Educational Philosophy and Aims
All phases of schooling at St Joseph's are underpinned by Brisbane Catholic Education's Learning and Teaching Framework and The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Declaration (December 2019). The Alice Springs Education Declaration sets the national vision for education for all Australians and notes two goals:
- The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity.
- All young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community.
Curriculum design and delivery at St Joseph's is grounded in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration and is mindful of the declaration's goals. In alignment with the declaration, which promotes excellence and equity, we support students to achieve high standards and provide structures and adjusted strategies that enable equitable learning experiences. This is achieved within a faith-filled learning environment in which we are committed to supporting students to become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community.
Our learning environment is based on the charism of St Francis in which we value humility, care and respect, and the daily living of Gospel values. We value every child as a learner and understand that all children learn in different ways and at different rates.
St Joseph’s teachers are committed to focus on who their learners are, to identify progress, prior achievement and to plan to accelerate supporting and guiding appropriately the cognitive levels of all students. Teachers plan for quality learning and teaching by establishing clear learning intentions and success criteria so students work in negotiation to develop their learning goals and can strive for high expectations. Our teachers establish positive classrooms environments where students are encouraged to question, be curious, develop higher order thinking skills and be activated, engaged in multiple opportunities to show their progression of learning. Along this educational journey, our teachers respond to the learning by providing feedback that moves the learning forward. Feedback can be teacher to student, student to teacher and student to student. This feedback encourages the learner to know where they are at in their learning and what are the next steps to progress forward. St Joseph’s teachers are committed to “know thy impact” so the evaluation of the impact of teaching on student achievement and success is prioritised. Teachers review the climate of the class, collect student feedback and evaluate from a curriculum perspective.
Our teachers are committed to plan across and within year levels incorporating a team approach, working in positive collaborative partnership with parents. Teachers are supported and mentored in their profession with the partnership of our Primary Leader of Learning, our Support Teacher Inclusive Education, our Teacher/Librarian, our Guidance Counsellor, our Assistant to the Principal Religious Education, our Principal and at times external stakeholders from Brisbane Catholic Education or from the wider community.
The school’s curriculum is planned directly from:
The Australian Curriculum sets out what all young people should be taught through the specification of curriculum content and the learning expected at points in their schooling through the specification of Achievement Standards. Assessment for, of and as learning, occurs throughout the year both informally and formally with reference to these Achievement Standards.
© Brisbane Catholic Education (2023).