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Excellence in Teaching and Learning 

The Assistant Principal will support the leadership team in ensuring consistent and effective implementation of educational programs and initiatives including PLCs; Curriculum Teams;  Learning Specialists; and e-Learning.

Please contact, Assistant Principal,  Stephanie DiSalvo

Email: stephanie.disalvo@education.vic.gov.au

 

Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting

The Assistant Principal will support the leadership team in ensuring consistent and effective implementation of the Victorian Curriculum and rigorous assessment and reporting processes.

Please contact, Assistant Principal, Dan Moloney

Email: Daniel.Moloney@education.vic.gov.au

The school curriculum is a statement of the purpose of schooling. It defines what it is that all students have the opportunity to learn as a result of their schooling, set out as a series of learning progressions. Enabling students’ progress along this learning continuum is the fundamental role of JSA teachers and schools.

The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills that are required by all students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship.

The curriculum:

  • Reflects current educational reform at an international, national and state level, and is informed by the principles and practices of inclusive education.
  • Supports inclusive education and the rights of every student to participate in, or have access to, the full range of programs and services offered by the education system on the same basis as their non-disabled peers.
  • Provides an inclusive curriculum so teachers can equip all students with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to help them succeed in a world that is increasingly complex, rapidly changing and rich in information and communications technology.

 

JSA uses a range of standard curriculum options to develop and provide education programs that are meaningful for all students including:

  • Victorian Curriculum F-10 including Rights Resilience and Respectful Relationships
  • Advance program
  • Senior secondary programs Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), Certificate of Individual Achievement and Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Schools.

 

Student Learning

Student learning is produced, shaped and affected by four connected components. Each of these components plays a separate and distinct role in the process of student learning and each is interconnected with all of the others.

  • The first is the curriculum that defines what it is that students should learn, and the associated progression or continuum of learning.
  • The second is pedagogy that describes how students will be taught and supported to learn.
  • The third is assessment that identifies how well a student has learnt specified content.
  • The fourth is reporting that explains to the student and the parent where a student is on a learning continuum at the end of a specified period of schooling, and where this places them in relation to their own learning goals.

 

Victorian Curriculum F-10

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 provides the framework for curriculum development for Foundation – Year 10. It is structured as a learning continuum that enables teachers to identify the student’s current levels of achievement and then deliver teaching and learning programs that support progression of learning. The curriculum integrates the ‘Towards Foundation Level Victorian Curriculum’ directly into the curriculum and is referred to as ‘Levels A to D’.

The Victorian Curriculum F–10 includes eight learning areas and four capabilities. The curriculum achievement standards are provided in 11 levels for English and Mathematics and in five or six bands for all the other learning areas and capabilities. Achievement standards are provided in four levels (Levels A to D) for students with additional learning needs or a disability.

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian standards and priorities.

2018 JSA Whole School Curriculum Plan Student Diary

Advance Program

Yr9 and 10 students will develop planning and communication skills in a community project environment where their views are heard and valued. Through the Advance Curriculum students, JSA and community organisations will develop networks of relationships while achieving shared goals. The program encourages our local community to support and recognise our students’ participation and positive role in society.

The Advance curriculum provides a chance for our students to do something worthwhile in their community based on their choice. The students will plan projects, meet new people, build skills and make a difference in their community.

Certificate of Individual Achievement (CIA)

Students who are involved in the CIA curriculum will receive written reports issued to parents/carers in July and December to show student progress and achievement in the following areas

 

  • Literacy – Writing, Reading, Oral/Augmentative Communication
  • Numeracy
  • Personal Development
  • Pathways Specific Skills – Working with others, Work habits, Communication, Travel Education

 

At the completion of Year 12 students will receive a school based certificate.

 

Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL)

VCAL is a ‘hands-on’ option for students in Years10, 11 and 12. It is a recognised senior secondary qualification that focuses on ‘hands-on learning’ curriculum. VCAL’s flexibility enables students to design a study program that suits their interests and learning needs. There are four compulsory strands in VCAL:

  • Literacy and Numeracy Skills
  • Work Related Skills
  • Industry Specific Skills
  • Personal Development Skills.

A certificate and Statement of Results will be issued to students who successfully complete their VCAL.

Vocational Education and Training Delivered in Schools (VET)

VET (Vocational Education and Training) Delivered in Schools provides JSA secondary students to gain practical skills in a specific industry while undertaking the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) or Certificate of Individual Achievement. Programs are typically completed over one or two years and provide students with a qualification or partial completion of a nationally recognised certificate.

Students who take part in a JSA VET program will:

  • gain industry experience and employability skills
  • create a pathway to further study (certificate, diploma qualifications) at TAFE
  • gain opportunities to develop relationships with industry employers
  • enhance their knowledge of employer and workplace expectations
  • develop the capacity for teamwork and leadership.

