At Casey Grammar School Foundation to Year 2 are valued as foundational learning years.
Children in this age group have a natural abundance of curiosity to learn about their world and a sense of urgency about making sense of this by exploring, examining, discussing and experimenting.
With this in mind, the Teaching and Learning is a balance of explicit teaching to learn and revise new concepts and skills, together with Inquiry Learning that involves problem solving, collaboration and investigating.
The Victorian Curriculum and the Victorian Early Years Developmental Framework Years (VEYLDF) underpin the Teaching and Learning in the Early Years at Casey Grammar School.
The VEYLDF adopts a comprehensive approach to children’s learning and development in the first 8 years, acknowledging that this age bracket is when children have the greatest opportunity to develop neural pathways for lifelong learning.
Our Early Years Educators follow the guiding principles of:
- Reflective Practice - Our skilled Early Years Educators use rigorous and current teaching practices to plan the teaching and learning continuum that is responsive to specific children they are teaching.
- Partnerships with Families - Our classrooms are welcoming and inclusive environments where all families are encouraged to participate in and contribute to experiences that enhance children’s learning and development.
- High Expectations - Our teachers commit to having high expectations for every child’s learning and development. They value children’s individual strengths and differences and communicate high expectations to them.
- Respectful Relationships and Responsive Engagement - Our Early Years Educators demonstrate sensitivity and initiate warm, trusting and reciprocal relationships with children and their families. They develop learning programs that are responsive to each child and build on their culture, strengths, interests and knowledge.
- Equity and Diversity - We are a multicultural community that promotes cultural awareness in all children, including greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being and in doing this support all children to develop a sense of place, identity and connection to the land and natural world.
- Assessment and Reporting - Assessment includes information from a wide range of sources, is authentic and responsive to how all children can best demonstrate their learning development.
