The Primary School at Al-Taqwa College caters for students from the Foundation level to Year Six. There are eight classes each in Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2, nine classes each in Grades 3, 4 and 5, and seven classes each in Grade 6.
At Al-Taqwa College, curriculum is designed to provide the students with a concrete foundation in literacy and numeracy. Our integrated study units include the Humanities (history, geography and economics), Science, Technology and Health. Library, LOTE (Arabic), IT, Religion, Quran and Visual Arts (Year 4-6) are taught by specialist teachers. Our Primary level sports program includes a swimming program for Years 1 and 2, GymSkool for Years Foundation – 4, lower and upper Primary Sports Day programs and a curriculum that focuses on skill development in all areas.
The Primary School provides a comprehensive curriculum that offers students a wide range of opportunities to develop their skills. As children develop at different rates, various teaching strategies and learning activities are implemented to cater for the individual needs and learning styles of students.
Learning activities are designed to make the learning experience interactive and enjoyable, through special days and weeks (e.g. Harmony Day, Clean Up Day, Tree Planting Day, Islamic Week, Arabic Week, Book Week, Science Week, and Literacy and Numeracy Week), and through a variety of excursions and incursions throughout the year.
Assessment and Reporting
Assessment is an integral and ongoing element of the learning process at Al-Taqwa College. It provides students with essential feedback and it informs and guides teachers in planning for learning activities. The depth of assessment practices in the Primary School enables teachers to build up a broad picture of how students are progressing, as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses. Assessment results support teachers in developing differentiated learning programs, and the setting of individual student goals.
At the beginning of the year, all students are assessed in the areas of reading fluency and comprehension, spelling and numeracy skills. Assessment results are recorded and tracked over the years. Areas of strength and weakness are identified and learning programs are developed accordingly. Other standardised and school-based assessments are carried out at varying times during the school year.
Primary School assessment practices include:
- Formal and informal observations in the form of anecdotal notes, pre-tests, post-tests, etc.
- Regular and ongoing analysis of reading development through PM Benchmark Kits.
- Teacher-assessed tasks against identified AusVELS standards, usually in the form of written tasks and oral presentations (Integrated Studies).
- Skill development in Numeracy and Literacy assessed against identified AusVELS standards.
- Weekly spelling tests and topic pre-tests.
- Standardised testing (PAT – R, Comprehension and Vocabulary, PAT Mathematics) to support and guide our internal assessment practices.
Written reports are provided to parents at the end of each semester covering all the key learning areas. Throughout the year, Parent-Teacher Interviews also play a crucial role in the feedback cycle. These meetings occur twice a year.