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Form of workBeechworth Primary School Profile 2024
Beechworth Primary School, set in beautiful North East Victoria, was built and first opened in 1875. Its buildings consist of a central heritage building, a Bastow building, built in 1875 and classified by the National Trust. An additional new building was constructed under the Building Education Revolution funding in 2008. The school is set on five acres of spacious and attractive grounds that feature a stand of Sequoias more than 100 years old. We have approximately 180 students from Foundation to Year 6 and 15 staff members, including two administration staff.
Beechworth Primary School believes that mutually supportive home-school partnerships are essential in order to promote positive student engagement and wellbeing. As a School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) school and a Respectful Relationships lead school, we purposefully aim for high expectations from all members of our community and celebrate displays of positive behaviours.
We have a small number of Aboriginal students who have come from a variety of places across Australia, including the Northern Territory. Beechworth is an eclectic community, with students coming from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. Need a comment on student diversity here
We are proud of our diversity and inclusive school community.
We strive to provide a nurturing and challenging learning environment that empowers students to reach their personal best, both academically and socially.
School values, philosophy and vision
At Beechworth Primary School, our School Values and School Philosophy are integral to the work that we do and is the foundation of our school community. Students, staff and members of our school community are encouraged to live and demonstrate our core values of respect, safety, persistence and caring at every opportunity.
School Philosophy: Beechworth Primary School is a child-centred school. The voices of the children are significant and their views are respected. We believe that children are adventurous in acquiring knowledge, intellectually curious and keen to actively engage in making sense of the world. We encourage joyful pursuit and excitement of learning for our entire School Community.
School Vision: Empowering all students to be respectful, persistent and caring learners in a safe and connected community.
School Motto: Respect, Safety, Persistence and Caring ¿ Always!
School Values:
Respect:
At Beechworth Primary School, we demonstrate respect to ourselves, our peers, our teachers and visitors to the school. We demonstrate respect by:
- Following staff instructions respectfully
- Listening attentively to our teachers, classmates and visitors to our school
- Valuing the opinions of others
- Speaking kindly and thoughtfully to each other
- Looking after school equipment, classrooms, the school grounds and our personal belongings
Safety:
At Beechworth Primary School we seek to make our school community a safe place for students, staff, families and all visitors. We share in the responsibility of keeping ourselves and others safe by:
- Moving around the school grounds and buildings safely
- Entering and exiting the school grounds in the correct manner
- Using school and individual equipment appropriately
- Being Cyber Safe when using technology
- Playing and learning in spaces where we are supervised
- Using all school facilities the way they are intended to be used
- Looking out for the safety of others
Persistence:
At Beechworth Primary School we seek challenges in our education and we work hard towards achieving our goals. We continually grow as individuals and as learners by giving/trying our best in the classroom, in the playground and at home.
We demonstrate persistence by:
- Listening to feedback and taking on suggestions for improvement
- Persevering in academic, social and extracurricular activities and by knowing when to seek help
- Having a growth mindset and understanding that mistakes and challenges are a part of learning
- Never giving up and seeing something through to the end
Caring:
At Beechworth Primary School we strive towards caring for ourselves, others and our environment. We are a caring school community that displays kindness and understanding to others through our words and actions.
We demonstrate caring through:
- Speaking to others how we would like to be spoken to
- Considering others¿ needs by showing generosity, patience and understanding
- Making others feel special by making them feel a part of a community and including them in our games
- `Friending¿ someone on the buddy bench
- Using encouraging words
- Being honest
- Looking after ourselves (exercise, good nutrition, plenty of sleep, effective hygiene practices)
- Picking up rubbish in the yard and tidying up after ourselves in all settings
Teaching and Learning
Beechworth Primary School addresses the learning needs of each and every child. Our Curriculum program runs on a repeating 2 year cycle, and covers all aspects of the Victorian Curriculum, emphasising Literacy and Numeracy. For our Inquiry based learning we use a program called MAPPEN. MAPPEN units are designed around eight concepts, each explored developmentally from Foundation through to Year 6. Following the MAPPEN program all students explore the same concept at the same time, allowing for whole school immersion and cross level collaboration. The eight concepts are Community, Sustainability, Social Justice, Creativity, Identity, Change, Necessity and Curiosity.
Determining the specific learning requirements of each child is the key to our highly successful literacy and numeracy program. Our teaching and learning is based on the Victorian Curriculum. Pre assessment, collaborative planning together with enablers and extenders allows students to work at their point of need. In this way, gaps in individual learning are continually identified, and teaching is fine-tuned to address them. Knowing precisely which literacy and numeracy concepts each child needs to develop ensures the progression of all students.
We have teachers dedicated to specialist programs in Performing Arts, Physical Education, Music and Visual Arts. Our LOTE (Languages Other Than English) program focuses currently on Japanese (Junior) French (senior) language. We also offer an excellent Sports program, with opportunities for students to compete at regional through to state levels.
If you have any queries please email Principal Sue McDonald on ***************@education.vic.gov.au .
