Learning & Teaching

Year 3GR Zoo Snooze

On Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th November 2024, the Year 3GR students eagerly embarked on an unforgettable overnight ‘Zoo Snooze’ adventure at the Melbourne Zoo. Following a regular school day, we changed into our camping attire, organising our camping essentials, transforming the classroom into a bustling scene of sleeping bags and pillows. Mrs. Richardson and Ms Drough checked off names, ready for the awaiting bus, officially marking our first school camp outside of Sacred Heart Kew.

Upon our arrival, warm greetings from the Melbourne Zoo staff (Mozz and Robin) ushered us to the campsite, where tents awaited as our twilight abodes.  The tents were so amazing and we couldn’t wait to find out who would be in each tent. Beneath the evening stars, we swiftly arranged our bedding before converging at the heart of the campsite for some fun group activities. After much fun playing scavenger hunt games, we headed to the Lakeside Cafe for a delicious evening meal, featuring barbecue sausages, macaroni and cheese and delicious salads. We then returned to the elephant enclosure to finish off with refreshing lemonade icy poles.

An evening tour led by our Zoo hosts Mozz and Robin saw us strolling through the Zoo, immersing ourselves in the night time sights and sounds of both familiar and mysterious animals.  On our way back to the campsite we were thrilled to have a ride on the amazing Melbourne Zoo carousel which is over 100 years old. Returning to camp, we secured our tents against potential possum visitors and bunked down for the night. After quite a drenching overnight we packed up ready for a hearty breakfast followed by a final morning tour. Some of us were really tired the next day!!

At 12pm delicious lunches arrived, vegemite, cheese, chicken and mayo rolls and a meerkat and giraffe biscuit, which was eagerly devoured by everyone. At last we headed to the entrance of the Zoo to pick up our bags and wait for the bus, marking the end of our Zoo Snooze adventure. We may have been tired and exhausted, but the gratitude for the incredible experience shared with friends and teachers was something for all of us to remember. Best camp ever!

Year 3MD Zoo Snooze

On Wednesday the 27th of November 3MD went to the Melbourne Zoo for the Zoo Snooze. Mrs D and Mr O’Shea were the lucky ones to come with us.

Firstly, we got on a really fancy bus. Liza was my bus buddy. On the way we played eye spy and spotter. It took the bus 30 to 45 mins to get there.

Next, we got our bags and suitcases out of the bus and met our Zoo Keeper’s. Their names were Ben and Leigh. Then we went to  where we were staying. It was called Keeper Kids. We left our bags there and went to see the gorillas. They were huge!

Later on we went back to Keeper Kids and set up where we were going to sleep. In my group there was Issy, Lila and Sienna . You could get a badge for the fastest team to set up for the night, and my team won.

After that we had dinner. It was Sausages in bread, Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Salad & Lemonade icy poles. Next we got our warm jackets and got ready for the night walk. We saw 2 lions, A Snow leopard, Tiger, Dingoes and tassie devils.

Later we went on the carousel at 10:30. It lit up and played frozen. I sat next to Lila and Issy. After it finished we went back to camp at 11:00. Mrs D also read Ella Diary’s to the whole class. I was the first one to fall asleep.

The next morning Sienna was the first one up but then I woke up. Me and Sienna read a book and also looked at some soft toys. It took a  long time for Mrs D, Mr O’Shea and lots of other people to wake up and get up. After everyone woke up and was awake, we started to pack up our camp space and get ready for the day.

Then it was time for breakfast. We had mini bacon and egg rolls, vegemite and cheese scrolls, coco pop and gross orange juice. After breakfast we had a look at Hutan (the Tiger), the elephants, the butterfly house, the otters, the baby meerkats and Scarlet the Red Panda.

Eventually, it was lunch time and we had sandwiches, a cookie, more gross orange juice and a green apple. After lunch  we looked at the Orangutans.

Sadly it was time to go back to school. It took 45 minutes. I think the Zoo Snooze was amazing! And it’s so far my favorite camp ever!!!

By Ivy O

Brochure made by Liza S

Updated Victorian Curriculum Version 2.0 for 2025

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) recently published its revised Mathematics and English curriculums (English Version 2.0 and Mathematics Version 2.0). 

All Victorian school will be using the Mathematics Version 2.0 and English Version 2.0 in 2025. At Sacred Heart we will be using the revised Mathematics 2.0 and English 2.0 for school reporting from Semester 1, 2025.

The revised Mathematics and English curriculums are based on feedback from Victorian educators, including through formal Victorian Curriculum F–10 Monitoring Framework that has been conducted annually since 2018, significant consultation conducted by ACARA in preparing Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum Foundation to Year 10, and advice provided by Curriculum Area Reference Panels, comprising Victorian teachers from across school sectors.

