Curriculum Philosophy

The Academy's core curriculum is structured, explicit, and evidence-informed. Teachers use clear learning objectives, carefully sequenced content, and regular checking for understanding to ensure all students make sustained academic progress.

Key features of our teaching practice include:

• Explicit instruction of foundational knowledge and skills
• Guided practice followed by independent application
• Frequent opportunities for retrieval and consolidation
• Structured problem-solving and analytical tasks

Small class sizes allow us to effectively manage different learning levels.

Dialogues

Academic dialogues are a central feature of teaching and assessment across the school. These dialogues occur regularly in all subjects and year levels and involve one-to-one or small-group discussion between students and teachers.

Dialogues are used to:

• Assess depth of understanding
• Identify misconceptions
• Develop oral reasoning and communication skills
• Provide immediate formative feedback

Records of dialogues contribute to monitoring student progress and informing teaching decisions.

Dedicated Project Time

Experiential learning is embedded within the curriculum through structured projects, investigations, and applied learning tasks. The Extended Experience sessions on Fridays are specifically dedicated to these activities. Projects are designed to reinforce academic content while developing independence, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Project complexity increases across year levels and, where appropriate, integrates learning from multiple subject areas.

Embedded Coding and Computational Thinking

Coding and computational thinking are integrated across the curriculum. Students use programming and digital tools to support learning in mathematics, science, and other disciplines, including data analysis, presentation, modelling, simulation, and automation.