The Prep Program at St Catherine’s begins… the moment your child enters the school.  The way we interact with your child reflects the type of program we offer.  The Australian Curriculum provides a framework for us to explore, investigate, discuss, think and do. "The Australian Curriculum is designed to teach students what it takes to be confident and creative individuals and become active and informed citizens."

Prep Learning Objectives:

Our teaching objectives are to provide engaging, relevant, and challenging learning experiences for children. We understand that students in their first year of formal schooling come to us with a variety of individual differences in social, intellectual and emotional development.

A typical Prep day is made up of time devoted to Individual Thinking Activities and Reflection Time, Focused Learning and Teaching, Routines and Transitions, purposeful play, negotiated learning teachable moments throughout the day, and real-life situations.

The Australian Curriculum

We are using The Australian Curriculum in conjunction with The Early Years Curriculum Guidelines. There is a significant focus on investigation and enquiry-based learning, which is our key philosophy for the Early Years teaching team.

Major relationships between the Early Learning Areas and the Australian Curriculum:

What do the Learning Areas mean in our Daily Prep Classroom?

Learning and teaching in the early years is characterised by:

• Play
• Real life situations
• Investigations
• Routines and Transitions
• Focused learning and teaching