What are the major differences?

Mathematics

The original Mathematics curriculum 1.0 assessed and reported against the 3 strands of the achievement standards (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability). The Mathematics Version 2.0 is organised into 6 strands (Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space, Statistics, and Probability). 

English

The original English curriculum 1.0 assessed and reports against the 3 strands of the achievement standards (Reading and Viewing, Writing, and Speaking and Listening). English Version 2.0 has been developed to be more flexible and invites skills to be transferred across language modes and contexts and is now organised into the following strands: Language, Literature and Literacy.

Please note that Reporting for both curriculum areas will change in 2025. Information about these changes and how the semester reports will look, will be communicated next year.

The Science of Learning

Over the past year, classroom teachers have been engaged in professional development by MACS Staff at various Eastern Region Network Days and curriculum professional learning workshops about The Science of Learning as part of the MACS 2030 Vision for Instruction. The Science of Learning research focuses on the cognitive science related to how students learn and connects this research to its practical implications for learning and teaching. The Science of Learning identifies six key questions and related cognitive prinicples about learning:

1. How do students understand new ideas?
2. How do students learn and retain new information?
3. How do students solve problems?
4. How does learning transfer to new situations in or outside of the classroom?
5. What motivates students to learn?
6. What are common misconceptions about how students think and learn?

The key questions help inform the learning and teaching at Sacred Heart and guide our curriculum programs and instructional strategies with improved student outcomes at the core of our planning. One instructional strategy that teachers have adopted this year in English and Mathematics is Daily Review. 

What is Daily Review?

Daily Review is an important component of instruction. Review can help students strengthen the connections among the material they learned. The review of previous learning can help us recall words, concepts, and procedures effortlessly and automatically when we need this material to solve problems ot to understand new material. The development of expertise requires thousands of hours of practise, and daily review is one component of this practice. 

Spelling at Sacred Heart

Prep and Year 1

Next year in Prep and  Year 1, we will continue using the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) program. LLLL – is a structured and explicit program with engaging multisensory activities. This program aligns closely with MACS 2030 Vision for Instruction and The Science of Learning. It is carefully sequenced in seven stages to teach children the 44 sounds of the English language and the principles of the alphabetic code (that each speech sound can be represented by different groups of letters, such as the sound /ī/ as in I, sky, pie, ice, cycle, and that a letter (or group of letters) can represent different sounds, such as the letter ‘y’ in yes, gym, funny, sky.

In Prep we start with teaching the simple code in Stages 1–4. We will focus on phonics and phonemic awareness to build the strongest foundations for reading and spelling success. We will also focus on building vocabulary and oral language skills to develop equally strong foundations for comprehension and writing. In Year 1, children build on the skills learnt in Prep. They continue to become fluent and confident readers. They learn long vowels, alternative graphemes, suffixes and associated spelling and morphology rules.

Year 2 - 6

Next year we will be moving away from the SMART Spelling program and implementing Spelling Mastery from Years 2- 6. Spelling Mastery is a fully scripted 'Direct Instruction' program that has an extensive research base and is teacher directed. This closely aligns with the 2030 MACS Vision for Instruction and The Science of Learning. The program helps students understand the relationship between sounds, word parts, and spelling patterns.

Spelling Mastery encourages students to learn strategies to spell correctly rather than rely on memory alone. There are three approaches within Spelling Mastery. Phonemic, whole-word, and morphemic.

- Through the phonemic approach, students learn sound-symbol relationship between letters and sounds that help student spell using predictable patterns. For example, words like map, tap, fog, fan.

- The whole word approach teaches students high frequency words and irregularly spelled words that do not follow a predictable pattern. Examples-‘ answer’ ‘the’ and ‘people’.

- The morphographic approach teaches students that all words are made of one or more morphograph or word parts. They also learn rules that apply when combining morphographs to form words. Examples- ‘Re’ as a morphgraph hasmeaning. It means again (repack, return, rerun) ‘-est’ means the most (lightest, happiest, friendliest).

Your child will learn to spell using all the above methods through lessons delivered in class. This means that homework may look a little different. Please do not be concerned if word lists aren’t being sent home on a regular basis, as the focus of Spelling Mastery is for students to understand how to spell rather than spell ‘by heart’.

We also recognise the need for practising the skills learned in class, so when there are word lists sent home it would be mainly when added practice is called for.

Each child also will work through a workbook in class that was purchased via your booklist. All learning will be recorded in this book.

We look forward to starting this new journey of learning at Sacred Heart.