to reinforce pitch recognition.

• Year 1 students will be introduced to the musical stave as a 'home' for sounds and will begin composing simple songs for classroom performance.
• Year 2 students will prepare to learn new rhythmic elements through a hand-clapping games unit. They will learn to perform a variety of traditional hand-clapping games (such as Miss Mary Mack) and create their own original hand-clapping compositions.

Year 3 – Year 3 students will expand their knowledge of pitch through singing, movement, and playing tuned percussion instruments. They will work with the pitches So, Mi, Re, and Do, and will begin to connect these to the musical alphabet. Students will also create and perform their own compositions.

Year 4 - Year 4 students will learn about the instruments of the orchestra through an engaging unit inspired by a Lemony Snicket mystery story. They will explore how composers use different timbres (sound colours) to create mood and atmosphere. Students will then compose their own musical cryptograms for performance.

Year 5 and 6 – Students in Years 5 and 6 will continue developing their skills on the ukulele, learning to play chords and songs. They will form ukulele bands and choose a song to rehearse and perform for their Prep and Year 1 buddies. Additionally, they will learn a group song to perform as part of a large ukulele ensemble at the school concert.

STEM

The students made a great start to STEM in Term 1.  

Prep- This term the students will begin to access the school network by logging into the Chromebook and will start using Google Chrome and various websites on the internet.  

They will also be introduced to coding through the use of the Bluebot robots.

Year 1- This term the students will build on their knowledge in the use of Google Chrome and develop their skills using Google Docs.  They will extend their coding skills using an app - Kodable and also the robots BlueBots.

Year 2 - This term the students will be using the robots Dash and Dot.  They will explore the coding required for these robots and discover terms such as sequences and loops.  They will look at how sequencing affects the outcome of a robot's movements.  They wil also be building on their Google skills with a look at tools in Google Slides.

Year 3 - Students will be using the robots Spheros and Sphero Bolts this term.  They will look at free driving the Spheros to control them and then look at being able to code the robot to make similar moves.  They will need to look at variables such as speed, direction, time and distance to successfully code a Sphero through various obstacles and courses.

Year 4 - Students will be using the robots Ozobots.  They will be using colour markers to code the Ozobots through various moves and functions.  They will create their own courses for the Ozobots to manoeuvre through.  They will also use block coding to have the Ozobots perform similar functions.

Year 5- Year 5 students will be using Spheros and Sphero Bolts this term.  They have previously used them in Year 3 and will now build on their knowledge to code the Spheros to perform various functions, loops and sequences.  The students will work through various modules to have the Spheros act as a Magic Ball, Swimmer, Sumo Wrestler and Race Car.

Year 6 - The students this term will finish their Stop Motion creation and present it to the class. Following this they will be looking using an app on the iPads called Reality Composer.  Reality Composer uses 3D shapes and items and put them into real life situations, scenarios and games, Augmented Reality (AR).  The students will need to look at using real life applications such as physic and how objects move i.e. rubber balls bouncing, metal objects hitting the ground then tumbling, scaling of objects, behaviours of moving objects, collisions etc.