Curriculum

Child Centred Education

Kerry Street provides a caring educational environment where children work in small classes with friends of various ages. We respond to the needs and talents of individuals and focus on building relationships, self responsibility and the passion and skills for learning.

Warning

It might look from these photos like we have a lot of fun but don't do any "real" work. Not true. We do tend to take more photos when there is more colour and movement and noise and laughter but we do actually teach kids to read and write, too! Not that there is any kind of learning that isn't fun....

Teamwork

Our teachers work closely together to provide a balance of whole school programming and their own individual styles and ideas. They have the well being of individual students at the heart of their teaching.

Breakdancing - Jade in the baby freeze

Learning Styles

We believe learning is something we do our whole life and that many different experiences can be opportunities for learning. We honour that people learn in different ways and at different rates. We believe learning is easiest when people are relaxed, involved and curious. Our flexible curriculum and teaching style reflect these beliefs.

Learning Areas

Our curriculum contains the learning areas of the Western Australian curriculum framework; English, mathematics, science, society and the environment, the arts, health and physical education, technology and enterprise, and languages other than English. We have built an outstanding visual arts program and have specialist teachers in drama and music. We hosted a Japanese intern in 2004 and a South Korean intern in 2006, who both shared thier language and culture with the students. In 2007 we are returning to Indonesian as our language and we plan for this to be ongoing.

Dioramas as part of animal projects

How the Elephant Got His Trunk

Whole School Projects and Focuses

We have whole school ongoing projects, such as: waste wise, which includes recycling and composting every day and involvement in Clean Up Australia; values education (see our values project website undertaken with other small independent schools); and we encourage a healthy active lifestyle, this theme was given a boost from Healthway with a Smarter Than Smoking grant in 2005.

Developing mutual responsibility for the well being of individuals and the school community, and subsequently the world, is an important part of our ethos. We have a Kids' Meeting once a week where the children can raise issues, organise events and have a say in the running of the school. Students help tidy and clean each day after lunch.

Social Responsibility and Generosity

The children do a small amount of fundraising each term for a charity of their choice. In the past we have supported Oxfam, Cowbank, Heart Foundation (Jump Rope for Heart), Cancer Foundation, Perth Zoo, World Vision, Red Cross (tsumani) and sponsored two baby loggerhead turtles called Bubbles and Squirt.

Wrist bands for Oxfam - Make Poverty History

Camps, Festivals and Other Fun Stuff

We go on lots of excursions. Real experiences are well remembered, from a Barking Gecko play to a trip to the post office to post a letter written in class. The whole school goes on camp twice a year and all family members are encouraged to come. We are involved in community events like the Children’s Fiesta and the Fremantle Festival Parade. We have concerts, discos, kids' swap meets, pet week, sleep overs, and family picnics.

Developing Strength in Core Areas

In 2004 we focused on developing literacy, reading in particular, as a whole school program. This was highly successful, shown directly through the students' improved reading skills and enthusiasm. We extended that into writing and publishing in 2005 and 2006. We did some professional development in mathematics in 2006 in order to develop an enriched program for our many talented mathematicians.

Measuring Student Progress

Assessment and reporting to parents is a contentious topic. We do most of our assessment through teacher observation and children's work samples. The school, as a whole, participates in state and federal testing, for example the Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (WALNA) in years 3, 5 and 7, though parents have the option to exempt their child.

Communicating Student Progress

Traditionally our main method of reporting to parents has been through parent-teacher meetings, both ongoing casual interactions and regular formal meetings. We have supplemented this with portfolios over the past few years.

In 2006 the Federal Government made it a condition of funding that all schools provide two student reports each year. While we don't agree this has social and educational value for the students we comply with this requirement and have developed a report format that best suits our philosophy.

The report focuses on teachers' comments and also gives the curriculum framework level the child is working at and the target level the Department of Education and Training deems appropriate for a child of that year level. We do not include quartile percentages, comparing students to their classmates.

Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment results are distributed to parents.

Art with molded acrylic and junk

Visual Arts Program

We are very proud of our visual arts program and the students at Kerry Street are able to work in many mediums on small and large, individual and group projects.

Some of the group projects we have done are painting a local bus stop, building a courtyard with student ceramic work incorporated and puppet making, including developing a performance. In 2006 we painted a large mural on the school and created a giant ceramic chess set.

Copper wire animal