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Education in Faith
Each year, we focus on an aspect of Luke's Gospel to remind us of the way in which Jesus wants us to live. In 2021, our theme is ‘Getting to know the Good Shepherd, to be a Good Shepherd.’ Just as Jesus accepted, loved and cared for each person, so we aim to follow in His footsteps.
At St Luke’s, we place a strong emphasis on our Religious Education Curriculum. We seek truth through Knowledge and Understanding, make meaning through Reasoning and Responding and aim to live as witnesses of Christ through Personal and Communal Engagement.
St Luke’s celebrates all three Sacraments - Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist. The students learn in class about the significance of each Sacrament as they continue to grow in their faith development. The practice of Christian Meditation is a strong focus for our school, practised almost daily in all classrooms.
We aim to provide our students with leadership opportunities in all year levels. Our Year 6 Liturgy / Mini Vinnies Leaders are instrumental in organising whole school Mass celebrations, speaking at assemblies as well as helping to lead our group of Mini Vinnies students as they promote and undertake social justice initiatives for our school and wider community.
Our school remains closely linked to our Parish. St. Luke’s senior students provide altar serving throughout the year, our school choir sings at both school and Parish Masses and students attend Mass twice a term.
English
Literacy is central to the development of all students. It helps create confident communicators, critical thinkers and informed citizens.
At. St Luke’s our literacy program consists of whole class modelling and instruction followed by student engagement in small groups and individual work, concluding with reflection time. We use digital technologies to enhance the learning. Teachers regularly monitor and track the progression of each student with a range of assessments. We use learning intentions and success criteria to personalise the learning.
We value the support of parents during Literacy learning in the early years. Students who require additional support in Literacy are supported through an intervention program called The Levelled Literacy Intervention System.
Mathematics
At St Luke’s Primary the purpose of Mathematics is to enable students to value Mathematics as an integral part of life and develop their ability to work mathematically through purposeful, engaging and challenging activities.
​We promote a positive attitude towards learning by developing students’ understanding for applying Mathematics effectively to become proficient problem solvers and to value the place of Mathematics in our society. Students are encouraged to question and seek alternate strategies while taking risks in their learning to develop an enthusiastic and persistent approach towards Mathematics.
​Students experience the use of hands-on materials, interactive games and technology to introduce and challenge their thinking and learning through Mathematics. Teachers conduct formal and informal assessments to monitor and track the progression of each student to provide challenging and meaningful tasks. Students are taught effective communication of mathematical concepts, an understanding of mathematical literacy and the importance of using mathematics in everyday situations to become lifelong learners.
Learning & Teaching
The Lukan Gospel traditions guide the community of faith, learning and partnership. Purposeful learning is valued and encouraged to promote a culture of lifelong learners. Assessment forms a pivotal part of the learning and teaching cycle and is the basis for personalisation of learning. Contemporary practices and tools enhance the learning for all students and teachers. Student voice is encouraged and fostered. Connections with local and global communities create active and informed citizens.
We believe that learning and teaching experiences for students should be:
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Reflective
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Authentic
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Relevant
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Collaborative
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Diverse
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Engaging
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Empowering
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Flexible
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Victorian Curriculum
Our curriculum is based on the Victorian Curriculum, the educational framework for all Victorian schools. The learning areas and capabilities include:
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English
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Mathematics
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Science
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Technologies
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The Humanities - Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography, History
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The Arts
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Health and Physical Education
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Languages - (Italian is taught atSt Luke’s)
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Capabilities - Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural, Personal and Social
Inquiry
At St. Luke’s we use an inquiry based approach to engage in a love of learning and curiosity. We build our student's capacity to be great communicators, thinkers, collaborators and researchers who manage themselves effectively and are invested in the ownership and success of their learning.
Our Inquiry units enable our students to develop a deep sense of the world around them and ignite their passions. Our units of work are rich, real and relevant and allow the students to deepen their knowledge and understandings. We use a rich question to drive the learning.
From years 3-6 the students engage in personal learning tasks that allow students to further refine their presentation skills and extend their thinking of the inquiry unit. These personal learning tasks also allow students to have ownership of their learning and students will often make connections with the real world to enact on their new learnings.
Digital Technologies
At St Luke's we employ a STEM consultant who works with the school focusing on the planning, implementation and assessment of Digital Technologies. Teachers use the curriculum and a scope and sequence chart to plan activities and units of work to target the intended outcomes and specific goals identified. Teachers have the opportunity to plan and teach collaboratively with other teachers and our STEM leader as well as sharing valuable resources and strategies.
