Our Junior School – A place to Discover, Belong and Achieve

Cathedral College Wangaratta offers primary education from Prep to Year Six. There are two classes in Prep to Year Five (the Junior School) and two classes in Year Six (the Middle School). The College’s Junior School is a place that inspires learning and develops the learning, emotional, social, physical and spiritual needs of every child in our care.

What defines a CCW Junior School Education?

Our unique setting

Being part of a P-12 School is a valuable addition to the Junior School experience. Students remain in the same school throughout their education, reducing the sometimes challenging of transition between primary and secondary schools. Our Junior School families build long-term relationships with staff and the school community, enhancing communication and sense of belonging. Junior School students benefit from gradual exposure to Middle School expectations without the disruption of moving to a new campus. The stronger alignment between primary and secondary curriculums ensures a seamless academic transition.

Students benefit from an integrated curriculum and a House system that fosters friendships and peer mentoring. To strengthen students' bonds within our community and embed a sense of belonging, fortnightly House sessions enable students of all ages to participate in special occasions such as House Music, House Cross Country, House Sports, and House Assemblies.

The Cathedral Way

At CCW, we all contribute to a nurturing, safe and connected school environment and from Prep, our students learn ‘The Cathedral Way’. We expect all members of our community to uphold our values and ethos. We encourage our students to have high aspirations and strive for excellence, and student achievement is encouraged and celebrated.

The Cathedral Way is measured by actions, not words. It is, for example, wearing The College uniform with pride. It is valuing diversity and individuality and being inclusive. It is demonstrating respect, kindness, and care.

How our students learn:

Students from Prep to Year Five discover the wide world of learning through Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Humanities, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Health and Physical Education, Indonesian and German. Students explore the Christian values of the school and other faiths, during Religious and Values Education (RAVE) classes.

Explicit teaching and applied learning activities help students build sequential knowledge and apply their learning while problem-solving and communicating with others. The Australian Curriculum is followed at all year levels, and teaching programs are tailored to relevant examples in our local context.

We celebrate the diversity of experiences in the local community and engage in outside school activities when possible. Students develop digital learning skills with the use of ipads. By following the philosophy of any time anywhere digital learning is needed, students learn to use technology when there is an appropriate need.

Across all year levels, teachers gather evidence of learning through formal assessments and informal teacher or student-directed activities to help determine the content, learning experiences and instruction that will guide and clarify student learning and understanding. Further, this information can be used by students and teachers to plan the next steps in learning and adjust future learning experiences to meet the needs of the students where appropriate.

Different programs within the classroom provide enrichment and support, with our learning enhancement team providing additional one-to-one or small group support in Literacy and Numeracy.

The Science of Learning

Learning is about thinking, and thinking is about reflecting, reviewing, analysing, observing, evaluating and recording. These are all essential skills to hone and develop. Literacy and Numeracy are the essential building blocks for good learners, and our dive into the Science of Learning has reinforced this more than ever.

Daily Retrieval (recall of previously taught content on a daily basis) and Explicit Instruction (specific, structured and direct) are core components of effective teaching and learning. More than ever, our teachers have been provoked and challenged to think about their practice, research and analyse strategies, and insert them into their teaching. The results have been profound, not just for the teachers but, more importantly, the students.

A vision for learning – our whole school approach

Our Vision for Learning is a unified set of values and beliefs expressed in a common language to drive learning culture in ASC schools. The vision creates learning experiences that engage hearts, minds and spirits, to empower learners for lives of meaning and purpose.

The Learner Attributes serve as a compass to articulate the attributes, qualities and transferable skills that we believe will position our students to navigate and thrive through challenge and change and contribute to the success and strengthening of their communities.

Collaborative

In action, learners:

Respectfully share their ideas and attentively listen to the ideas of others,
Work with others to find solutions to problems,
Encourage and celebrate the success of all

Purposeful

In action, learners:

Strive to achieve personal excellence,
Proactively participate in positive and productive activities,
Show agency in learning.

Inquisitive

In action, learners:

Ask questions and extend their learning,
Are open to new and different ways of thinking and problem solving,
Use reasoning and rationale to explain their conclusions.

Inclusive

In action, learners:
Feel valued and supported to fully participate, learn and succeed,
Recognise their own unique skills, talents and needs,
Champion the benefits of diversity and difference.

Courageous

In action, learners:

Proactively pursue challenges,
Take responsibility for their actions and decisions,
Persevere and demonstrate resilience in the face of difficulty.

Connected

In action, learners:

Question and contribute to the world around them,
Care about and consider local and global issues,
Understand that their voice can have an impact.