The formal Curriculum at Our Lady of the Rosary is drawn from the New South Wales Board of Studies Syllabus Documents. The Religious Education program used is the Broken Bay Diocesan Religious Education Syllabus.

Each year the school engages in a review and audit of the curriculum taught to ensure that all of the content outlined in the syllabus documents is covered. As a community we are proud of the school’s reputation of a learning community.

At Our Lady of the Rosary we believe that learners:

• Need to be in a supportive context of quality relationships between students, and between students and enthusiastic teachers
• Start with what they can do and our challenge is to plan the next step for them.
• Know that mistakes are a natural part of learning, feel comfortable to take a risk and know that we learn from our mistakes
• Need to engage in meaningful, relevant tasks.
• Need to have planned, regular opportunities to have processes explicitly demonstrated or modelled to them (TO)
• Need to engage in learning processes with an expert guide (guided practice…WITH)
• Need to engage in the learning processes independently (practice…BY)
• Need to receive honest and authentic feedback that is both encouraging and gives a direction for future learning
• Need to be involved in reflection about the quality of their learning.
• Need to celebrate success

Learning = Support + Challenge - Fear

At OLOR we understand that the three areas that really make a difference to student learning outcomes and that enhance effective teaching are:

• Focused teaching based on the needs of the children
• High expectations
• Uninterrupted time for learning

At Our Lady of the Rosary we believe that how children learn is as important as what children learn. To be powerful learners in the 21st Century, our children need to learn for thinking, about thinking and with thinking so that they can be discerning ‘knowledge navigators’.   

Becoming better readers, better writers and smarter thinkers is a goal for all teachers and children at OLOR. Thinking is not a subject to be added to an already crowded curriculum. If learners are to become better thinkers, we need to help them understand the skills, tools and strategies associated with quality thinking. We need learners to begin to evaluate their thinking, direct their thinking and extend their thinking.  

Our Catholic worldview forms a deep part of this learning. Making a difference in the lives of others by making a positive difference in the world is an important part of discipleship.

For many years researchers and theorists have been studying and writing about how people learn. There are many different explanations, though most seem to suggest some similarities:

• Visual Learner
• Auditory Learner
• Kinaesthetic Learner
• Print Oriented Learner
• INTeractive learner

Every person has a preference for one particular type of learning.  For example, a kinaesthetic learner might get their best ideas while going for their daily jog.  An interactive learner might get their best ideas after they have clarified their thinking with other people.

While every person has a preference for one learning style, brain research tells us that we can develop competencies in all learning styles.  Learning how to learn is an important 21st Century skill, and this happens “when a learner understands their own learning style and has developed strategies and approaches which access their full learning capacity rather than simply their learning preference.” (Julia Atkin)

At OLOR, our goal is to infuse VAKPOINT in all our teaching, both in the way the teacher teaches, and in the types of choices learners can make.

Reflection is an important part of all learning.  Life long learners know that it is only after stopping to reflect that we can fully understand new learning. Reflection allows children to make connections to what they already know, and helps them set new directions.  It helps children understand that everyone can learn and that learning is expected every time they work. 

Quality feedback is essential for all learners. For feedback to be quality it must be specific. It must say what the learner is doing well and give a direction for their next step. There is always another step we can take. The teacher’s role is to identify the step, and support individuals in achieving it. 

Some other important skills that young people need for the 21st Century are social, interpersonal skills such as being able to work as a member of a team, appreciative listening, conflict resolution, flexibility and the ability to balance independence and interdependence.  These important skills can be taught in school through cooperative learning.   

Research conducted into cooperative learning since 1898, has found again and again that cooperation, compared with competitive and individualistic efforts, typically results in: 

1. Higher achievement and greater productivity
2. More caring, supportive and committed relationships
3. Greater psychological health, social competence and self-esteem.

Cooperative learning is about working together to accomplish shared goals. For cooperative learning to work well there need to be five key elements:

1. Positive interdependence (We sink or swim together)
2. Face-to-face interaction
3. Individual accountability and personal responsibility to achieve the group’s goals
4. Specific interpersonal and small-group skills (which are taught)
5. Group processing to improve the group’s future effectiveness

Research on human resilience identifies the protective factors, which create competency, wellness and the capacity to overcome stress.  Bonnie Bernard’s research summarized these protective factors into three categories:

• Caring and support
• Positive expectations
• Active participation

Resilience is not a skill we can teach.  However, we can try to surround children with as many protective factors as possible.  Cooperative learning is one way that all three protective factors are nourished and using cooperative learning to build a collaborative community is another.  This process of building a collaborative learning community is also called the Tribes process, and is used in all classes at OLOR. 

The Tribe agreements of mutual respect, appreciation, listening, and no put–downs are part of creating an environment that is safe for all children.  Brain research tells us that if children feel unsafe or threatened that they will ‘down shift’ into the oldest area of the brain where it is impossible to think and learn.  Creating a safe environment and a caring supportive community will help children learn.  In the Tribes process, the school day usually begins with a community circle to help enable all children to ‘up shift’ to the learning part of their brain.

Information Technologies 

'Do not confine your children to your own learning for they were born in another time.' Hebrew Proverb 

Technology is important.  We live in a technology rich world and it is the world of our children.  However technology is a tool for learning not an end in itself.  Technology is best used to enhance the powerful learning we want for our children.  Computers, digital cameras, video cameras, data projectors, smart boards etc are all important tools for learning in the 21st Century, but it’s how we use them that determines the quality of the learning and whether our children are learning how to learn in their rapidly changing world. 

At OLOR, we believe that using Information Technology should not be a ‘glittery pencil’ to make our ‘work look nice’ but should be embedded in everything we do.  Each year, our teachers become more skilled in using Information Technology in the classroom so that children learn about computers, with computers, and through computers.