Learning

Foundation

Welcome to your child’s first year at school. Our Foundation classrooms are located next to the junior playground, where our teachers aim to consistently provide children with a stimulating environment in which they feel happy and secure. The development of independence, responsibility and co-operation is encouraged in all Foundation students and teachers cater for individual needs to ensure that students have a positive first year at school.

Buddies

Foundation students are assigned a Year 5 or 6 Buddy. Buddies meet regularly and participate in structured activities designed to foster this unique relationship. This valuable and successful program develops close bonds between children at both ends of the school.

Level 3 & 4

Welcome to Level 3 and Level 4 at Pentland Primary School.

Students at this level are becoming more independent learners and actively participate in a variety of programs. Teachers encourage students to develop good study habits and organisational skills.

Wellbeing in Level 3 and 4 is planned and taught based around the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships and You Can Do It! Education programs. These are hands-on lessons which teaches the students social skills needed in everyday life.

At this level, students are also given the opportunity to participate in Student Representative Council (SRC). Each class has two members who meet regularly with teachers to organise and discuss charity fundraising days at school.

Digital Technology: Students will develop skills in using mouse and keyboard/typing skills; word processing skills, coding, internet research, and other skills to support the classroom curriculum. Students learn about cyber-safety and explore different safety issues including cyberbullying, protecting personal information and sharing content.

Marrung

Pentland Priority areas and actions

To achieve its vision, Marrung encompasses actions that aim to:

1. Create a positive climate for learning and development where services demonstrate the highest levels of respect and inclusion and, as a result, Koorie children and learners of all ages feel strong in their identity within all services.
2. Build community engagement in learning and development so that, through partnership and collaboration, services work together with Koorie people to find innovative ways to improve outcomes in local communities.
3. Build a culture of professional leadership where success for Koorie Victorians is core business for all educational leaders.
4. Achieve excellence in teaching, learning and development at all stages so that:
   • young Koorie children are on track in their health, development and well-being, and their early learning experience sets them up for life
   • Koorie students engage fully throughout their schooling years and gain the knowledge and skills to excel at Year 12 or its equivalent
   • Koorie learners transition successfully into further education and employment, and have opportunities to access education at all stages of life.

Student Wellbeing

At Pentland Primary School we believe student wellbeing is at the heart of learning. We use an evidence-based, whole-school approach to wellbeing, through the Resilience, Rights, and Respectful Relations (RRRR) and You Can Do it! Education program. Both programs are interwoven together and are used to develop student’s social, emotional, and positive relationship skills. Topics within our wellbeing program include, Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships. It starts in Foundation and continues through to Year 6, building on the skills required each year for a healthy and happy student.

Respectful Relationships

Respectful Relationships is a Department of Education and Training initiative and is part of our whole school approach to wellbeing at Pentland Primary School.

Respectful Relationships education is a core component of the Victorian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 in all Government schools. The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified the critical role that schools and early childhood education have in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations.

Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, valued and treated equally. We know that changes in attitudes and behaviours can be achieved when positive attitudes, behaviours and equality are embedded in our education settings. This evidenced based approach leads to positive impacts on student’s academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour, and relationships between teachers and students.

In the primary years, Respectful Relationships is taught as part of the Health and Physical Education and Personal and Social Capability areas of the Victorian Curriculum. The curriculum supports schools to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our students how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. These age-appropriate resources align to the Victorian Curriculum and include lesson plans and activities that help students learn and practise social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life and relationships.

Specialist Programs

Health & Physical Education

Throughout the Physical Education program students will learn, develop and improve their knowledge and skills through play, games, challenges and modified sports. During Physical Education lessons there are several main focuses that include skill acquisition, participation for all, and the development of a healthy attitude towards being active and an enjoyment for Physical Education.

Students in Foundation to Level 2 mostly focus on acquiring, developing and improving their general motor skills. They do this through games, activities and challenges that allow them to explore and experiment using their bodies for various types of movements and actions. They play with different pieces of sports equipment to develop and improve their ability to throw, catch, kick and strike successfully.

As students develop and refine these motor skills over the years, they will then begin to apply and tailor these skills towards modified sport environments. Students will learn basic technical skills to allow them to execute skills during modified gameplay successfully. They will develop knowledge of fundamental tactical skills that will allow them to better understand how these games and sports are played and what strategies can be used to generate a successful outcome.

Students explore many sports throughout the Physical education program that include both individual and team sports. They learn vital teamwork skills that assist them to cooperate and solve problems with other students and to communicate effectively.

Pentland Primary School is part of the Bacchus Marsh Primary Schools Sports Association (BMPSSA), as part of School Sport Victoria. Where students can have the opportunity to represent Pentland and compete against other local schools.

