Curriculum- Teaching and Learning
Upwey South Primary School
If you wish to hear more about curriculum, teaching and learning across our school, please contact:
Melinda Rowe
Assistant Principal - Curriculum and Pedagogy
m: 0467 290 948
melinda.rowe@education.vic.gov.au
School Wide Teaching and Learning
In each edition of our school newsletter, we share with our community an insight into the curriculum being taught within our classrooms. This reflects our school's strong focus upon continuous improvement.
Each edition covers a different area of the curriculum, and is supported by our school-wide approaches to teaching and learning.
Hooray for the holidays after a busy term of learning. Holidays are a great time to recharge and relax the batteries, and enjoy some down time. For some families, they like to keep the learning continuing over the holidays. If this is something you would like to do, please read the below for some hints and tips.
Helping Your Child Shine in Maths and English Over the Holidays
The holidays are a wonderful time for family fun, rest, and adventure — but they can also be a great opportunity to keep your child’s Maths and English skills sharp! Supporting your child with learning during this break doesn’t have to be stressful or overwhelming. With a few simple and enjoyable activities, you can help your child stay confident and ready for the next school term.
1. Make Learning Fun and Relaxed
Use games, stories, and everyday activities to build skills naturally. Here are some easy ways:
- Maths in the kitchen: Cooking offers hands-on experience with measuring, counting, and fractions. Ask your child to help you follow a recipe — doubling ingredients, measuring quantities, or timing cooking steps.
- English on the go: Encourage your child to read signs, menus, or maps while you’re out and about. Ask them to tell you stories about what they see or to write a postcard to a family member.
2. Use Everyday Moments for Practice
Everyday tasks can be mini learning opportunities:
- Maths: Count change when shopping, compare prices, or estimate how long a trip will take.
- English: Encourage your child to write a holiday diary or draw a comic strip about their adventures. Reading together every day also boosts vocabulary and comprehension.
3. Explore Books and Stories Together
Visit the local library or download audiobooks and e-books. Let your child pick stories that interest them, whether it’s funny, adventurous, or about their favorite animals or superheroes. Sharing books together is a great way to build a love for reading.
A reminder that the parent platform is now open to make payment for ICAS assessment tests. Thank you to those families that have already placed orders.
What is ICAS?
The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools, or ICAS for short, is an independent, skills-based assessment program. ICAS recognises and rewards student achievement in areas such as English, maths, science, spelling, writing and digital technologies. The series of tests are designed to match and test skills that are learned in the school classroom.
The internationally-recognised gold standard in academic competitions
ICAS is a historic academic competition that has been sat by over 10 million school students from 16,000 schools across 41 countries since 1981.
It recognises academic performance in a way similar to sports or the arts, with engaging, fun questions designed by psychometricians, education measurement experts and experienced teachers to test students’ higher-order thinking skills.
ICAS also provides rich insights into students’ strengths and weaknesses, helping teachers to accelerate learning outcomes and unlock student potential.
Upwey South Primary School offers the following assessments to students in Year Three, Year Four, Year Five and Year Six:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Digital Technologies
- Writing
- Spelling Bee
Prior to the assessments, students have the opportunity to explore the types of questions they may be exposed to and ask any questions they may have regarding the tests.
Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.
Participation is voluntary with each assessment requiring a payment per test.
Payment is completed through the Parent Portal.
Costs are: $24.95 for the Writing assessment.
All other asssessments are $20.95 per test.
Orders for tests close on Friday 25th July, 2025
TEST DATES
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES - Monday 4th August 9am
WRITING - Friday 8th August 9am
ENGLISH - Monday 11th August 9am
SCIENCE - Monday 18th August 9am
SPELLING BEE - Friday 22nd August 9am
MATHEMATICS - Tuesday 26th August 9am
To order and make payment for ICAS tests, please head to the following link:
Parent Page Link:
https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/HPJ629
Parent Code:
HPJ629
Please selct the test relevant to the current year level that your child is in. If they are in Year Four, please select the Year Four test and so on.
If your child we will be absent for one of their purchased tests, please let me know so an alternate time can be organised to complete the assessment. Please note however that the make up date must be within the same week that the test is set.
If you have any questions regarding the ICAS assessments, please contact Melinda Rowe on the details at the top of this page.
Opportunities for students to challenge and enrich their learning are available through the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series. The Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series (VCES) provides funded extension activities for high-ability students in Victorian government schools from Prep to Year 12. Within the series, education expert partners are delivering a suite of face-to-face and virtual incursions and excursions, such as workshops, tutorials, conferences, lectures and competitions, across all areas of the curriculum that are free of charge.
For activities available, please see the following link:
https://arc.educationapps.vic.gov.au/channels/VCES
Some of the activities on offer
