Programme Outline:

Studies and courses in Years 7 to 10 enable the students to develop their academic strengths and interests. Students gradually move from studying a general course in Year 7 and 8 that provides them with experience in all learning areas, to more specialized courses which they have chosen.

Programme Approach:

This programme uses an outcomes approach to identify what students should achieve and focus on ensuring that they do achieve. It shifts away from an emphasis on what is to be taught and how and when, to an emphasis on what is actually learnt by each student.

The Curriculum Framework forms the basis for the delivery of teaching and learning experiences under this course. Each of the learning areas delivers a comprehensive program supplementary in-class activities with relevant excursions and enrichment activities.

The Framework sets out a series of outcomes agreed to be essential for all students to achieve. These outcomes describe what students should know, understand, value and be able to do as a result of their curriculum experiences. Students achieve the outcomes at increasing levels of complexity as they progress through their schooling.

The Scope of the Curriculum

The overarching learning outcomes can be achieved through a program of study which addresses the outcomes of eight learning areas:
•  The Arts
•  English
•  Health and Physical Education
•  Languages Other Than English
•  Mathematics
•  Science
•  Society and Environment
•  Technology and Enterprise

Knowledge, skills, understandings, values and attitudes would be integrated across all learning areas. Students would be given frequent opportunities to see the connections between different areas of knowledge and Endeavour. They would be encouraged to understand the contingency of any division of knowledge into learning areas, subjects or other categories, and to appreciate the interconnectedness of all knowledge and the indissoluble relationship between knowledge and values. They should see learning areas and subjects as vehicles for understanding the world in which they live. Their education should help them to see the content of their learning areas and subjects at work in their own lives and the world around them.

Principles of the Curriculum Framework

The Curriculum Framework for Western Australian schools is underpinned by seven key principles. These principles will be used by St Francis Methodist School as a guide in whole-school planning and curriculum development.

1. An encompassing view of curriculum
While a syllabus normally outlines the content to be taught, curriculum on the other hand is dynamic and includes all the learning experiences provided for the student. It encompasses the learning environment, teaching methods, the resources provided for learning, the systems of assessment, the school ethos and the ways in which students and staffs behave towards one another. All of these provide experiences from which students learn. Together, they add meaning, purpose and enjoyment to students’ lives.

2. An explicit acknowledgment of core values
People’s values influence their Behaviour and give meaning and purpose to their lives. While there is a range of value positions in our pluralistic society, there is also a core of shared values. The Curriculum Framework adopted by St Francis Methodist School is underpinned by these shared values, summarized as follows:

• A commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and achievement of potential, resulting in a disposition towards striving to understand the world and how best one can make a contribution to it, and the pursuit of excellence in all fields of experience and Endeavour;

• Self acceptance and respect of self, resulting in attitudes and actions which develop each person’s unique potential - physical, emotional, aesthetic, spiritual, intellectual, moral and social;

• Respect and concern for others and their rights, resulting in sensitivity to and concern for the well-being of others, respect for others and a search for constructive ways of managing conflict;

• Social and civic responsibility, resulting in a commitment to exploring and promoting the common good; meeting individual needs in ways which do not infringe the rights of others; participating in democratic processes; social justice and cultural diversity; and

• Environmental responsibility, resulting in a respect and concern for the natural and cultural environments and a commitment to regenerative and sustainable resource use.

3. Inclusivity
The Curriculum Framework provides for all groups of students irrespective of educational setting, with access to a wide and empowering range of knowledge, skills and values. It recognizes and accommodates the different starting points, learning rates and previous experiences of individual students or groups of students. It values and includes the understandings and knowledge of all groups. It provides opportunities for students to evaluate how concepts and constructions such as culture, disability, race, class and gender are shaped.

4. Flexibility
The curriculum is responsive to social and technological change and meets students’ needs arising from that change process. In particular, it encourages effective use of new technologies as tools for learning. It provides a balance between what is common to the education of all students and the kind of flexibility and openness required for education in the twenty-first century.

