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Curriculum
The school also offers four specialist subjects: Auslan (Australian Sign Language), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Physical Education (P.E.), and Art.
Rockbank Primary School’s teaching philosophy centres on an exploratory approach, emphasising hands-on, practical activities to engage students fully. This approach aims to develop critical skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking, and critical thinking. By addressing real-world problems, encouraging innovative solutions, and challenging students to analyse and evaluate information, the school fosters a dynamic and engaging learning environment.
Teachers participate in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) where they collaborate and learn from one another. They plan for students by considering individual needs, analysing student learning data, and researching and applying best practices to ensure teaching and learning are current and relevant. Teachers also engage in professional development both on and off-site.
Mathematics
Our daily one-hour Mathematics Block is structured to include whole-class, group, and individual tasks, all differentiated to accommodate varying levels of mathematical understanding. Each lesson kicks off with a brief ‘Number Talk,’ designed to foster a deeper grasp of number relationships and strategies. We employ Explicit Instruction alongside Problem-Based tasks, which challenge students to push their boundaries while also providing support and scaffolding where necessary.
Aligned with the Victorian Curriculum standards, our Mathematics units of work span across Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space, Statistics, and Probability, ensuring a comprehensive and rigorous learning experience for all students.
English
At Rockbank Primary School, our English curriculum is centred around our Whole
School Instructional Model. Collaborative planning among teachers ensures that
learning experiences are not only rich and meaningful but also deeply engaging, with
a constant focus on ongoing assessment to tailor activities to individual student
needs.
Our daily two-hour Literacy block includes whole-class, group, and individual tasks,
that are all differentiated to accommodate varying levels of understanding.
To ensure our teaching methods remain current and effective, we invest in
continuous, evidence-based professional learning. Teachers use current data to
enhance their instruction and various programs to engage all students. Some
examples of these include Smart Spelling and Decodable Readers Australia.
At Rockbank Primary School, English is more than a subject – it is a foundation for
lifelong learning and fostering a love for reading, writing and communicating.
Extra-Curricular including Camps, Swimming, Excursions & Incursions
Our 3-6 year level students have a chance to go on an exciting adventure and push themselves to try new things and experiences that they might never have had the opportunity to do before. Our camps are organised to give students a chance to show their independence and learn valuable life skills whilst at the same time having a blast with their friends and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Students will engage in a range of activities that could include; rock climbing, giant swing, rope courses and team building. Students will also learn life skills by helping out during meal times.
Interesting and engaging excursions and incursions are organised for all year levels from Foundation level up. Everything from trips to the farm to amazing adventures at Sovereign Hill to everything in between. These events always work with the curriculum content being taught linking to what students are engaged with in the classroom.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)
At Rockbank Primary School, students are encouraged to deepen their understanding of the wide variety of subjects encompassed by STEM such as Physical Science, Earth and Space, Chemical Science, Biological Science, Design and Digital Technologies.
STEM builds problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills within a learning environment that encourages creativity, curiosity and thinking outside the box.
Through each module, various processes are taught and followed, such as –
- the design process (problem, brainstorm, plan, create/build, redesign and test) provides students with a framework to find innovative solutions to the challenges they are presented with
- the scientific method (forming predictions, conducting experiments and recording observations) gives students the tools they need to make evidence-based decisions and reach informed conclusions.
Students from Foundation to Year 6 participate in weekly one-hour STEM lessons with our specialist STEM teachers.
Intervention Programs
At Rockbank Primary School, we embrace a Disability Inclusion approach that empowers our staff to effectively support students by implementing purposeful adjustments. Collaborating with an Occupational Therapist, we develop tailored strategies for classroom success.
Students requiring extra support receive targeted interventions in Literacy and Numeracy through our EMU (Extending Mathematical Understanding) program and the Tutor Learning Initiative. We identify students for intervention based on their class assessment results and closely monitor their progress to gauge intervention effectiveness.
Our Education Support Staff actively engage in classrooms to cater to students’ teaching and learning requirements.
We craft Individual Education Plans (IEP) for every student each term. These plans are meticulously tailored to individual needs, with targeted goals regularly reviewed to ensure progress. These IEPs are communicated with parents through termly parent meetings.
EAL
At Rockbank Primary School our teachers are well equipped to meet the educational needs of EAL learners. Classroom teachers, specialists and EAL teachers work together to identify the language learning needs of EAL learners when planning activities across all areas of the curriculum.
In addition to classroom instruction, Rockbank Primary School has an EAL team consisting of teachers who meet regularly to identify the needs of our EAL learners. Information and supporting resources are then shared amongst our teaching team to best support our EAL learners.
Students will receive an EAL report when they meet a particular criterion (explained within our EAL Framework). EAL reporting is not a deficit model and is deemed equal to the Victorian Curriculum.