Sustainability
St Luke’s School is committed to ongoing sustainable environments and practices. Our school community has worked in partnership with local groups to plant a series of Indigenous and food-based gardens within a long term plan to further green our school and develop designated areas. In 2008 a vegetable garden was established and is continually maintained by students.
A Student Environment team leads students to actively engage in recycling paper and plastics, composting, reducing energy emissions and recycling water. Our Inquiry Units develop understandings and knowledge about sustainability and support lifelong sustainable practices. We believe that by raising student awareness we influence sustainable practices at school, at home and in the wider community. Our commitment is to continue to create environments and attitudes that foster sustainable practices.
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Specialist Program - Social Emotional Learning
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an important part of all learning across the curriculum and is integrated into daily classroom teaching through the Personal and Social Capability Curriculum, comprising of two main strands: Self-awareness & Management and Social-awareness & Management.
All our students are also provided with a weekly specialist SEL lesson to complement and build upon this classroom teaching.
SEL aims to develop knowledge, understandings and skills to enable students to:
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recognise, understand and evaluate the expression of emotions
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demonstrate an awareness of their personal qualities and the factors that contribute to resilience
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develop empathy for and understanding of others and recognise the importance of supporting diversity for a cohesive community
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understand how relationships are developed and use interpersonal skills to establish and maintain respectful relationships
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work effectively in teams and develop strategies to manage challenging situations constructively.
Students also participate in weekly classroom lessons from The Resilience Project curriculum, which focuses on three key pillars that have been proven to cultivate positive emotion and support mental health: Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness (GEM), with Emotional Literacy being a foundational skill to practise these strategies.
SEL lessons also promote our Positive School Wide Behaviours school rules: BE SAFE, BE RESPONSIBLE, BE RESPECTFUL.
Specialist Program - Physical Education
The Sport and Physical Education program at St Luke’s aims to develop our students skills, knowledge and understandings of movement and to foster a love of lifelong physical activity. The program is carefully designed to focus on developing student’s proficiency in their fundamental motor skills and applying strategic concepts when participating in games. A strong emphasis on demonstrating positive behaviors of cooperation, teamwork and fair play are key messages of Physical Education classes.
The students of St Luke’s have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sporting activities, both competitive and non-competitive. Weekly Physical Education classes are held for all students from Prep to Year 6, as well as additional class sport sessions. The students are fortunate to have full access to the great facilities at St Luke’s, including a full size multipurpose court, large grass oval, multi-games area, running track and two adventure playgrounds.
Throughout the year there are a multitude of additional sporting competitions and special events that encourage physical activity in a fun and supportive environment. These include:
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Cross country
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Interschool sports
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Swimming
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House Twilight Sports
Specialist Program - Languages Italian
The learning of a language gives students the opportunity to gain an understanding of other cultures through language. It also works towards building a literacy learning community in which language plays a key role.
Learning languages broadens students’ horizons about the personal, social and cultural opportunities that are available in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. The interdependence of countries and communities requires people to negotiate experiences and meanings across languages and cultures. A bilingual or plurilingual capability is the norm in most parts of the world.
At St Luke’s we have a quality languages program that is visible and valued by the school community. Through focussed, weekly sessions led by a specialist teacher, students participate in an experiential curriculum that is contemporary, relevant and challenging. Students acquire communication skills in Italian. They develop understanding about the role of language and culture in communication. Their reflections on language use and language learning are applied in other learning contexts.
Specialist Program - Library
Our school library is known as our ‘Discovery Centre’ - the St. Luke’s Library’s Discovery Centre - is a friendly, bustling space. We are a modern, state of the art library that caters for all types of learning. Love of literature, information literacy skills and supporting the teaching and learning of classroom programs are our main focal points.
Specialist Program - The Arts
The Performing Arts program at St Luke’s offers students exposure to the Music, Dance and Drama strands of the Victorian Curriculum. Students develop skills in Performing Arts lessons which go well beyond the classroom environment, such as creative thinking, improvisation, focus, confidence, and an appreciation for the artistic expression of different cultures, times and places.
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St Luke’s is proud of its commitment to producing a high quality musical production every two years, in order to give our students an opportunity to showcase their learning in a vibrant and collaborative project.
Smaller and more regular opportunities for performing are also offered throughout the year at assemblies, and other year level, whole school and wider community events. We encourage students to participate in our school choir, which supports our liturgical program and entertains at community gatherings, such as our annual Christmas Carols night.