Curriculum Opportunities

We pride ourselves on a wide range of curriculum opportunities for our students

It’s not the curriculum that we offer that sets us apart, it’s the manner in which it’s delivered

Any school can teach a curriculum. An amazing school like ours is full of teachers actively and passionately exploring the possibilities of making their teaching practice more innovative, engaging and fun at every turn. This is the single ingredient that drives the most growth in our students.

The success we attain is not only evidenced by the assessment data – but it’s seen through the smiles and joy we see on our student’s faces as a concept is grasped. This is the indefinable element that drives us as teachers to produce and grow our own teaching skills year in, year out.

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Religious Education

At St. James, Religious Education encompasses three elements – head, hands and heart.

Student Wellbeing

At St James, we strive to meet the spiritual, physical, intellectual, social and emotional needs of our students. We are committed to ensuring an environment where students feel safe and respected and experience a sense of belonging.

Literacy

Central to our Literacy program is each individual child.

Numeracy

Mathematics is an important part of our curriculum each day and is conducted for one hour per day.

Inquiry

We aim to foster curiosity, a sense of wonder and a love of learning

Physical Education

Physical Education provides opportunities for cognitive, social and emotional development through and during movement activities and the sequential development of skills.

Visual Arts

At St James, the Arts are unique, expressive, creative and communicative forms that engage learners in critical and creative thinking and help them understand themselves and the world.

Performing Arts

The performing arts lessons at St James provide students with the opportunity to engage the mind, the body and emotions into a collaborative expression of all that it means to be human.

STEM

STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Languages

Auslan is a rich non-verbal language and is the official language of the Australian Deaf Community.

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Religious Education

At St. James, Religious Education encompasses three elements - head, hands and heart. Through our head, we learn about our faith, its rituals, traditions, history and story using Catholic Education Melbourne’s Renewed Religious Education Framework. Through our hands, we outreach to those in our local and global community via our support of Mission, CARITAS and other social justice causes. Our hearts enable us to build our relationship with God and with others, demonstrating the values in our Gospels.

Learning and teaching in Religious Education focuses on developing our students in each of the three areas. Our Sacramental Program is Parish based and we celebrate Sacraments under the leadership of our Parish Priest, Fr Dispin John with St. John’s Mitcham.

Student Wellbeing

A whole school approach to promoting student wellbeing assists students to be confident, resilient, responsible and resourceful individuals, with the capacity to develop positive and caring relationships with each other and the adults in their lives.

In keeping with our Catholic Identity and The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools, we teach the values of honesty, justice, organisation, confidence, cooperation, respect, resilience and persistence.

Our approach to Student Wellbeing includes the following programs and strategies:

Values Education
Circle Time
Bucket Fillers
Student Leadership Program, including the Student Representative Council (SRC)
Buddy System (Prep & Year 6, Year 1 & Year 5)
Lunchtime Clubs and Passive Play
Seasons Grief and Loss Program
Prep Transition Program and Transition to Secondary School
An on-site qualified psychologist for students needing support in social and emotional issues.

Restorative Practices

Behaviour management at St James is based on a restorative approach, which views inappropriate behaviour not as ‘rule breaking’ but instead, as harm to relationships. Restorative justice aims to help students recognise the impact of their behaviour on others, learn from their mistakes and resolve conflict. Within this process, students build empathy and understanding, which are essential life skills.

The following questions are used to assist students manage conflicts and work towards resolution:

What happened?
How did it happen?
How did you act in this situation?
Who do you think was affected?
What do you need to do to make things right?
What would you do differently next time?

Literacy

Central to our Literacy program is each individual child. Data is collected and analysed to ensure that learning needs and styles are catered for. Our well balanced literacy program encompasses all three of the Victorian Curriculum language modes - Reading and Viewing, Writing, and Listening and Speaking.

