ESC Curriculum

English:

 

English in the Victorian Curriculum F–10 develops knowledge, understanding and skills across the strands of Language, Literature and Literacy.

Students will learn how to listen, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose.

 

The English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum is central to the learning and development of all young Australians for whom English is not their home language. Through learning EAL, students build their capacity to communicate confidently and effectively. This learning also strengthens their understanding of the nature of language and culture, and the way that language changes according to purpose, form and audience. By learning to use and adapt language according to specific contexts, EAL learners build relationships with their peers and the wider world around them. The study of EAL equips students with the skills to become lifelong learners, critical thinkers, and active and informed citizens.

 

 

Humanities:

 

The Humanities are taught in four distinct disciplines. The Civics and Citizenship curriculum develops students’ knowledge of political and legal institutions and explores the nature of citizenship in a pluralistic liberal democracy. Students will develop general skills and capabilities such as an appreciation of diverse perspectives, empathy, collaboration, negotiation, self-awareness and intercultural understanding.

 

The Economics and Business curriculum explores the ways in which individuals, families, the community, workers, businesses and governments make decisions in relation to the allocation of resources. It enables students to understand the process of economic and business decision-making at the personal, local, national, regional and global levels and the effects of these decisions on themselves and others, now and in the future. Students learn to appreciate the interdependence of decisions made and develop the knowledge, understanding and skills that will inform and encourage them to participate in, and contribute to, the economy.

 

The Geography curriculum presents a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world, using the concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change. It addresses scales from the personal to the global and time periods from a few years to thousands of years.

 

The Victorian Curriculum History is organised into two strands: Historical Concepts and Skills and Historical Knowledge. The underpinning concepts and skills of sequencing chronology, using historical sources as evidence, identifying continuity and change, analysing causes and effect and determining historical significance are explicit in this structure.

 

 

Maths:

 

Mathematics provides students with access to important mathematical ideas, knowledge and skills that they will draw on in their personal and work lives. The curriculum also provides students, as life-long learners, with the basis on which further study and research in mathematics and applications in many other fields are built.

The curriculum is organised by the three strands of Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.

Each strand is organised by sub-strands. Sub-strands group content descriptions under an appropriate concept, to provide both a focus and a clear sequence for the development of related concepts and skills within strands and across levels. Computational  thinking is an important aspect of the mathematics curriculum across the three strands.  Content description related to algorithms and coding are  included in the Patterns and algebra sub-strand.

The proficiencies of Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are fundamental to learning mathematics and working mathematically and are applied across all three strands Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.

 

 

Science:

 

Science is a dynamic, collaborative and creative human endeavour arising from our curiosity and our desire to make sense of our world by exploring the unknown, investigating universal mysteries, making predictions and solving problems. Science knowledge is contestable and is revised, refined and extended as new evidence arises.

 

 

Phase:

 

Health and Physical Education focuses on students enhancing their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity participation in varied and changing contexts. The curriculum is futures-orientated and underpinned by five interrelated propositions: focuses on educative purposes; takes a strength-based approach; values movement; develops health literacy skills; and includes a critical inquiry approach. Health and Physical Education offers students an experiential curriculum that is contemporary, relevant, challenging, enjoyable and physically active. The Health and Physical Education curriculum has two interrelated strands: Personal, social and community health, and Movement and physical activity delivered through twelve focus areas that provide the context through which the content is taught and assessed.

 

 

Arts:

 

The four strands within each Arts discipline are intrinsically connected. Together they provide students with knowledge, understanding and skills as artists and audience. As students make they consider both the audience and their own response to their work and as they respond they draw on the knowledge, understanding and skills acquired through their experiences in making work and as audiences of other artists' work.

 

 

Languages:

 

French is a major world language, spoken as the first language in more than two dozen countries on five continents and as an official language in 33 countries. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 French has two interrelated strands, Communicating and Understanding, which are further divided into sub-strands. The French curriculum recognises that there are different entry points into language learning across F–10, which reflects current language teaching practice.