The EAL curriculum aims to ensure that students:
- develop fundamental functional English language and literacy skills
- learn to listen to, speak, read, view, write and create spoken, print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal, and interactive texts, across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency, and purpose
- understand how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and print forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning
- appreciate, enjoy, and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of the ways it can be used to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade, and argue
- develop their plurilingual awareness of the ways they use different languages and the roles of these languages in their lives and identities
- develop their communicative skills, linguistic knowledge and cultural understandings in English and their other language/s, to enable their full participation in Australian society.
The EAL curriculum sets out what students are expected to learn and is organised by pathways, language modes (Reading and Viewing, Writing, and Speaking and Listening) and strands (communication, cultural and plurilingual awareness and linguistic structures and features). It is a continuum structured as three pathways (A, B, C). Each pathway describes a different stage of English-language learning (early, mid and late), and each pathway is divided into different levels of language learning.
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR)
The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships Curriculum is an evidence-based whole school approach to social and emotional learning, where it develops the personal and social capabilities, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social management.
Part of this whole school approach explicitly focuses on the importance of building respectful relationships, where topics 7&8 explicitly focuses on gender identity and aids in the prevention of gender-based violence. In 2015, The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified that schools play a critical role in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations. Therefore, in 2016, respectful relationships education became a core component of the Victorian Curriculum from Prep to Year 12.
Each year level/cohort will focus on one topic each term within the wellbeing hour once per week. These topics are:
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Topic One – Emotional Literacy, the aim of this topic is to help students develop the ability to be aware of, understand, and use information about the emotional states of themselves and others with competence. Topic Two – Personal Strengths builds on the importance of building and using a strengths vocabulary, and identifies the ways in which we can focus on our personal strengths and help see them in others. Topic Three and Four – Positive Coping and Stress Management are closely related and the learning activities provide opportunities for children to identify and discuss the value of different types of coping strategies. Topic Five – Problem-Solving activities introduces students to a range of problem-solving skills, through applied learning tasks, so that they are able to cope with personal, social and ethical dilemmas. Topic Six – Help Seeking activities are designed to help students discuss the importance of seeking help and providing peer support when dealing with problems that are too big to solve alone. Topic Seven – Gender and Identity this topic promotes respect and an appreciation for diversity and difference. It assists students to challenge stereotypes and critique the influence of gender norms on attitudes and behaviour. They learn about key issues relating to human rights and gender identity, and focus on the importance of respect within relationships. Topic Eight – Positive Gender Relations activities focus on the development of self-care, peer support and help-seeking skills that can be applied in response to situations involving gender-based violence within family, peer, community or on-line relationships. |
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships Implementation Model
eSmart at Rockbank Primary School
Rockbank Primary School is proud to be an eSmart school, dedicated to fostering a safe and supportive online environment for our students. At the heart of this initiative is our dedicated eSmart team, which meets weekly to discuss, develop and improve the schools eSmart practices.
What does it mean to be an eSmart school?
eSmart, an initiative by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, strives to foster a culture of intelligent, secure, and ethical technology use. The eSmart Schools framework aids school communities in preparing for and addressing cyber risks and cyberbullying, ensuring students feel safe and supported at school.
Upon adopting operational changes to achieve eSmart status, schools are recognized as eSmart Members. This status grants them access to additional expert support and resources for continuously reviewing and enhancing their cyber safety policies and procedures. With guidance from a team of eSmart Advisors, professional development opportunities, and community webinars, schools refine their operations using best-practice principles within the framework.
The eSmart team at Rockbank Primary School are responsible for:
- Reviewing school policies and procedures: ensuring policies are up-to-date and effectively address the prevention and management of cyberbullying
- Informing teacher practice: informing school staff about anti-bullying efforts and making sure they have the resources to purposefully integrate the safe use of digital technologies into the classroom. Ensuring teachers are equipped with the knowledge to teach students about staying safe online, help seeking, problem solving and leaving a positive digital footprint
- Engaging external experts to provide eSafety education: Engaging various providers to educate Rockbank Primary School’s teachers and students on online safety. This encompasses collaborations with entities such as law enforcement agencies and helplines like Kidshelpline and our schools eSmart advisor
- Communicating with parents and engaging the wider community in eSmart practices: keeping the Rockbank Primary School community informed with regular communication about cyber safety practices and supporting children in the home environment. This includes regular information in the newsletter and parent workshops.
We have compiled a collection of resources for parents seeking additional information on how they can promote online safety for their children at home. Click here to access these resources.
By staying informed and actively involved in our children’s online world and gaming experiences, we can help ensure their safety and promote responsible behaviour in digital spaces. Let’s work together to empower our children to enjoy the benefits of online gaming while upholding values of respect, kindness, and inclusivity.
