St. Charbel’s College is committed to preparing your child from Kindergarten to Year 6 through a holistic and well-rounded approach to education. It is important to us that students grow to lead lives of purpose and success. Additionally, we are committed to constantly ensuring that our students are supported, nurtured and valued as individuals. The development of your child’s individual potential, self-belief, resilience and independence is very important to us here at St. Charbel’s College. The strong academic programme, caring pastoral system and diverse co-curricular offerings, allow each child to explore and succeed to their full potential.
The College combines the very best of academic standards and we make it our duty to ensure that the students are constantly encouraged to pursue personal excellence in all that they do. At St. Charbel’s College we take the educational needs of your child very seriously. We recognise that in the 21st century, now more than ever, education needs to prepare your children for the real world. We offer differentiated learning, encourage high level thinking and open-minded problem solving. We have in place many opportunities for broadening the students’ learning beyond the classroom, through academic extension, leadership, sport and other worthwhile programs.
At St. Charbel’s College we put emphasis on the fact that education means knowledge through education is all about how to live with purpose in today’s ever changing society. We place importance on teaching children how to learn with creativity, developing their curiosity and providing them with quality time to follow their own passions and interests.
St. Charbel’s College possesses a strong Maronite Catholic religious ethos which is emulated through the example of our Patron Saint, St. Charbel. This manifests itself in the daily routines of our school life. Additionally, our motto “To Him be Glory” forms a significant foundation of deep faith for our students through prayer and reverence.
More importantly, our students are respected as individuals and are expected to contribute positively to our school environment and community through service to others. A powerful importance of our society today, is to develop in each child a strong character, which includes tolerance of others, a well-rounded attitude as well as strong values to face an increasingly challenging world. For this reason we have a strong pastoral program which focusses on developing traits such as adaptability, persistence, resilience, integrity, justice, empathy and ethics.
St. Charbel’s College offers a dynamic learning environment for every child and we are committed to the provision of quality education. As a school community along with the teaching staff, there is constant evaluation and discussion of what we do and how we do it to safeguard the success for each child’s learning. This ensures that we are providing the best possible educational opportunities for all our students. This is our goal and commitment and forms the foundation of ensuring our success.
Teaching and Learning
St. Charbel’s College uses syllabus documentation developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) formerly known as the Board of Studies to program the teaching and learning of students K-6. These syllabus documents inform and guide our teaching in the areas of English, Mathematics, Science and Technology, History and Geography, Personal Development, Health and Physical Education, Creative Arts and Languages (Arabic). Additionally, our curriculum includes Religious Education.
The K-6 curriculum is broken down into stages:
- Early Stage 1, represents Kindergarten
- Stage 1, represents Years 1 and 2
- Stage 2, represents Years 3 and 4
- Stage 3, represents Years 5 and 6
English and Mathematics form an integral part of our curriculum across all stages as it ensures the literacy and numeracy skills of the children are constantly developed and strengthened from Kindergarten right up to Year 6.
English
Students develop their understanding of English content through emphasis on the teaching of literature through clearly defined content and text requirements.
- Students develop their language skills through activities involving speaking and listening, reading and writing, and viewing and representing.
- They learn about language and literature through working with a wide range of print, spoken, visual, media, multimedia and digital texts.
- They interpret and express their views on what they hear, see and read.
- They create written and digital texts, and deliver formal and informal presentations.
- For the first time, there will be a requirement that students experience a range of texts, including Australian works, multiculturalism, Aboriginality and Australian identity, and Asian perspectives.
- There is an increased emphasis on grammar and the teaching of quality literature.
Mathematics
Students develop their mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding through a range of learning experiences across:
- Number and Algebra, which comprises of whole number, fractions and decimals
- Measurement and Geometry, which comprises of length, area and time
- Statistics and Probability, which comprises of data and chance.
Through an explicit approach the children develop their problem-solving skills and mathematical reasoning and communication.
Assessment and Reporting
There are many ways in which students are assessed on their progress throughout the academic year at St. Charbel’s College. For children K-6 this comprises of informal teacher observations to class assessment tasks. The College uses NESA reporting procedures to inform student progress.
Assessment
- Teacher observations
- Standard of bookwork and homework
- Class and grade assessment tasks and assignments
Reporting
- Term 1–Interim Parent Interviews
- Semester One –Formal Report
- Semester Two –Formal Report
- NAPLAN (Years 3 and 5)
- ACER Testing (K-6)
Additional testing is sometimes administered to support the development of a comprehensive learning profile of each child. This testing can be used to form learning support as well as enrichment and extension programs for students where appropriate.