Specialist Program
Harvest Home Primary believes in an educational model that enhances the growth of the ‘whole child’.
Whilst much of a focus in schools is understandably around Literacy and Numeracy, we feel that our Specialist program is an integral part of the essential learning that every Harvest Home student will experience.
We have Specialist trained teachers in the learning areas of:
• Language: Spanish
• Physical Education
• Science
• The Arts: Visual and Performing Arts
• STEAM (new in 2021)
Language: Spanish
During 2018 Harvest Home Primary School, along with Edgars Creek Secondary College (our closest neighboring secondary school) completed a community survey as we investigate which language our local community felt would be the most beneficial to the young people of Epping North.
We were very excited to now have Spanish, a language spoken by approximately 500 million people across the world, as the language that our students have the opportunity to learn. With the adoption of Spanish also at Edgars Creek Secondary College, our students are in a unique position where they are able to complete a full language pathway through both their primary and secondary years of schooling.
The learning of a language in addition to English extends student’s literacy repertoires and their capacity to communicate. It strengthens student’s understanding of the nature of language, culture and the processes of communications.
At all times our students are encouraged to use Spanish as much as possible for school routines, social interactions, structured learning tasks, and language experimentation and practice. A Spanish Club is also part of our enrichment program.
We are deliberate in engaging our students in authentic opportunities to allow our community to experience students speaking Spanish, as our whole school ‘Together on Friday’ (assembly) is conducted in both Spanish and English.
Spanish is very much a part of the learning experience at Harvest Home Primary School. The program is participated in by all our students from Prep, right through to Year 6. Our students, from all these year levels and cultural backgrounds completely immerse themselves into each and every Spanish language lesson they have.
To find out more about our SPANISH teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE
Physical Education
Physical Education is an all-encompassing term, which includes fitness, skills, movement, recreation, health, games and sport along with the appropriate values and knowledge that are evident in each of these. Teaching Physical Education helps students to develop the competencies and beliefs necessary for incorporating regular physical activity into their lives.
In our full sized sports stadium, the Victorian Curriculum strands of Movement and Physical Activity includes ‘moving the body, ‘understanding movement’ and ‘learning through movement are able to be both taught and enjoyed.
At Harvest Home Primary School, Physical Education is a sequential program that addressed the development of motor skills, physical fitness components, skills and knowledge all within differentiated instruction.
As students’ progress along the curriculum’s learning continuum, they commence with a range of creative, challenging and enjoyable activities, which allow for the development of simple movement patterns. Students develop the language of ‘play’, considering others in games, co-operate and share equipment with safety always at the forefront of all lessons.
Movement sequences then begin to be developed which can be practiced and applied. Students will ultimately develop a set of skills and knowledge that will allow them to participate in a wide range of activities that allow them to further develop their fundamental motor skills.
It is hoped that students will transfer their learning, including the importance of being physically fit to a variety of sports and/or leisure pursuits both within the school and wider school community.
To find out more about our PE teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE
Science
Science enables the students at Harvest Home Primary School to gain the understanding, knowledge and skills through which they can develop a more scientific view of the world. The lessons are held in one of our school’s STEAM centers, which are purposefully designed for students to be ‘mini scientists’.
The Victorian Science curriculum has two interrelated strands: ‘Science Understanding’ and ‘Science Inquiry Skills’. These strands complement each other, to support students to gain a deeper level of understanding and appreciation of how scientific ideas and concepts impact us during every day of our lives.
The term structures has been planned around 4 areas, which are:
• Biological Sciences
• Earth and Space Sciences
• Chemical Sciences
• Physical Sciences
The Science teaching and learning program has been designed with experimental thinking and the use of technologies to enhance the students to be analytical thinkers and develop ‘persistent curiosity’.
Students typically work in teams and collaborate to conduct investigations and make observations as key expectations of all lessons. Targeted questioning and thinking prompts are also used to elevate the prior knowledge of students so it can be ‘unpacked’, ‘explored’, ‘refined’ and built upon within the specific scientific concept being taught.
To find out more about our SCIENCE teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE
The Arts
The Arts enable students to develop their creative and expressive capacities by learning about the different practices, disciplines and traditions that have shaped the expression of culture locally, nationally and globally. Students are both artist and audience in the Arts. They make, respond and learn to appreciate the specific ways this occurs through being immersed in these different Arts disciplines.
Visual Arts
At Harvest Home Primary our Visual Arts program is designed to nurture our students’ innate creative curiosities, whilst simultaneously building their artistic knowledge and practical capabilities.
In the junior years, our students are introduced to Visual Arts through a Process Art approach. This approach prioritises and celebrates the discoveries and connections that students make throughout the art making process, rather than focusing on the aesthetics of a final product. During these sessions our students build artistic knowledge and confidence through a myriad of open-ended art opportunities. These sensory rich experiences are designed to encourage our students to play, explore, discover, imagine and create.
In the senior years our students build their technical and theoretical art skills through five key art forms: sculpture, drawing, painting, collage and mixed media. During this time, artistic knowledge, understanding and technical skills are intrinsically linked throughout each unit of work. This allows our students to make, view, analyse, enjoy and respond to artworks with greater command of the genre of study.
Students can also attend ‘Art Club’ as part of our enrichment program.These sessions, along with our timetabled lessons are all conducted in our Visual Arts / STEAM centre.
Performing Arts
At Harvest Home Primary School, the Arts disciplines of Media Arts, Dance, Drama and Music are all explored through a carefully mapped Performing Arts teaching and learning program.
Through participation in Performing Arts, students not only address the key knowledge and skills of these disciplines, but they also develop self-confidence, imagination, creativity, empathy, cooperation, concentration, communication skills, emotional confidence, memory, routines and lastly, but importantly, appreciation for arts and culture.
In our technology rich Performing Arts Studio, students have access to state of the art resources which include a wide range of audiovisual equipment within fully equipped student recording studio and soundproof rehearsal room.
Additional highlights of our Arts program includes;
• Scheduling which allows all students to participate in a full, but ‘semesterised’ teaching program from Prep to Year 6, in both Visual and Performing Arts
• Curriculum connections are made whenever suitable and possible
• A ‘STEAM’ skill set is demonstrated through the undertaking ‘Process Art’
To find out more about our VISUAL ARTS teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE
To find out more about our PERFORMING ARTS teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE
STEAM
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. STEAM’s foundations lie in inquiry, critical thinking, and process-based learning, which are all extremely important to ignite lifelong learning. The key idea surrounding STEAM that it’s based around curiosity and questioning. This inquiry and curiosity is about being able to find solutions to a problem, and being creative in finding the way of applying any new knowledge.
STEAM at Harvest Home Primary School is focused on expanding the students numeracy skills, enhanced with leveraging technology as an ‘enabler’ to increase learning outcomes, a deeper level of understanding and engagement. STEAM using a slightly adjusted lesson model, which is LAUNCH, EXPLORE & SUMMARISE.
As STEAM is taught through a ‘Numeracy lens’, the reporting will complement the learning of Mathematics within our Learning Communities along with the HHPS STEAM ‘Tinker Hub’. The students are assessed against the Maths Victorian Curriculum achievement standards.
To find out more about our STEAM teaching and learning program – CLICK HERE