Chinese

The purpose of Chinese classes is to engage the students in meaningful Chinese communicative activities, encouraging a positive attitude towards learning languages as well as an appreciation of and a curiosity to learn about other cultures. Students will participate in speaking, listening, reading and writing using the Chinese language. Students will be encouraged to take risks and speak in front of others. Students will learn to greet and farewell another person. The students will engage in simple dialogue where they may express their likes and dislikes. Students will learn their colours, numbers, and basic classroom directions.

Learning Languages

• extends literacy repertoires and the capacity to communicate; strengthens understanding of the nature of language, of culture, and of the processes of communication
• develops intercultural capability, including understanding of and respect for diversity and difference, and an openness to different experiences and perspectives
• develops understanding of how culture shapes and extends learners’ understanding of themselves, their own heritage, values, beliefs, culture and identity
• strengthens intellectual, analytical and reflective capabilities, and enhances creative and critical thinking.

Visual Arts

Students at Pentland Primary School are actively involved in creating visual works by exploring and developing ideas during their weekly Art sessions. The program equips students with new skills in visual communication to tell us about themselves and the world around them. Students are encouraged to experiment and problem solve during the art making process, and learn that the process is often more important than the final product.

Students begin to identify the Art Elements of colour and value, line, shape, texture, space and form as building blocks in their art making. During their Art sessions students explore these through the skills and techniques of the Areas of Art – drawing, collage, painting, textiles, printmaking, construction and modelling. As students progress through the year levels, they build on their understanding of the ways the Art Elements can be used and combined to express ideas through the Art Principles, including the use of contrast, repetition and pattern, movement and emphasis.

During Art sessions, students have the opportunity to view and discuss the works of a variety of past and contemporary artists. They discuss art works using terminology with an understanding of setting, content, scale and media. Students are given the opportunity to respond to visual works in a personal way by looking at and talking about their own work and the work of others. Everyone’s artwork is worthy of recognition.

Each year Pentland holds our Art Show were students from across the whole school are able to display and show their work for all to see. This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to come and see the amazing pieces created by our students.

Music

The Arts have the capacity to engage, inspire and enrich all students. The Performing Arts learning area comprises four subjects: Dance, Drama, Media Arts and Music. Together they provide opportunities for students to learn how to create, design and share their imagined and conceptual ideas, emotions and experiences. At Pentland we have a vibrant Music and Performing Arts program that includes classroom music across the whole school, choir, and class ensembles. Each class receives one 30-minute session weekly of instruction, in which they focus on both making and responding to music.

At Pentland there are lots of opportunities for students to perform for their peers and wider school community including choir, school concert and assembly performances.

Support Programs

Tutor Learning Initiative

Pentland Primary School offers a Tutor Program which is a targeted learning support program. The goal of this program is to empower students to embrace independent learning by providing them with additional and personalised support to promote their confidence and self- esteem.

The Tutor teacher, works both in the classroom and in a small group setting to assist the students with their needs and in accordance with the learning that is already taking place in the classroom. The classroom teacher also works in conjunction with the Tutor to set individual learning goals and these goals are reviewed as the program continues.

Student selection is a careful and thorough process driven by analysis of student learning data.

The students in the Tutor program are involved in;

• explicit teaching in Reading and Writing to practise their skills of literacy
• opportunities to complete tasks that they are successful in so that they feel confident to try a new task
• Interactive games that would support their learning.

GRIN (Getting Reading In Numeracy)

GRIN is a program to help scaffold and support students learning and confidence in Numeracy. The GRIN teacher works within small groups in accordance with the classroom teacher, to pre-load students mathematical skills and understandings so that they are better able to participate in classroom activities during Numeracy lessons.

EAL

English as an Additional Language is a support program for students who speak another language at home and need to learn the English language to succeed at school. In EAL, students learn about English, and use English to learn the content and topics covered in other learning areas. They have different learning needs from students who speak English at home and as their first language.

EAL teaching aims to teach English using the mainstream curriculum as the context.

The EAL students at Deepdene Primary school are involved in;

• listening to stories being read to them in English
• using specific vocabulary to write about familiar objects or events
• practising reading fiction and non-fiction books aloud with fluency and comprehension
• revising grammar concepts such as past and present tense, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, etc
• using ICT such as computers, iPads and Smartboards to play interactive games which reinforce the language concepts covered.

Speech Therapy Assistant Program (STAP)

At Pentland for those students who require extra support in the area of speech and language we offer our STAP program. This program is ran by our specially trained Education Support staff.

Psychologist

Our own school psychologist Matt Davis is a leading mental health expert here at Pentland. Matt works with and assists students and teachers to support an individual to get the best out of school life. Psychologists are experts in human behaviour. Matt helps students to achieve academic success, psychological health and wellbeing, and social and emotional wellbeing.

Facilities