Educating for the Future
The learning journey at St Nicholas of Myra honours the developmental stages in a student’s life. Based on leading educational research and the best of today’s technologies, we prepare students for the future by teaching them how to think critically and creatively, how to communicate effectively and how to lead and work both independently and collaboratively.
Educating for the Future
The Key Learning Areas
We follow the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) approved curriculum in the key learning areas of:
Religious Education
As a Catholic school we also have a strong religious dimension that runs through all the KLAs and is also formally recognised as the KLA of Religious Education.
St Nicholas of Myra students take part in formal Religious Education every day, based on the new Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese curriculum, Encountering Jesus. This curriculum invites all students to consider how the teachings of Jesus Christ can apply to their lives.
Religious Education
A Student-Led, Goal-Oriented Approach
Across all KLAs, we involve our students in setting their learning goals and provide students with regular feedback as they progress towards these goals.
Our stage-based learning spaces are also designed to foster individual learning growth and development. The stages are:
- Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten)
- Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
- Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4), and
- Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6).
Learning can be similarly themed across grades within a stage, but the learning goals are specific to each child.
As the building blocks for all learning, we have a strong focus on Literacy and Numeracy throughout our learning and teaching programs.
Literacy
Literacy is one of the most important aspects of St Nicholas of Myra’s curriculum, as reading and viewing, composing and listening form the basis of learning in all aspects of schooling. We believe literacy is best taught and learnt through meaningful experiences integrated into the curriculum.
Literacy at St Nicholas of Myra is an exciting and stimulating time. It is incorporated into the school timetable for a block session. The daily literacy sessions include opportunities for the children to engage in talking, listening, reading and writing activities in a series of whole class, small group, pair, and individual experiences.
All students experience a balanced and coherent program of literacy instruction for a minimum of 100 minutes daily.
Numeracy
Our dynamic approach to numeracy learning makes it easy for students to relate maths to real life. Children are given the opportunity to investigate, explore and manipulate both concrete materials and abstract ideas through rich, open-ended tasks. The process of their learning is expressed orally, pictorially and symbolically.
Mathematics at St Nicholas of Myra is based on the EMU Program (Extended Mathematical Understanding) and each are linked to the NSW Mathematics K-10 Syllabus. Through reflection, empowerment and learning, the emphasis is on mental computations, open-ended tasks, problem solving and investigations. This, coupled with reflection on practice and experiences, challenges our children to become lifelong learners in Mathematics.
All students at St Nicholas of Myra engage in numeracy for 60 minutes each day.