Opportunities to Explore

We pride ourselves on a wide range of curriculum opportunites 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. Amazing schools like ours at Chirnside Park is full of teachers actively and passionately exploring the possibilites 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 from the assessement data – but it’s seen through the smiles and joy we see on our students 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.

Literacy

We are widely regarded as one of the leading schools in the region for literacy. Our approach is unique and hands on.

Numeracy

One of the pillars of the strong education we offer at Chirnside Park. We make numeracy engaging by bringing it to life with real world problem solving.

Wellbeing

Student wellbeing is central to everything that we do inside the classroom and outside. We have a strong focus on building ‘good character’ in all of our students

Physical Education

Our aim is to promote healthy bodies and healthy minds through our brillaint P.E. program.

Music & Performing Arts

Through play & experimentation, our music program is designed to build confidence in our students

Visual Arts

Creativity is a vital attribute for 21st century learners and we understand this. Our visual arts program is something we are intrinsicly proud of.

Technology

Technology is an inescapable medium in todays digital age and with a very healthy eye on balance we immerse our students in Ipads, interactive whiteboards, computers and lots more.

S.T.E.A.M.

Science, tech, engineering, art & mathematics sets students up to be critical thinkers for life. Ask any student at Chirnside about STEAM & you will probably hear it’s one of the highlights of the week.

Camps & Outdoor Ed

From years 3-6 our students participate in educationally linked trips off site to many destinations throughout Victoria. The annual surfing safari for Year 6 is a highlight!

Languages (AUSLAN)

Learning Auslan reinforces the development of neural pathways and cognitive processes. It strengthens the memory of brain function of children. It allows children to see deafness and disability in a new light and is a valuable tool for communicating with deaf people.

Literacy

At Chirnside Park Primary School we understand how vital literacy skills are to support all learning and use evidence-based methods to ensure all students succeed and thrive in this area.

Explicit and systematic teaching of fundamental knowledge and skills is the pillar of our approach at CPPS to provide the best possible environment for all students to develop the ability to read, write and understand the rules that govern the English language.

We follow what the science states around literacy instruction and have developed an approach that is delivering outstanding results for all students.

The Big 6 of Reading

Research has shown that there are six key components that contribute to successful beginning reading. Because of the importance of these components, they have become known as the 'Big Six’: oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

Our structured reading and writing approach includes:

Oral Language - the foundation of all literacy skills
Phonemic Awareness - the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words
Alphabetic Principle - the understanding that letters represent the speech sounds of our language
Vocabulary - words we must know to communicate effectively
Fluency - the ability to read text accurately, quickly and with appropriate expression
Comprehension - literal, inferential and critical understanding of a text
Grammar - morphology, syntax and punctuation

At Chirnside Park Primary School Students are in engaged in 10 hours of literacy per week.

Numeracy

At Chirnside Park Primary School, students are immersed in rich mathematical learning and provided with opportunities to experience success as mathematicians. Through carefully constructed learning that focuses on explicit instruction and modelling along with the use of hands on materials. Students then apply their knowledge and understanding through participation in a variety of activities; including, skills development, solving real life problems, open-ended questions and mathematics games.

The Mathematics Curriculum at Chirnside Park Primary School aims to provide all students with the opportunity to:

Develop a positive culture and learning dispositions that are vital for achieving success in mathematics, including: risk taking, curiosity, persistence, patience, valuing mistakes, embracing struggle, passion and resilience
Develop Mathematical skills and understandings needed for everyday living and apply their knowledge to real-life situations
Develop mental and written strategies and problem-solving skills required to solve practical problems
Develop the use of the four proficiencies (fluency, problem solving, understanding and reasoning) across all mathematical concepts
Interpret and communicate the language and processes of Mathematics in a range of situations
Identify and apply Mathematical concepts, connections, skills and processes to a variety of problems

Program Structure and Implementation

The Mathematics Program will reflect current Department of Education policies and guidelines and will be based on the current Victorian Curriculum
Each class will devote 300 minutes a week to the teaching of mathematics
Fluency will be a regular part of mathematics lessons and taught explicitly at each year level
Ongoing assessment will drive teaching and learning using a range of assessments including Rich Assessment Tasks, Essential Assessment and formative assessment throughout each lesson and unit of learning
Mathematics will be a positive experience for all students where teaching develops student confidence through explicit teaching, the use of concrete materials and effective feedback.
Students will be encouraged to articulate their mathematical ideas and understandings through discussion with peers and teachers
Students who require extension or support will be provided with Individual Education Plans that are tailored to target the students stage of development

Our goal is for every student at Chirnside Park Primary School to embrace and enjoy their mathematical learning journey. We want our students to develop a passion for mathematics and to be numerate in an ever changing world.

Wellbeing

Our vision is to provide an engaging, supportive, and inclusive learning environment where children can interact positively in a safe, respectful and cooperative atmosphere.

We believe in a safe and supportive environment that grows the mind and character unique to each child.

TIERED SUPPORTS

Chirnside Park PS utilises a multi-tiered support structure to help identify student needs and scaffold the supports, ensuring students have differentiated supports suited to their needs.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Our learning environment is supported by visiting services, including Occupational Therapists, Professional Play Therapy providers, and Social Work/Psychologists.
Chirnside Park PS also has a fulltime school based Wellbeing Officer to support student needs.

