How We Teach & Support

It's the little things we do to support an individualised learning program that get us the big results

How we teach and support

Our entire teaching staff is dedicated to the details and we want to ensure every child achieves to their own potential.

This means ensuring we have a robust system of teaching and support that not only caters to the average (or middle student) – but also the advanced student or the student that needs some extra support.

For learning to take place we need to ensure that every child feels safe, happy and confident within themselves – and so a huge emphasis is placed on a strong wellbeing and support program that achieves just that!

Extending Students

At Holy Trinity, we are committed to meeting the unique learning needs of each student through evidence-based teaching practices. As part of this commitment, we offer a range of programs designed to support and extend the learning of our highly capable mathematicians.

In Years One and Two, high-achieving students are given the opportunity to work outside of their regular classes. This program focuses on deepening their understanding of current concepts while also introducing them to more advanced topics from higher curriculum levels.

From Years Three to Six, our most capable mathematicians are invited to participate in the Australian Mathematics Challenge. This program presents four complex problems, which students solve over a four-week period. During this time, students collaborate with their peers and receive guidance from the Mathematics Leader.

In addition, all students in Years Three to Six have the opportunity to take part in the online Australian Mathematics Competition. Following the competition, students are awarded certificates that reflect their level of achievement.

In the area of Literacy, we closely track students’ progress through a variety of assessment tools, both formative and summative. This allows us to pinpoint which students would benefit from additional extension. Teachers then tailor programs and teaching strategies to support these students. Some of the strategies include small teacher-led groups, guided reading sessions, reciprocal teaching, and literature circles, all designed to challenge and engage students in their learning.

Additional Support

Mathematics

Classroom teachers are able to track students’ growth through pre and post tests, PAT Maths and other formative assessment tasks. By tracking and monitoring a wide variety of data, differentiated teaching is practised across the school to ensure all students are being challenged at their own point of need. Students participate in small teacher focus groups based on this data to extend all capabilities of students. For those students who need some extra support, Holy Trinity has many programs to ensure students reach their full mathematical potential.

The Mathematics Leader withdraws students from Years One – Five in small groups from the regular classroom to assist their mathematical understanding. Groups range from two to six students and the groups meet up to four times a week. These interactive sessions give students assistance in relevant topics, tips on how to remember the content, and help them develop the confidence to call themselves mathematicians.

Our Learning Support Officers facilitate the Getting Ready in Numeracy (GRIN) program before school. Students in Year Three to Six meet before school for 20 minutes to pre-teach the content that the students will be exposed to in class. This assists students to develop confidence in new concepts and to be one of the first students to participate in the class group discussions, as well as small group assistance for those students.

For students who require one on one support, Learning Support Officers work closely with students to develop their mathematical understanding. This may be before school or during class time.

Literacy

In the area of literacy, teachers track student progress through a variety of assessment tools including PAT Reading for Year One to Year Six students, and InitiaLit Foundation and Year One assessments including Progress Monitoring and Cumulative Reviews.

MiniLit Sage

Students in Year One, Two and Three who are identified as requiring additional support, work in a small pull out group of up to five students, up to three or four times a week with an Intervention Teacher or the Literacy Leader implementing the MiniLit Sage program. MiniLit Sage is a Tier 2 early intervention program which incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development and text comprehension.

Resilient Kids

We recognise that our school is more than a space for young people to learn. Our school is a workplace where all staff and students deserve to feel respected, safe and valued. Schools, like ours, are also important hubs in the community and we have the opportunity to lead, influence and contribute to healthy community culture. The Victorian Government is heavily investing in resources to deliver

Respectful Relationships and as part of this initiative Victorian schools will be supported to review theirpractices and policies, and model respectful relationships and gender equality across the whole school community.

A good education is about more than simply getting good marks. It is about becoming a member of society and succeeding in life – knowing how to build respectful relationships is key to achieving this.

When young people build positive relationships with their teachers and peers they feel safer and happier at school, are more resilient and have positive social attitudes. Positive relationships increase a young person’s sense of social connectedness and belonging to school and family, and result in better health and academic outcomes.

As a Respectful Relationship school, Holy Trinity will actively promote gender equality and speak out against gender-based violence. We will undertake a thorough assessment and planning process to identify gaps and limitations in existing culture, policies and practices in gender equality. The Respectful

Relationships program supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 includes learning about respectful relationships in both health and physical education and personal and social capability. In health and physical education curriculum, students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to strengthen their sense of self, and build and manage safe and respectful relationships. In the personal and social capability curriculum, students learn to recognise and regulate emotions, develop empathy for others and establish and build a framework for positive relationships.

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials have been designed for teachers in primary and secondary schools to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills.

Be the Kindness You Want To Receive Efforts to promote social and emotional skills and positive gender norms in children and young people has been shown to improve health related outcomes and subjective wellbeing. It also reduces antisocial behaviours including engagement in gender-related violence.

Indigenous Culture

Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, is proudly recognised as a FIRE Carrier School. FIRE stands for (Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education). The dream of the FIRE Carrier program is to promote respect, fairness and inclusion for Aboriginal people in Catholic Schools within Victoria. The FIRE Carrier Project is a joint initiative of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Victoria, Opening the Doors Foundation and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS).

To be a Fire Carrier School, staff and student Fire Carriers are chosen as an important role to represent the school. The role of the FIRE Carrier is to keep the Reconciliation flame alight in schools through education and awareness.

At Holy Trinity, our student Fire Carriers are commissioned annually. These students, along with staff are responsible for planning initiatives and events to educate and inform our community about Reconciliation, our shared history and culture. This includes National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.

At Holy Trinity we are proud to have indigenous names for all of our classrooms. These indigenous names are also acknowledged on totems in our garden. We proudly fly the Aboriginal flag and have the two way cross on display. We also promote an aboriginal perspective through our curriculum and our learning.

Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We acknowledge the traditional people of the Wurundjeri land which Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School stands on here today.

We recognise the Aboriginal leaders both past, present and emerging for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around Australia.

A deeper respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures will grow through a stronger recognition of Australia’s cultural tradition and will lead to Reconciliation.