Our Excellence

The teaching and learning at West Lakes Shore School is aligned to the Australian Curriculum (subjects, general capabilities and the cross-curricular priorities). This is what we teach. The Teaching for Effective Learning (TfEL) is how we teach and this has three big ideas. These are:

• Learning is designed to connect to students' lives
• Students know what and how to learn and
• Teachers create safe conditions for rigorous learning.

Our whole-school has a common approach to the way links are made between Geography, History, Science, Health, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, and Technologies. As a school we create big ideas and critical questions around a theme. Through our Reception-Year 6 Connected Curriculum teachers plan age appropriate learning experiences that help to develop children as capable and confident learners. Some examples of past common student initiated whole-school themes include:

• Adventures Together
• We are the future
• Power up your mind
• Our Big Backyard

Teachers make connections between subject areas to engage students and enhance learning. At the beginning of each term we hold a special assembly to launch the Connected Curriculum. This builds a sense of community and a positive link to learning across the whole school. During each term we also have a 'day of action' or celebration, linked to the Connected Curriculum. We also hold an annual Open Evening in Term 4 to showcase the excellence in learning across our whole-school. We believe that is important for children to apply what they learn in subjects through project-based learning. An approach to this is the focus we place on STEAM learning and the 6 Ds of Solution Fluency. This is the integration of the Science, Technologies, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Teachers plan learning that is open-ended, linked to local or global issues and develops children's 21st century skills. We enable students to be creative and critical thinkers, who can solve complex problems and design innovative solutions.