Curriculum News

Teaching in Sydney Catholic Schools

Sydney Catholic Schools aims to develop "thriving Catholic communities through excellent teaching and learning." The teachers at St Anthony's continually strive to be effective, responsive and reflective teachers, that teach and support all students in our school. We are adopting instructional practices defined by teaching excellence and also guided by the Sydney Catholic Schools' Excellence in Action Framework. Through our weekly professional learning, we are looking closely at this framework to ensure we continue to develop and enhance our teaching.

This framework examines 8 specific areas that 'excellent teachers' do:

Have a deep knowledge of the curriculum and plan collaboratively to design learning that meets the needs of all our students
Set high expecations in both academic and behavioural areas through approriate and effective instruction
Create environments that not only support but continue to further engage and inspire our students to develop a deep love of learning
Daily reviewing of knowledge, to enable students to consolidate and retain content into the long-term memory
Ensure concepts are sequenced for understanding before continuing on, avoiding the overloading of the working memory
Use feedback as an important point to check for student understanding, with opportunities to correct early misconceptions
Consistently use the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (I do, We do, You do) in all areas of the Curriculum. Also differentiate all work presented to students, to cater for the variety of needs within classrooms
Review, reflect, evaluate and redesign teaching strategies and content to meet the needs of the students in the classroom

(Taken from the fact sheet from Sydney Catholic Schools: "What Excellent Teachers Do)

Some of our Teachers in Action!!!

Working together for our students,

Leanna Langlands

Instructional Specialist