Our Lady of Lourdes honours its commitment to quality Catholic education through its provision of high-quality educational programs by which each student is enabled to reach their full potential.
We are a community of learning characterised by high expectations for learners to achieve excellence, academic rigour, innovation and purpose, within an environment that engages, empowers and enables.
The curriculum at Our Lady of Lourdes is based on the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Curriculum. Students receive instruction in all Key Learning Areas.
There are seven Key Learning Areas taught from Kindergarten to Year 6. These include:
- Religious Education
- English
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE)
- Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
- Creative Arts
Religious Education
As a Catholic school, our students participate in 30-minute Religious Education lessons each day. We celebrate liturgies, beginning and end of year Masses, important events and feast days under our school COLA. Throughout the year we attend Parish Masses and class Masses in our Chapel.
Our students follow the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Religion structure. Students study a variety of topics from other world religions through to creation. Students also learn about the significance of Lent, Easter and Christmas.
English
At Our Lady of Lourdes, our students are involved in a 100-minute literacy block, five days a week. Literacy activities are also incorporated into library and computer lessons each week.
The balanced literacy block incorporates:
Speaking and Listening – whole class discussion, group work, oral presentations and Partner Turn Talk.
Reading and Viewing – to develop a love of Reading in students is one of our aims. Modelled, Guided and Independent reading opportunities will be utilised for specific purposes and information. Reading assessments will be continual throughout the school year. As an additional reading focus, we request that every student enters the Premier’s Reading Challenge.
Writing and Representing – students are engaged in daily writing activities across several KLAs. A variety of texts (informative, persuasive, and imaginative) are taught through both reading and writing activities. Similarly, grammar and punctuation are taught through the reading and writing connection. Spelling is integrated in all written activities and students are challenged to improve their accuracy. All students are encouraged to use each opportunity when writing to practise and improve their skills. As a school we are using the Seven Steps to Writing Success Program.
Mathematics
The students at Our Lady of Lourdes are involved in a daily one-hour numeracy session that encompasses elements from each of the Mathematics strands. Our Maths time includes interactive and hands on activities, as well as opportunities for meaningful discussions and assessment. In the classroom, students will have the opportunity to work individually and in groups with manipulative materials and interactive resources.
The NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum stipulates that the following strands and sub-strands are to be covered:
- Working Mathematically – questioning, reasoning, applying strategies, communicating, reflecting.
- Number and Algebra – whole numbers, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, patterns, algebra.
- Measurement and Geometry – length, area, volume and capacity, mass, time, 3D space, 2D space, position, angles.
- Statistics and Probability – chance, data.
Science and Technology
The Science and Technology syllabus aims to foster students’ sense of wonder and expand their natural curiosity about the world around them in order to develop their understanding of, interest in and enthusiasm for science and technology.
Technology is incorporated across the KLAs; this includes using laptops and iPads on a regular basis. Activities which allow the students to experience and explore computer technology are planned throughout the year and specific programmes are taught during Library times and scheduled class times using laptops and iPads.
Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE)
At Our Lady of Lourdes, HSIE includes the study of History and Geography. HSIE enables our students in Kindergarten to Year 6 to develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attitudes necessary to become active, informed and responsible citizens.
History is a disciplined process of inquiry into the past that helps to explain how people, events and forces from the past have shaped our world.
Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments.
PDHPE
Personal Development, Health and Physical Education is an important key learning area of the primary curriculum. The aim is to develop in each student the knowledge and understanding, skills, values and attitudes needed to lead healthy active and fulfilled lives.
The PDHPE curriculum is organised into interrelated strands:
- Active lifestyle
- Dance
- Games and sports
- Growth and development
- Gymnastics
- Interpersonal relationships
- Personal health choices
- Safe living
During Terms 2 and 3, we participate in a Sport program with specialised teachers.
Creative Arts
Creative Arts in Kindergarten to Year 6 at Our Lady of Lourdes is designed to enable students to gain increasing understanding and accomplishment in the visual arts, music, drama and dance and for students to appreciate the meanings and values that each of the art forms offer personally, culturally and as forms of communication.