Our Vision & valuesA culture of caring for one another is immediately evident in the student population at Hepburn Primary School. Cross age play and ‘looking after each other’ is the norm. We provide an exceptional environment for all where the ‘whole child’ is nurtured and students are valued as individuals. Abundant grounds attract a huge variety of wildlife and provide our students with ample room to play and learn.
With a current enrolment of 83 students, we run four classrooms – F/1, 2/3, 4/5 and 6. We offer a high quality learning program which sees research and evidence based approaches informing our planning, teaching and learning. Implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLC) is a major focus in 2021. Work includes the introduction of data walls; scrutinizing assessment and data to inform planning, teaching and learning; embedding an instructional model; as well as coaching and peer observations. The development of a school specific essential curriculum was undertaken in 2020 in the areas of reading, writing and number and algebra, this work supports targeted teaching based on the needs of our students. Professional learning for staff in 2021 includes training in systematic synthetic phonics which will inform our approach to phonics across the school. This phonics approach will be reinforced for students in need through our intervention program alongside Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU). A focus on wellbeing is of paramount importance to us. The school’s wellbeing team meet fortnightly to determine actions to support whole school, group and individual wellbeing needs. We are proud to offer respectful relationships, both as stand alone ‘lessons’ and as an approach to how we conduct ourselves. This year we also have a focus on growth mindset and the empowerment of students to manage themselves as learners. A leadership camp for school leaders, house captains and junior school councillors will take place in term two allowing an opportunity for student leadership development. Along with the camp, regular meetings with our student leaders will be a platform for student voice. Enriching the work in our classrooms, we offer a number of specialist classes including music, art, Italian and physical education. In 2021 we have also implemented ‘global citizenship’ which focuses on social justice, collective responsibility, and critical and evaluative thinking. Global citizenship draws on the intercultural, ethical, geography and humanities curriculum. Initiatives such as our cooking program, robotics and ‘clubs’ (where students can choose from a number of activities such as photography, cross country running, eco warriors and ‘wheels’ – bikes, scooters, roller blades/skates etc.) allow further educational opportunities. We are fortunate to have a trained librarian on staff who supports the use of our wonderful library and a passion for books in our students. Our school is part of the Wathaurung sport cluster providing opportunities for cross school involvement in athletics, cross country, tennis, basketball, soccer, netball and football competitions and the opportunity to progress to higher competition levels. Our excursion and camp programs offer opportunities for students to explore the world beyond their classrooms and include visits to Earth Ed., Quantam, Canberra, Sovereign Hill as well as urban, beach and bush camps. We are proud of our special events days and the strong community support for these days including grandparents day, book week, the Swiss Italian Fiesta, Rotary music concert and our Christmas concert. Strong relationships with our local kindergartens and secondary school support quality transition programs ensuring smooth entry into foundation and year seven. |
Meet the Staff
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