LIVING OUR VALUES

Chirnside Park Primary School’s values are: Excellence, Respect and Empathy

Excellence – We put our best effort in to achieving goals.
Respect – We show care for ourselves, other people, property and our environment. We develop a sense of pride, self-esteem and personal identity.
Empathy – We care about the feelings of others and think about how our actions affect other people.

SCHOOL POLICIES

We also have a number of school policies that focus on Student and Community Welfare. You can review our policies in detail here.

The Mathematics Curriculum at Chirnside Park Primary School aims to provide all students with the opportunity to:

Develop a positive culture and learning dispositions that are vital for achieving success in mathematics, including: risk taking, curiosity, persistence, patience, valuing mistakes, embracing struggle, passion and resilience
Develop Mathematical skills and understandings needed for everyday living and apply their knowledge to real-life situations
Develop mental and written strategies and problem-solving skills required to solve practical problems
Develop the use of the four proficiencies (fluency, problem solving, understanding and reasoning) across all mathematical concepts
Interpret and communicate the language and processes of Mathematics in a range of situations
Identify and apply Mathematical concepts, connections, skills and processes to a variety of problems

Program Structure and Implementation

The Mathematics Program will reflect current Department of Education policies and guidelines and will be based on the current Victorian Curriculum
Each class will devote 300 minutes a week to the teaching of mathematics
Fluency will be a regular part of mathematics lessons and taught explicitly at each year level
Ongoing assessment will drive teaching and learning using a range of assessments including Rich Assessment Tasks, Essential Assessment and formative assessment throughout each lesson and unit of learning
Mathematics will be a positive experience for all students where teaching develops student confidence through explicit teaching, the use of concrete materials and effective feedback.
Students will be encouraged to articulate their mathematical ideas and understandings through discussion with peers and teachers
Students who require extension or support will be provided with Individual Education Plans that are tailored to target the students stage of development

Music & Performing Arts at Chirnside Park Primary School

In Music sessions we sing, dance and play instruments every week. The lessons are designed to enhance creative, mathematical and higher order thinking as well as developing self-disciple in a fun environment.

Highlights of the Music program include: the yearly whole school production, Grade 3 to 6 choir performing at assemblies and special events and the end of year Christmas Carols community night.

The senior school learn African Body Percussion, developing high level rhythms and routines individually and with peers.

Private tuition is offered in guitar, keyboard and drums.

Visual Arts at Chirnside Park Primary School

Art students have fun learning to creatively express themselves in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, wood work, printmaking and sewing.

Subject matter draws on each student’s observation and imagination, creating a lively, interactive learning environment.

Our main goal is to embrace the artist in every child, and to help them understand the importance of art throughout their life. As each child discovers that art is a process not just a product, they are able to create work that reinforces their self-esteem.

Technology at Chirnside Park Primary School

We utilise a wide range of technological tools to enhance student learning.
Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard. There are also large banks of laptops and iPads in years 3-6 and in Prep-2 there are class sets of iPads. In addition to this, every year 5/6 student has access to their own school notebook computer.
A range of engaging software is used to enhance literacy and numeracy learning and prepare students for a world filled with Information Technology.

Robots and Robotics

Bee Bots
Students need to use their knowledge of Maths such as directions and angles to code the Bee Bots to make them move around in different directions. They can turn left and right and move forward and backwards. They can even be programed to write numbers and letters.

S.T.E.A.M. at Chirnside Park Primary School

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, THE ARTS & MATHEMATICS
We link Science and sustainability into our Literacy & Numeracy programs as a means to engage students interest. Hands on activities inspire children to discover things about the world and develop not only their knowledge and understandings but provide inspiration to read, write and talk about their experiences.

Students use Bee Bots, Dots & Dashes and Spheros to assist them in learning coding skills.

Science
Students use a range of materials to create their own lava lamps, flying machines and balloon hovercrafts as well as making delicious food in cooking.

Technology
Students are using their computers and iPads to solve real life problems, create graphs and designs using different programs and are learning how to create their own video games and cartoon animations.

Engineering
Students are learning to deconstruct a variety of old electronic devices and learn about each of the components within them and how they help to make the devices work.

The Arts
Students making different masks and props to then act out plays that they video using iPads.

Mathematics
Students use a range of hands on materials to build and create different objects and designs using geo boards and construction equipment. They also use computers to complete problem solving activities.

Camps & Outdoor Ed at Chirnside Park Primary School

Our camping program is for Year 3-6 students and children enjoy educationally linked excursions throughout Years Prep-6.

One of the highlights for the Year 5/6 is the annual surfing excursion.

Auslan at Chirnside Park Primary School

Our school has chosen to teach Auslan as our second language.
Learning Auslan reinforces the development of neural pathway and cognitive processes. It strengthens the memory of brain function of children
It allows children to see deafness and disability in a new light and is a valuable tool for communicating with deaf people.
In a survey conducted in 2018 our school community overwhelmingly chose Auslan as the language of choice.

We are looking forward to our students becoming adept in communicating in this language

Physical Education at Chirnside Park Primary School

Physical Education classes are designed to enable students to build sport specific motor skills and movement patterns, to develop their sporting prowess, and also to be motivated about keeping fit and healthy throughout their lives. Students have many opportunities to take part in intra-school and inter-school sports competitions across all year levels. Athletics, swimming and cross country are some of the exciting programs on offer here.