Primary curriculum Illustrations of practice

An essential resource for implementation is the school timetable, which was developed to provide shared planning time to enable discussion around the curriculum and assessment. A key element enabling the management of the Australian Curriculum is the subject specialist teacher leaders.The literacy leader supports new staff to the school, with planning using the Australian Curriculum and assisting with implementing the program. Coaches and staff collaborated to unpack NAPLAN results and student data gathered on entry to the school and work in teams in a coaching cycle.The numeracy leader meets with teachers, setting goals around addressing the Australian Curriculum. Staff use resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum for planning and programming.

Due to the schools remote location there is a transient staff consisting of graduates, interstate and overseas teachers. The school employs a music specialist and has allocated a literacy leader and numeracy leader. The school also has a history coach who provides professional learning both within the school and across the region.The deputy principal developed a tool to help unpack teachers’ understanding of the curriculum, and plan using the achievement standards and the content descriptors. There is a nine-week cycle for learning and staff meet every 2–3 weeks to monitor students’ progress. Building teacher capacity is a major priority in the school and it is supported with funding and teacher release time. Teachers are at different phases with developing their capacities – some are planning, integrating resources, and others are weaving the proficiency strands into the mathematics program. The staff are all members of a particular curriculum committee, holding different roles of responsibility. Educating parents with information sessions and newsletters has also been a focus for the school.