Indonesian is spoken by over 230 million people throughout the Indonesian archipelago and is the official language of government, education, business and the media. It has been and continues to be shaped by other languages (for example, in terms of lexicon, grammatical structures and idiomatic usage), most significantly Javanese, Dutch, Arabic and English. As with French, the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Indonesian has two interrelated strands, Communicating and Understanding.

 

 

Technology:

 

Design and Technologies three-strand structure focuses on actively engaging students in creating quality designed solutions for identified needs and opportunities across a range of technologies contexts: Food and fibre production, Food specialisations, Materials and technologies specialisations and Engineering principles and systems. Design and Technologies provide students with knowledge, understanding and skills through which they can safely and ethically create designed solutions. In doing so, the students consider economic, environmental and social sustainability.

 

Digital Technologies provides students with the opportunity to acquire and apply specific ways of thinking about problem-solving to create innovative, purpose-designed digital solutions.

Computational thinking is at the core of this curriculum. It is a way of analysing problems and precisely and logically designing solutions that can be understood and carried out through the use of programming languages. Design and systems thinking also contribute to the problem-solving approach in this curriculum.

Digital Technologies empowers students to move from being confident users and consumers of digital systems − ICT as a general capability − to being discerning and creative problem solvers, equipped for an increasingly knowledge-based economy and society.

 

 

Capabilities:

 

Critical and Creative Thinking fosters logical, strategic, flexible and adventurous thinking in students and a reflective self-awareness in managing thinking and thinking processes. Every curriculum area in the Victorian Curriculum: F–10 contributes to the development of a holistic critical and creative thinker.

The Victorian Curriculum Ethical Capability is organised into two strands: Understanding Concepts and Decision Making and Actions. It explores what it means for both an individual and society to live well. Students examine what we ought to do, how we ought to live, what kind of society we should have and what kind of person one should be.

 

The Victorian Curriculum Intercultural Capability is organised into two strands: Cultural Practices and Cultural Diversity. Intercultural capability is strongly connected to those areas of learning concerned with people and their societies, relationships and interactions, including the Personal and Social capability knowledge and skills related to empathy, openness, respect and conflict resolution.

 

The Personal and Social Capability is essential in enabling students to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively. It is organised into two strands: Self-Awareness and Management and Social Awareness and Management. The capability involves students learning to recognise and regulate emotions, develop empathy for others and understand relationships, establish and build a framework for positive relationships, work effectively in teams and develop leadership skills, and handle challenging situations constructively.

 

Music:

 

Musical instruments are offered for tuition at reasonable costing for families. 

We offer the following instruments for tuition:

  • Flute
  • Clarinet
  • Saxophone
  • Oboe
  • Bassoon
  • Trumpet
  • Trombone
  • French horn
  • Tuba
  • Violin
  • Viola
  • Cello
  • Guitar - electric, bass, acoustic
  • Drums

Instrumental Music

Students attend their music lesson once a week on a rotating basis so that they do not miss the same class every week. Instruments are available for hire through the Bendigo Instrumental Music Program at a reasonable cost. Students have the opportunity to attend the annual Music Camp for four days during term 3 where they are involved in master classes and performances with students from other local schools.

 

Drama:

 

Performing Arts
Students in Year 7 and 8 have two sessions of Performing Arts for one semester. Students learn about the theatre and stage elements and types, lighting and sound throughout a series of theoretical and practical workshops. In this subject the students learn about various types of Performing Arts including Slapstick Comedy, Melodrama and Improvisation. Classes also begin and end with drama games to build skill and confidence levels.

 

Production

Students are required to participate in drama workshops to begin building the expressive skills necessary for a successful performance. Students work in groups to devise original performance work as well as interpret and present scenes from the class play. They are required to develop character, memorise lines, create scripts, rehearse and refine their work in response to feedback from the class. 

The set design must coordinate and integrate the scenery with the other elements of the production: costumes, lights, sounds, actors, staging needs, and special effects. The effect of all of these elements should be an integrated whole. The students will work together and separately to create an overall design look for both plays.

The students’ ability to apply the performance skills of timing, energy and focus to their performances. They are also assessed on the cohesiveness of their devised work as well as their capacity to commit to the presentation of their characters.


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