- Common Sense Media: This website provides parental FAQs and information about specific online platforms such as Fortnite, Snapchat, Instagram and many more. It makes recommendations for age-appropriate games and offers guides for parents on managing screen time and online safety. Parenting, Media, and Everything in Between | Common Sense Media
- Internet Matters: Internet Matters offers practical advice and guides for parents to help keep their children safe online, including specific guidance on online gaming safety. Internet Matters
- Alannah & Madeline Foundation – Digitalk: This resource provides parents with practical tools and guides to promote digital literacy and online safety for kids, covering topics like cyberbullying and social media safety. https://www.alannahandmadeline.org.au/learning-resources/digitalk
- Free Parent information session: join this online session 23rd April at 4:00pm Parenting in the Digital World– As part of National eSmart Week (Parent). https://dartlearning.org.au/excursion/parenting-in-the-digital-world-as-part-of-national-esmart-week-2/#Details
- Parental Controls: Most gaming consoles and platforms offer parental control settings that allow you to manage your child’s online experience, including communication features and access to certain content. Take advantage of these tools to tailor your child’s gaming environment to your comfort level.
- Reporting an incident: If your child is a victim of cyberbullying: report the bullying or abuse to the website, social media platform or online service first. If the issue persists, report the bullying or abuse to eSafety. Report online abuse | Victoria Police
Social & Emotional Learning
At Rockbank Primary School, we understand the importance of wellbeing and social and emotional learning for our students. That’s why we have developed a comprehensive Wellbeing program that focuses on helping students develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes they need to thrive in life.
Our Wellbeing program is designed to support students in developing a positive sense of self, strong social and emotional skills, and an understanding of healthy relationships. Through a range of activities, discussions, and practical activities, our students learn how to manage their emotions, build strong and respectful relationships, and make positive choices for their wellbeing.
Classes are exposed to a SEL lesson for at least an hour each week to support our students and their needs with the opportunity to also participate in small groups with education support staff if further development is needed. Education support staff run a variety of programs, for students that need further support, including Zones of Regulation and You Can Do It! Programs.
We believe that investing in the social and emotional learning of our students is essential to their success and happiness. At Rockbank Primary School, we are committed to providing our students with the tools they need to succeed in life, both academically and emotionally.
Physical Education
Students develop and refine their Fundamental Movement Skills such as running, jumping, throwing and catching. Active participation, regardless of skill level or ability is expected together with a positive attitude, respect and good sportsmanship. Our inclusive approach ensures every student has an opportunity to experience the benefit of physical activity.
Auslan
Rockbank P.S. incorporates Auslan into their curriculum, promoting cultural understanding and inclusivity. By learning about the distinct Deaf culture and language, students are developing a broader appreciation for diversity and the importance of belonging.
The concept of HOLME (Handshape, orientation, location movement and expression) is used with each sign, as it highlights the unique features of Auslan grammar and how they differ from those of English. By understanding the structure and mechanics of Auslan, students can better appreciate the beauty and complexity of the language.
Students will be learning and practicing various topics throughout the year, such as foods, family, and transport. This will not only help them develop their language skills but also deepen their understanding of Deaf culture and community.
By incorporating Auslan into their curriculum, Rockbank P.S. is sending a powerful message about the importance of inclusivity, respect, and understanding. It’s a valuable step in promoting social cohesion and breaking down barriers between different communities.
The Arts
The study of The Arts is a unique, expressive and creative form of communication that hopes to engage all. Students are given the opportunity to Explore, Express, Practice, Present, Respond and Interpret their own and other creative work. The Arts promotes creative problem solving, self-expression and imagination in a range of different forms.
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts program at Rockbank P.S aims to build and expand student’s knowledge and skills by exploring the elements of art, including line, shape, colour, value, texture, space, and form.
This program stimulates interest and provides children with hands-on experience using a variety of tools, techniques, and materials in painting, drawing, printing, threads and textiles, modelling, and construction. Each art activity challenges students to progressively develop and enhance their artistic knowledge and skills.
Students are given opportunities to appreciate different art styles and are encouraged to share their ideas and work with others. The program also includes the study of art history and its relevance to various world cultures, helping students to value artworks from their own and others’ cultures.
All students participate in a 60-minute Visual Arts session in the art room each week
Student artwork is regularly displayed around the school.
The art room always welcomes donations of clean, recycled objects that can be used to create amazing art.
Performing Arts
The Performing Arts curriculum at Rockbank P.S. includes Music, Dance, and Drama, offering every student the chance to express themselves creatively through planning, playing, creating, and performing. Emphasis is placed on audience behaviour, where students observe each other’s performances and provide feedback.
In Music, students explore the elements of beat, pitch, and volume using both untuned and percussion instruments. They also learn simple musical notation.
The Dance program introduces various styles, including set routines and creative movement, which help build student confidence and coordination. The elements of dance include body awareness, action, space, time, and energy.
In Drama, students engage in simple role plays and improvisations, using props and costumes to create characters and tell stories.