Curriculum Years 1–6
How learning is organised in Years 1 to 6 at St Mary's College: the Victorian Curriculum learning areas, our literacy and numeracy approach, Religious Education, inquiry units and digital learning.
Years 1 to 6 at St Mary's College follow the Victorian Curriculum F–10, taught within the Religious Education framework of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Our approach is deliberately consistent from room to room: explicit, well-sequenced teaching in the mornings, rich inquiry in the afternoons, and regular checks on how each child is progressing so that teaching can be adjusted quickly.
Learning areas
| Learning area | Time per week (approx.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| English (reading, writing, spelling, speaking and listening) | 10 hours | Daily two-hour literacy block |
| Mathematics | 5 hours | Daily one-hour numeracy block |
| Religious Education | 2.5 hours | Includes class prayer and liturgies |
| Inquiry (Science, Humanities, Health, Design Technologies, Civics) | 4 hours | Integrated units, two per term |
| Physical Education and Sport | 1 hour PE + 1.5 hours Friday sport (Years 3–6) | See Friday Interschool Sport |
| Music, Visual Arts, Italian, STEM, Library | 50 minutes each | See Specialist Programs |
English
- Years 1–2: daily systematic synthetic phonics lessons, decodable readers moving to levelled texts, handwriting (Victorian Modern Cursive), and daily writing in three genres each term. Guided reading groups run four mornings a week.
- Years 3–4: transition to reading for meaning – comprehension strategies, novel studies, spelling through morphology (prefixes, suffixes, word origins) and structured writing units (narrative, persuasive, information report, poetry).
- Years 5–6: literature circles, sustained independent reading, research and note-taking skills, and extended writing including speeches for the Year 6 Public Speaking Final in Term 3.
Every student in Years 1–6 has a take-home reader or independent novel and a reading log – see Homework for expectations by year level.
Mathematics
Our numeracy block follows a "launch – explore – summarise" structure. Students work with concrete materials before moving to visual and abstract representations, and every lesson includes fluency practice (number facts, times tables from Year 3). Students in Years 3–6 have individual logins to MathsQuest Online, which teachers set for homework and use for targeted practice. Extension is provided through the Australian Mathematics Competition (Years 3–6, August) and Maths Olympiad teams (Years 5–6).
Religious Education
Religious Education is taught daily through class prayer and weekly units based on the To Know, Worship and Love series. Students prepare for the sacraments through the parish program – Reconciliation in Year 3 (Term 2), First Eucharist in Year 4 (Sunday 6 September 2026, 10:30am Mass) and Confirmation in Year 6 (Friday 16 October 2026, 7:00pm). See Sacramental Program. Each class leads a whole-Junior-School prayer or liturgy once a year, and all students attend whole-school Mass on the first Friday of each month at 9:15am.
Inquiry units 2026 (Semester 2)
| Year | Term 3 unit | Term 4 unit |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Then and Now: family life over time | Living Things: mini-beasts in our yard |
| Year 2 | Water in our World | Celebrations and Commemorations |
| Year 3 | Gold! Life on the Victorian goldfields | Heat and Energy |
| Year 4 | First Contacts: First Nations peoples and early explorers | Waste Warriors: sustainability audit |
| Year 5 | Australian Colonies | Light and Sound (STEM design challenge) |
| Year 6 | Australia as a Nation: democracy and government (links to the Canberra tour) | Earth's Place in Space |
Digital learning
Years 1–2 share class sets of iPads; Years 3–6 use school-owned Chromebooks kept at school (there is no BYOD program until Year 7). Students learn touch-typing from Year 3, digital citizenship in every year level, and use Google Workspace for Education from Year 4. Homework tasks and class notices for Years 3–6 are posted on the Learning Hub. See ICT Acceptable Use.
Differentiation, support and extension
Teachers plan in year-level teams and group students flexibly within and across classes for reading and mathematics. Students who need additional support access small-group intervention or an Individual Learning Plan through Learning Support. High-ability students are extended through in-class enrichment, Tournament of Minds (Years 5–6), the Robotics and STEM Club (Years 5–9, Tuesday 3:30pm) and Maths Olympiad.
How we check progress
Teachers use running records and phonics screening (Years 1–2), PAT Reading and Mathematics (Years 1–6, February and November), NAPLAN (Years 3 and 5, March) and moderated writing samples each term. Progress is reported at the end of Terms 2 and 4 and discussed at Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences. See Reports and Assessment.
Questions about the curriculum
Your child's classroom teacher is the best first contact. Year-level coordinators (Year 1 Mr Josh Pham, Year 2 Mrs Fiona Grant, Year 3 Mr Ahmed Saleh, Year 4 Ms Ellie Marchetti, Year 5 Mr Daniel Ruiz, Year 6 Mrs Karen Fitzgerald) can help with year-level questions, and Mr David Okafor, Deputy Principal – Learning & Teaching, oversees curriculum across the College.