Prep to Year 4
During the first years of learning in primary schools, teachers aim to create a safe and happy environment where students are valued, praised, and encouraged rather than constantly tested.
In Prep to Year 4, students are encouraged to make sense of the world around them through real-life experiences.
Curriculum and assessment
The curriculum for Prep to Year 4 emphasises literacy and numeracy skills. There are also opportunities for the development of physical, creative and information and communication technology (ICT) skills, as students are encouraged to explore their world.
Good education practice indicates a two-hour daily literacy block and a one-hour daily numeracy block. Individual learning plans are available for students struggling to achieve, and support is offered by school literacy and numeracy coordinators and the Parents as Helpers training program.
Students work with the whole class, but at other times will be grouped for sessions with children who have similar needs. This teaches students to work independently and cooperatively with other children and adults.
Victorian Essential Learning Standards - laying the foundations (Prep to Year 4)
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards describe what students are expected to know and be able to do at this level, and how well they should know and be able to do it.
Levels 1 and 2 (approximately Prep to Year 2)
The foundation knowledge, skills and behaviours that children must develop in Levels 1 and 2 to become successful learners at school are:
- English (reading, writing, speaking and listening)
- mathematics
- the arts (creating and making)
- interpersonal development (with an emphasis on socialisation)
- health and physical education (movement and physical activity)
Level 3 (approximately Years 3 to 4)
At Level 3, students begin to respond to information, ideas and beliefs from contexts beyond their immediate experience. Consistent with this development, additional standards across a range of domains in the three strands are introduced.
Students are also expected to achieve standards in science, the humanities, thinking processes, design, creativity and technology, personal learning, and civics and citizenship.
For more information, see: Stages of Learning (http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/stages)
National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
The first national tests in literacy and numeracy were conducted in May 2008.
The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will involve students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 from all States and Territories. In Victoria approximately 260,000 students from all Government, Catholic and Independent schools will participate in the program. This program replaces the Achievement Improvement Monitor (AIM) state-wide testing program.
For students, teachers and schools there will be little change from the arrangements in place for the AIM tests, apart from students across Australia sitting identical tests on the same three days. The NAPLAN will be administered at the school level.
For further information, including guidelines, sample tests and material for parents, see: Prep to Year 10 Assessment - National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2008 on the Department's Student Learning website.
Further information about the testing procedures, see the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy Testing (NAPLAN) web pages.
Useful student resources
Primary Students can search websites selected by the Education Channel on the Education Channel primary students resources page.
More information
For more information, you can contact the school, see: Schools Online (http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/schoolsonline) or Region