5. Integration, breadth and balance
Effective education enables students to make connections between ideas, people and things, and to relate local, national and global events and phenomena. It encourages students to see various forms of knowledge as related and forming part of a larger whole. While opportunities to specialize must be provided to allow for specific talents and interests, all students need a broad grasp of the various fields of knowledge and Endeavour. They also need experience in building patterns of interconnectedness which help them to make sense of their own lives and of the world.

6. A developmental approach
Students develop and learn at different rates and in different ways, constructing new knowledge and understandings in ways which link their learning to their previous experiences. The developmental approach of the Curriculum Framework accommodates these needs and provides students and their parents with a clear sense of the direction of students’ learning, and through appropriate assessment and reporting procedures, of how students are progressing.

7. Collaboration and partnerships
Education is the shared responsibility of students, teachers, parents, tertiary educators and the community. Successful implementation of the Framework requires a collaborative approach to planning by all concerned and collective responsibility for students’ achievement of the intended outcomes.

Overarching Learning Outcomes

The development of knowledge, skills and values is a lifelong process, and occurs in many places besides school. The 13 overarching learning outcomes below describes the outcomes which all students need to attain in order to become lifelong learners, achieve their potential in their personal and working lives and play an active part in civic and economic life. They apply across all learning areas and the outcomes for each learning area contribute to the achievement of the overarching learning outcomes. For the description of the links between the learning area outcomes and the overarching learning outcomes, refer to the Appendix document– Links Across the Curriculum.

1. Students use language to understand, develop and communicate ideas and information and interact with others.
2. Students select, integrate and apply numerical and spatial concepts and techniques.
3. Students recognize when and what information is needed, locate and obtain it from a range of sources and evaluate, use and share it with others.
4. Students select, use and adapt technologies.
5. Students describe and reason about patterns, structures and relationships in order to understand, interpret, justify and make predictions.
6. Students visualize consequences, think laterally, recognize opportunity and potential and are prepared to test options.
7. Students understand and appreciate the physical, biological and technological world and have the knowledge and skills to make decisions in relation to it.
8. Students understand their cultural, geographic and historical contexts and have the knowledge, skills and values necessary for active participation in life in Australia.
9. Students interact with people and cultures other than their own and are equipped to contribute to the global community.
10. Students participate in creative activity of their own and understand and engage with the artistic, cultural and intellectual work of others.
11. Students value and implement practices that promote personal growth and well-being.
12. Students are self-motivated and confident in their approach to learning and are able to work individually and collaboratively.
13. Students recognize that everyone has the right to feel valued and be safe, and, in this regard, understand their rights and obligations and behave responsible

Subjects Offered

•  English
•  Mathematics
•  Science
•  Society and Environment
•  Chinese OR French* OR Japanese*
•  Applied Information Communication Technology
•  Health Education / Physical Education
•  Art & Design /Drama Studies/ Media Studies/ Music

*Students have to pay extra $2400 per year.

Assessment

It is to be based on clearly-stated standards and criteria appropriate to the age and development of the students and is to be demonstrably fair, valid, reliable and equitable.

•  Valid - Assessment should provide valid information on the actual ideas, processes, products and values that are expected of students.

•  Educative- Assessment practices should make a positive contribution to students’ learning.

•  Explicit  - Assessment criteria should be based on explicit criteria so that the basis for judgments is clear and public.

•  Fair - Assessment should be demonstrably fair to all students and not discriminate on grounds which are irrelevant to the achievement of the outcome.

•  Comprehensive - Judgments about student progress should be based on multiple sources of evidence.

Each student is required to maintain a portfolio of their work for each learning area. They will have a diary to keep a record of their homework. Parents/Guardians will receive an interim report and an end of year level indicating the level of student development.

Entry Requirements:

•  Completed Primary Education or its Equivalence
•  Only for International students.
For more information about this programme, please go to http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au.

Teacher Student Ratio
The maximum average teacher - student ratio is 25. However the current average teacher - student ratio is 12.

Subject and Teacher Deployment

* (FT) - Full Time
   (PT) - Part Time