Specialist Subjects
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Physical Education at St. Liborius is taught from Prep to Year 6 in line with the Victorian Curriculum, which incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standards.
In P-2 the lessons are based around the students learning and improving the Fundamental Movement Skills of running, jumping, skipping, hopping, dodging, catching, throwing, bouncing, kicking and hitting. These skills are practised through game play, explicit teaching of skills and adapting to different sports, such as basketball, athletics and cricket.
Students in Years 3-6 refine their Fundamental Motor Skills through game play, with a strong focus on fitness, game rules, team play, tactics and sportsmanship.
Throughout the year as part of the Physical Education Program, all students from Prep - Year 6 participate in Swimming lessons at the Eaglehawk Leisure Centre and Gymnastics sessions at Jets Gymnastics. The students are also involved in sessions conducted by visiting coaches, who provide their expertise with focused skills and sports.
Each year St. Liborius has a whole school Cross Country event and Athletics carnival which encompasses the students representing their house team. Years 3-6 also represent their house team through participation in the annual swimming sports. During these events the focus is on participation, doing your best and enjoyment! Our Year 6 Sports Captains contribute to the organisation of these events and are an important element in ensuring that students have fun and participate.
From Year 3 the students have the opportunity to represent St. Liborius against other schools in different specialised sporting competitions such as athletics, swimming, football, netball, soccer, basketball and cricket.
Physical Education at St Liborius is taught weekly by a specialised teacher in all years from Prep to Year 6. Classroom teachers also build upon these specialist lessons with an additional Physical Education lesson weekly.
ITALIAN
At St. Liborius our students are taught the language of Italian from Prep to Year 6, in line with the Victorian Curriculum. Understanding the diverse language backgrounds and competencies of students, as language learners, is the starting point for developing their language learning at school. Lessons aim to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that students communicate in Italian. Learning languages expands a students personal, social, cultural and employment opportunities, with the ability to be bilingual, an increasing expectation in an interconnected world.
In Prep-2 the lessons are developed and planned to include drama, games, art, music, and play based activities. Italian and English are incorporated and integrated to ensure rich learning experiences for students. Opportunities are provided for students to communicate in Italian and to reflect on their language learning experiences. Italian is used as a means of instruction to build the students’ skills in comprehending the Italian language.
Students in Years 3-6 engage in Italian learning experiences which draw from students’ personal interests, real-life experiences, and stimulus materials to create meaningful linkages between life in Australia and Italy. The use of new and emerging technologies is used to engage students in their language learning.
St. Liborius has an annual whole school Multicultural Day to further build on intercultural capabilities, understandings and cultural appreciation. On this day students look forward to dressing up in traditional styled clothing or costumes that reflect elements of their chosen country. The day involves students being immersed in a range of activities to further support children to appreciate and understand diverse cultures from around the world. Activities include art, music, dance, cooking, sport and history. Students enjoy being in mixed year level groups where they get to strengthen connections with various peers all while participating, exploring, investigating and learning.
PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS
The Arts at St Liborius is taught from Prep to Year 6 in line with the Victorian Curriculum, and includes Visual Arts, and Performing Arts, consisting of Music, Drama and Dance. The content, which incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standards, is taught weekly by a specialist teacher who is trained in these areas.
In Performing Arts Prep - Year 2, the lessons are based around the students learning the fundamental skills of Music, practical and theoretical, Drama and Dance. These skills are developed through direct teaching, experimentation and exploration, and positive praise. Tasks may include playing percussion instruments, completing online rhythm activities, practising dance steps, or improvisation of a story. Visual Arts classes enable students to develop skills, techniques and processes through hands-on exploration of a wide variety of art media and materials. Our students build these skills through explicit teaching and hands on application over a two week block and then are provided an opportunity to refine and practice these skills during an Investigative Session exploring; collage, music, dramatic play, painting / printing, sensory play, drawing and construction.
Students in Years 3-6 refine their developmental skills through practise and using their own creative skills. They create songs on the keyboards and drums, choreograph their own dances and create plays in small groups, just to name a few of the weekly activities. They explore and make sense of their world through immersing themselves in Visual Art to enhance their awareness of cultural perspectives, whilst developing their understanding of colour theory. Whilst art tasks are structured, our Walker Learning Philosophy comes to the forefront as students create and make artworks guided by their interpretation from explicit teaching, to demonstrate their own unique understanding by selecting art media and materials of their choice to create their artworks.
Extra curricular activities enhance the weekly learning and enable our students to develop a strong sense of community. Each year the students have the opportunity to participate in the ‘Dahlia and Arts Festival’, creating a parade entry showcasing Visual and Performing Arts. They also represent the school at events such as the ‘Sandhurst Arts on Show’, ‘Festival Of The Sacred’, ‘The McKillop Art Exhibition’ and ‘The Bendigo Show.’
Every second year St Liborius has a whole school production, held in the state of the art Liborius Centre. Our Prep – 2 students make up our ensemble, which gives them an opportunity to experience performing in front of an audience. Our Years 3-6 students participate in a variety of ways that are geared more towards their interests and developing leadership skills. Students audition to be part of the cast, however all students who audition receive a role. Those preferring not to be on stage play an integral role working behind the scenes to bring the whole production together, whether that be working backstage to design sets, props and setting the stage on the actual performance, designing tickets / booklets, hair and make up application or sales and marketing. The Production is always a highlight of the school calendar and a great vehicle to foster and develop student passions in The Arts. All members of our school flourish through this experience while bringing the community together for an uplifting performance!
STEM - Science Technology Engineering and Maths
At St Liborius the students are immersed in the STEM aspects of the curriculum to enhance skills in creativity, inquiry, designing, critical thinking and collaboration. Together our approach to STEM and our Walker Learning Philosophy benefits our students in a variety of ways including fostering ingenuity, resilience, experimentation, teamwork and problem solving.
With our rapidly changing world, St. Liborius has put greater emphasis on preparing students for their future through the implementation of STEM. A dedicated learning space has been developed to provide students with rich experiences that further enhances the current practice. The school provides students with a range of technologies to enhance learning. Our music room is equipped with a recording studio and additionally we have semi-professional video resources the students can utilise and all students have ready access to iPads, laptop computers and Chromebooks. STEM provides our students with the opportunity to continue be curious, explore and discover by drawing conclusions, making connections and discovering deeper meanings when they are given the chance to delve deeper into their learning.
