Learning Areas
Literacy
The study of English is central to the learning and development of all young Australians. It helps create confident communicators, imaginative thinkers, and informed citizens. The Whitehorse Primary School literacy program provides a wide range of educational approaches and strategies to meet the needs of each child, and incorporates a variety of opportunities to use language in different contexts through modelling and real life experiences. Incorporating rich and engaging texts into literacy lessons allows students' love of language to prosper, whilst simultaneously developing their literacy skills.
Numeracy
At Whitehorse Primary School, we believe that all students can learn mathematics to a high level. Our maths program aims to:
- be child centred
- include engaging, hands-on learning
- foster a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and problem solving skills
- use best practice teaching (High Impact Teaching Strategies)
Numeracy provides students with access to important mathematical ideas, knowledge and skills that they will draw on in their personal and work lives. The Mathematics curriculum focuses on developing increasingly sophisticated and refined mathematical understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. These capabilities enable students to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing mathematics to make informed decisions and solve problems efficiently.
At Whitehorse Primary School, our students develop these skills and qualities by engaging in rich, authentic and challenging tasks. Our students can see the relevance of their mathematical learning to their own life experiences. Our students work collaboratively to solve mathematical problems and are provided with open-ended tasks that can extend their understandings. Importantly, we aim to instil confidence and enthusiasm for learning maths in our students through our engaging and relevant curriculum.
STEM
Questacon Maths Centre
Whitehorse Primary School has a long and proud association with Questacon, having hosted an original Maths Centre (at one of our founding schools, Nunawading Primary School) in 1993. Questacon is Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre and is based in Canberra.
Children attend our accredited Questacon Maths Centre on a weekly basis and participate in critical thinking and hands-on problem-solving. The Centre has a large range of puzzles, tasks and activities, covering areas such as:
- Logic
- Number
- Measurement
- Space
Sustainability
Whitehorse Primary School highly values sustainability, and as a school have implemented composting, plastic and paper recycling, solar hot water systems, and a rainwater system to reduce our impact on the environment. These sustainable practices are actively led and maintained by the student leadership team at Whitehorse Primary School.
Solar Boats
Whitehorse Primary School is proud to participate in the Victorian Model Solar Vehicle Challenge every second year. Grade 5/6 students work extremely hard for many weeks to design and create their Solar Boats for the competition, which is hosted by Scienceworks in October. It is a fantastic opportunity for parents to also become involved in their children's learning and share this engaging experience.
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Kitchen Garden Program
The aim of the Kitchen Garden Program is pleasurable food education for children. The Program develops lifelong skills in the kitchen and garden and encourages children to enjoy all the benefits of growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing.
Whitehorse Primary School is proud to be one of the first schools to engage children in this amazing program which is available to students from Grades 3 – 6. Ours is the second longest running Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program in Australia and was the first established in a primary school.
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Integrated Studies
Our students are engaged through the study of a variety of topics throughout their schooling. Students tend to explore a new topic each term, which combines many areas of learning such as History, SOSE, Sustainability, Ethics, and STEM.
