WPPS > Curriculum > VELS

VELS

Wonga Park Primary School provides a comprehensive learning program in the Victorian Essential Learning Standards disciplines:

Discipline-based Learning

Interdisciplinary Learning

Physical, Personal and Social Learning

Discipline-based Learning

The Arts
The Arts are unique, expressive, creative and communicative forms that engage students in critical and creative thinking and help them understand themselves and the world. An appreciation of, and the ability to express ideas and feelings through involvement in art, is an important focus. Students at Wonga Park have a one hour Art / Craft session each week.

The Music / Performing Arts program involves all children Prep – 6. Students in their weekly lessons explore dance, drama, singing, musical appreciation and learn to read music.

The following options are available for students in Years 3 – 6:
Dance Troupe
School Choir
School Band
Instrumental music lessons – flute, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, trumpet, trombone, percussion, guitar, drums.

Children throughout the school may opt to learn keyboarding/piano/guitar. A school concert involving all students is held every two years, the next being in 2009.
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English
The study of English involves students in reading, viewing, listening to, writing, creating, comparing, researching and talking about a range of text types from the simple to the complex, from texts dealing with concrete and straightforward information to those dealing with increasingly complex and abstract issues and ideas. Teachers encourage students to explore the meaning of texts and how meaning is conveyed. They introduce critical approaches to the ideas and thinking contained in texts and support students in the development of critical understanding about the ways writers and speakers control language to influence their listeners, readers and viewers.
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The Humanities
The Humanities in Prep to Year 6 involve the study of human societies and environments, people and their cultures in the past and the present. The Humanities provide a framework for developing in students the key ideas and concepts that enable them to understand the way in which people and societies have organised their world.
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Languages Other Than English (LOTE) - Japanese
Students develop multicultural awareness and appreciation of Japanese culture, as well as skill development in the language. Japanese is taught at year levels 3 – 6.
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Mathematics
The mathematics program emphasises skills as well as understanding and promotes awareness of mathematics as an integral part of life in contemporary society and for the future. The course content which includes number, space and measurement, and chance and data are common aspects of most people's mathematical experience in everyday personal, study and work situations.
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Science
To be human is to be curious about the world we live in, to wonder why it is that way, and to ask about our place in it. A fundamental goal for science education at Wonga Park is to stimulate, respond to and nourish such curiosity, wonder and questioning. Science provides us with one view of the world – a view that changes as our knowledge and understanding of science evolves.

Increasing emphasis will be placed on the role of science and the work of Australian and other scientists in addressing issues of sustainability at a local and global level. Science education provides opportunities for students to develop the skills and understanding appropriate to service and good citizenship.
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Interdisciplinary Learning

Communication
Communication helps to construct all learning and is central to the capacity to demonstrate and convey what one has learned in different contexts and to different people. This domain assists students to understand that language and discourse differ in different disciplines and that there is a need to learn the particular literacies involved in each.
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Design, Creativity and Technology
Students develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours related to investigating and designing using appropriate planning processes and design briefs; creating and developing ideas, applying information, and seeking and testing innovative alternatives; producing, including the selection and safe use of appropriate tools, equipment, materials and/or processes to meet the requirements of design briefs; analysing and evaluating both processes and products including, where relevant, any broader environmental, social, cultural and economic factors.
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Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
The knowledge, skills and behaviours in this domain enable students to use ICT to access, process, manage and present information; model and control events; construct new understandings; and communicate with others. Students use ICT and strategies to monitor learning patterns, to process data to create solutions and information products that demonstrate understanding, and to share their work with others in ethical, legal and respectful ways.
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Thinking Processes
This domain encompasses a range of skills and behaviours which are essential for effective functioning in society both within and beyond school. The study of thinking enables students to acquire strategies for thinking related to inquiry, processing information, reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and reflection.
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Physical, Personal and Social Learning

Health and Physical Education
Students develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that enable them to maintain good health and live a healthy lifestyle, understand the role of physical activity in ensuring good health and engage in physical activity.
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Interpersonal Development
In our highly interconnected and interdependent world, students learn to work with others by building positive social relationships, working and learning in teams and managing and resolving conflicts.
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Personal Learning
As students progress through school they are encouraged and supported to take greater responsibility for their own learning and participation at school. This involves developing as individual learners who: acquire self knowledge and dispositions which support learning; can learn with peers, including by seeking and responding appropriately to feedback; increasingly manage their own learning and growth including by setting goals and managing resources to achieve these; recognise and enact appropriate values within and beyond the school context.
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Civics and Citizenship
Students develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that enable them to take action as informed, confident members of a diverse and inclusive Australian society. They develop an understanding of the political and legal systems and processes and the history that underpins them. This involves a focus on students: understanding their identity and roles in their community; knowing their rights and responsibilities as citizens; appreciating Australia's role in the global community; having the knowledge, skills and behaviours to participate in society and take responsible action in relation to other citizens and the environment at a local and broader level.
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Phone: (03) 9722 1325
Email: wonga.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au