The focus in our junior classrooms is on learning the skills to be literate. As students progress through the school, the focus shifts to developing effective communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed decision makers. In the senior school, students enjoy enriching skills through initiatives such as the Debating Program, hosted by members of the Victorian Debaters’ Association.

Numeracy

Mathematics is an important part of our curriculum each day and is conducted for one hour per day. Teachers conduct and analyse regular testing to allow them to prepare tasks that cater for the needs of each individual child. Mathematics includes learning from all areas of the Victorian Curriculum - Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability. At all levels we encourage students to be critical thinkers. Daily tasks include lots of problem solving, hands on tasks, sharing of different strategies and students asking lots of questions. In mathematics students are grouped according to their individual needs and teachers conduct whole class sessions and focus groups each day.

Inquiry

Our approach to learning in the Humanities (History, Geography, Economics, Civics and Citizenship), Science, Health and across the Capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum is an Inquiry Based one.

Students are immersed in a concept and then equipped with the skills and tools to be discerning about the information they find and are presented with. We aim to foster curiosity, a sense of wonder and a love of learning as students understand our world, participate in and contribute to our world and make good choices for our world and their own and others’ futures.

Physical Education

Physical Education provides opportunities for cognitive, social and emotional development through and during movement activities and the sequential development of skills. It also supports the development of the traditional values of respect, fairness, sportsmanship, responsibility and resilience.

Physical Education provides an opportunity for students to develop fundamental movement skills, game sense, knowledge and confidence to engage in a broad range of movement experiences at school and in the wider community.

Learners are supported in developing the knowledge, understanding and skills to strengthen their sense of self, build and manage satisfying relationships, to be resilient, and to make decisions and take actions to promote their health, safety and physical activity participation.

Visual Arts

At St James,the Arts are unique, expressive, creative and communicative forms that engage learners in critical and creative thinking and help them understand themselves and the world. Creating with Visual Art channels the communication of ideas, feelings and beliefs and an avenue of intellectual, physical, spiritual and emotional development as well as enjoyment.

The Arts program here aims to develop learners’ knowledge and skills is a broad range of art forms.The learners will develop an understanding of the Arts through a wide practice of ideas, skill techniques and processes. Our program also embeds the element of responding to the Arts, developing the skills of criticism, aesthetics and contexts.We deliver programs that have been developed in sequence and increments to enable gradual acquisition and application of skills as outlined in the Victorian Curriculum. Overall, we encourage a positive attitude towards self-expression and pride in their individuality.

Performing Arts

The Arts are a fundamental means of expression and communication in all societies.

Learning in the Performing Arts involves students creating and responding to music, dance and drama independently and collaboratively with their peers.

The performing arts lessons at St James provide students with the opportunity to engage the mind, the body and emotions into a collaborative expression of all that it means to be human. They discover their own voice, grow in confidence and develop a range of valuable interpersonal skills.

Students explore and develop an understanding of the elements of music, music conventions and music styles. In dance and drama, they are provided with opportunities to be imaginative and expressive and learn in a collaborative environment, reflecting on and responding to their own and others’ works.

STEMMS

STEMMs is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Media sessions. Students use a variety of technology and media sources to develop their problem-solving skills and investigate scientific and engineering principles.

There is a strong focus on collaboration, cooperation and critical thinking whilst designing, building and programming a variety of machines and robots.

Languages (Auslan)

St James Vermont offers an exciting Language Other Than English (LOTE) program, with all students in Prep to Year 6 engaged in weekly Auslan (Australian Sign Language) classes. Auslan is a rich non-verbal language and is the official language of the Australian Deaf Community.

Our Auslan classes promote communication and foster inclusion through a range of different activities and learning opportunities. We provide insight into Deaf culture and assist in bridging the gap between Deaf and hearing communities.

Students learn to communicate without their voices, beginning with iconic signs and fingerspelling. As their signed vocabulary grows and their confidence increases, students progress towards maintaining signed interactions in Auslan.