St Agatha's is highly committed to the growth and development of every student through learning and teaching. We promote a " growth mindset" and foster the development of learner dispositions in each learner. At St Agatha's, all learners aim to be ENGAGED, REFLECTIVE, RESILIENT, SELF-DIRECTED and PERSISTENT from Prep through to Year Six.
St Agatha's students are interested and enthusiastic about learning. Parents and caregivers of St Agatha's students have high expectations and staff are invested in the growth and development of each learner.
Learning and Teaching at St Agatha's is rigorous, rich, relevant and responsive.
Rigorous:
Students at St Agatha's are entitled learning experiences that teach, challenge and transform. This is enacted through quality teaching, using the Australian and Religious Education curriculum with a focus on learners. The curriculum is taught using a Catholic perspective and high-quality learning experiences that are differentiated for students.
Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, and each is supported so he or she can learn at high level, and each student demonstrates learning at high level. (Blackburn, 2008).
Rich:
Teaching and learning at St Agatha's is rich. This means that learning experiences promote deep learning and are focused on student growth. Rich experiences are ones where students are challenged, engaged and use their learner dispositions to identify answers, create solutions and develop new learning.
'Deep learning is quality learning that sticks with you the rest of your life' (Fullan, 2017)
Relevant:
Learning at St Agatha's needs to be relevant to students and their learning and this happens through student voice. Student voice is a critical component in all learning and teaching. The ability of a student to talk about their learning and answer questions such as what are you learning and why are directly related to their understanding of the learning intention and success criteria. Student voice should be reflected and feature heavily in all learning areas including context and feedback.
'Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn' (Benjamin Franklin )
Responsive:
St Agatha's uses data to inform next steps in learning and teaching. This includes student voice, feedback, monitoring tools, formative and summative assessment and observational data. Levels of teaching response supports all students and guides quality differentiation.
'We are all innately creative learning creatures- all with the potential for growth and development given the right time and supports.' (Sharratt and Harild 2015)
© Brisbane Catholic Education, St Agatha's Primary School (2023)