K-6 Primary curriculum professional learning courses to support teachers and school leaders in familiarising themselves with the new CHPS syllabuses are available via NESA's digital curriculum.
The five learning courses include:
Primary Curriculum Overview (1hr)
Creative Arts K-6 (1hr)
HSIE K-6 (1hr)
PDHPE K-6 (1hr)
Science and Technology K-6 (1hr)
Each course contributes 1 hour of professional development.
Under Construction - to be released soon
Under Construction
The K-6 KLA time allocations have been revised by NESA to reflect the intent of the curriculum reform, alongside the implementation of the CHPS (Creative Arts, HSIE, PDHPE and Science and Technology) syllabuses. The NESA K–6 KLA time allocation advice supports teachers and schools in maximising teaching and learning time throughout the school day, term and year to ensure students develop deep, disciplinary knowledge, skill and understanding at each stage of learning.
Time allocation advice includes:
English and Mathematics: combined 50% of teaching time, with a minimum of 20% specifically allocated to Mathematics.
Religious Education: 10% of teaching time (K-2) and 12% (3-6).
Creative arts, HSIE, PDHPE and Science and Technology: 8% of total time per syllabus.
Other Activities/ Optional Languages: 8% (K-2) and 6% (3-6) total of teaching and learning time.
As leaders and teachers continue to reflect on and refine curriculum implementation practices, the updated time allocation advice offers valuable information to consider how time is allocated across all Key Learning Areas and ensure alignment with both student needs and sector requirements.
To support schools in considering what this could look like across a week of learning, sample teaching and learning timetables have been provided in response to the revised time allocations.
Figure 1 provides the time allocation for CEDoW schools, including Religious Education across K-2 and years 3-6, based on a 25-hour teaching and learning week over a 10-week term.
School Leaders
To what extent do our current time allocations reflect NESA’s advice and support the needs of our students?
What impact do our school time allocations have on student learning outcomes? Do our break times support teachers in developing timetables that maximise learning time?
What does PPT look like at your school? Are there opportunities to restructure PPT to best meet the time allocations and draw on the expertise within the school?
What strategies could you draw on as you support staff to integrate updated time allocation advice in their planning?
How are you currently using the time allocated to optional time/other activities? Are there any adjustments that need to be reconsidered?
Teachers
How well does my class timetable align with the updated time allocation advice to support student learning?
How do I maximise teaching and learning time across each day, each term, each year?
How will I collaborate with colleagues to plan the most effective instructional time?
Who can I engage with to ensure my time allocations best support the needs of my students?
How do I use the optional/other activities time to maximise learning for all my students?
Creative Arts, HSIE, PDHPE, Science & Technology
In 2025, K-6 teachers will 'Familiarise' and begin to 'Prepare' for the PDHPE and Science & Technology syllabuses.
Schools are encouraged to identify and plan for professional learning during Semester 2 2025.
Teachers will 'Implement' the PDHPE and Science and Technology syllabuses in 2026.
NESA has developed this short video which explains how the primary curriculum has been designed and structured.
Key documents referred to within this presentation include:
AERO (2023): How students learn best: An overview of the learning process and the most effective teaching practices
AERO (2024): A Knowledge-rich approach to curriculum design
NESA (2018): Report: Teaching writing thematic review
This presentation highlights the key features of all K-6 syllabuses and is an informative resource to use as an entry point for the new syllabuses.
Professional readings provide additional guidance and support to teachers with the implementation of the reformed curriculum. Readings will be continually added here.
NESA continually updates and makes adjustments to the K-10 syllabuses including content points, examples, tags, teaching advice and other information.
See here for the latest changes to the NSW K-10 Syllabuses.
Nurturing Wonder and Igniting Passion: Designs for a new school curriculum
The NSW Curriculum review identified priorities for the early, middle and later years of schooling. The reform identified key recommendations, which underpins the design of the reformed syllabuses. The four key recommendations include, enabling every student to:
be provided with strong foundations in every stage of schooling
learn with understanding
develop skills in applying knowledge
make excellent ongoing process.
At various stages of implementation of the new curriculum, schools are encouraged to reconnect with the key recommendations of the final report.
Genevieve Cook
Patricia Foster
Peta Idstein
Alexandra Hingston
Kate Thomas
Joanne Treffone
Ben Woods
Karan Taylor
Daniella Grados
Jean-Marie Morris
Crystal Ash
Kylie Phillips
This K-6 Curriculum Support site has been developed to support CEDoW staff with the significant curriculum reform that is occurring in NSW. Regularly updated, it is an amalgamation of support material from a variety of sources including, but not limited to, CEDoW, NESA, Department of Education NSW and CSNSW.