 

VET Delivered in Schools at JSA offers the following programs:

Certificate I Sport & Recreation

Certificate II Sport & Recreation

Certificate I Creative Industries

Certificate II Creative Industries

 

Pedagogy

JSA teachers plan for and implement the curriculum to meet the learning needs and goals of all students; this is achieved through developing appropriate teaching and learning programs. The curriculum offers flexibility for teachers to tailor their teaching in ways that provide rigorous, relevant and engaging learning and assessment opportunities for students covering multiple levels. JSA Teachers consider different ways students might approach learning, their different abilities and strengths, or their different perspectives on themselves as learners when developing learning and teaching experiences. Teachers plan for a variety of ways that ideas can be represented and the need to approach and demonstrate learning using different media and representational modes. Teachers will use diverse approaches to allow students to experience diverse ways of learning and knowing, and targeted support for individuals, based on teacher monitoring.

JSA teachers will:

  • Vary the structure and delivery mode across a range of teaching sessions
  • Provide for a range of learning styles or modalities within teaching sessions and from one teaching session to another in terms of both teacher input and student learning experiences
  • Help students to understand their own specific learning needs and provide choice to cater for the range of those needs
  • Set a variety of types of tasks during each unit and using a range of resources eg. print, visual, aural, experiential
  • Provide variations in tasks to allow student choice on style of presentation or type of approach
  • Ensure each task has an open ended aspect that allows students to work at different levels and paces
  • Arrange for time in each teaching session to give individual support to students in need of particular attention
  • Provide opportunities to use a range of multimodal communication systems

 

Personalised Learning and Support Plans

The JSA curriculum offers flexibility for teachers to tailor their teaching in ways that provide rigorous, relevant and engaging learning and assessment opportunities for all students. Students will engage with the curriculum with the necessary adjustments made to the curriculum content and how students demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding. Each student’s individual characteristics will dictate the type of adjustments, what supports are required, when they are required and what good progress ‘looks like’. High expectations ensure that a student’s disability is not a barrier to their success.

The PLSP process provides a structure for ensuring all students are engaged in the classroom curriculum; they will:

  • sit within whole-school curriculum planning
  • link to a student’s learning goals developed by the SSG
  • include age-appropriate learning activities and assessment tasks
  • allow for alternative learning pathways for demonstrating achievement
  • include suggested home activities, if appropriate
  • identify next steps in a student’s learning
  • have agreed dates for ongoing monitoring and review, through the SSG process.

 

PLSP goals will include the Learning Areas:

English, Maths, Critical & Creative Thinking, and Personal & Social Capabilities.

 

Assessment

Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analysing and interpreting, using and reflecting on evidence to make informed and consistent judgements to improve future student learning.

Assessment at JSA will aim to:

  • improve student performance
  • understanding of how students learn
  • be an integral component of course design and not something to add afterward
  • provide useful information to report to parents on student achievement
  • provide clarity of purpose, goals, standards and criteria
  • provide a variety of measures
  • use valid, reliable and consistent methods
  • focus to outcomes and processes
  • be ongoing rather than episodic
  • involve feedback and reflection.

 

To assess student performance, JSA will use an integrated approach to assessment across a number of learning areas. In assessing students, teachers will:

  • collect a variety of evidence through using a range of strategies
  • consider alternative or authentic ways in which students can demonstrate achievement based on the goals developed in their PLSP.

The Abilities Based Learning and Education Support (ABLES) program will be completed for all students during Semester 1 and Semester 2 of each year. ABLES will be used to describe skills and abilities that teachers have observed in everyday school and classroom contexts and during interactions with other students; moderation will be completed to support the accuracy of the assessments. ABLES provides a tool to effectively assess, monitor and respond to a student’s abilities by:

  • Accurately identifying and setting learning goals for students.
  • Tracking a student’s progress over time, and providing new information to parents on their child’s learning and development.
  • Identifying optimal resources that are known to improve learning, which can be adjusted as the learning needs of students change over time.

 

Reporting Student Achievement

Reporting is the process of communicating comprehensive information about student achievement and learning at a point in time.

JSA Reports provide parents with a clear picture of their child’s progress at the end of a specified period of time that demonstrates:

  • where their child is on the learning continuum
  • how well their child is progressing towards expected levels of achievement and personalised learning goals and targets
  • where their child will need to improve and what the next steps in their learning will be.

SSG goals and PLPs provide an important focus for reporting to parents. JSA will report what has been taught in the semester and to Personalised learning Plans (PLP). In reporting student learning progress to parents, JSA teachers will clearly identify the areas of strength and areas for improvement for each individual student. Reporting student achievement to parents will be supported through student work samples, portfolios, parent, student and teacher conferences, and student self-assessment.

 

Semester 1 Reports will include the Learning Areas:

English, Maths, The Arts (Visual Arts & Music), Health, The Humanities, Technologies, and Personal & Social Capability.

 

Semester 2 Reports will include the Learning Areas:

English, Maths, The Arts (Drama & Dance), Physical Education, Science, Technologies, and Creative & Critical Thinking Capability.