Turner School implements the Australian Curriculum for all children. We aim to develop, happy, competent, articulate, creative and thinking students who are confident and active participants in society. We emphasise the acquisition of effective literacy skills, numeracy skills and the development of a variety of learning processes. Opportunities to create, reflect, seek solutions to problems, engage in meaningful social interactions, demonstrate a sense of individual responsibility and display an enjoyment of life is valued and pursued through our learning and teaching programs at Turner. To make learning the content of the Australian Curriculum connected for our children, we plan our curriculum using an inquiry approach that integrates a number of learning areas.
The Australian Curriculum focuses on learning area content and achievement standards that describe what students will learn and teachers will teach. In each curriculum, the content descriptions specify what all young people should be taught, and the achievement standards set out the depth of understanding and sophistication of skill expected of students at points in their schooling.
Students with additional learning needs at Turner all have an Individual Learning Plan (ILP), which is developed in consultation with parents, therapists and other appropriate people to establish the learning goals for the child each year. Class teachers adapt the Australian Curriculum to suit the learning needs of individual students. In classes where students are working towards the Foundation level of the Australian Curriculum, teachers use the Victorian Curriculum pre-Foundation Levels A-D developed by the Department of Education and Training Victoria.
In addition to learning planned according to the ILP and the Australian and AusVELS Curriculums, children with a disability at Turner School also participate in:
- A gross motor program that incorporates learning to ride a bicycle and (where applicable) a hydrotherapy program
- A living skills program that incorporates learning about:
- Healthy and safe kitchen skills
- Gardening skills
- Personal care skills