Primary Matters

Primary Matters July 1997

From Board Bulletin, July 1997

Support Document for Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

The Physical Activity for Health and Fitness support document should now be in schools. This document supports the continued use of the draft Personal Development, Health and Physical Education K-6 Syllabus. The support document focuses on the syllabus strand of Fitness and Lifestyle. It also suggests ways in which student fitness can be developed through the other movement strands of Games and Sport Skills, Movement Exploration and Dance.

The Board will conduct a limited trial of the document with interested schools during the latter part of this year. Feedback from this trial will be used to inform the development of the final Personal Development, Health and Physical Education K-6 Syllabus, planned for release in 1999/2000.

Special Education Support Documents

The Board is continuing the development of curriculum support materials for students with special education needs. This follows the success of the two support documents for English K-6: Literacy and Communication.

The trialling of the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education K-6 Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs has been completed. Feedback from the participating schools and teachers is now informing the completion of this document. Work on the development of a support document for Mathematics K-6 as well as material to accompany the draft Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus has now commenced.

Aboriginal Literacy Resource Kit

The award-winning Aboriginal Literacy Resource Kit is being extended to provide teachers with additional readers and support materials. The original kit, released in 1996, included one copy of each of the seven readers: Gami's Place, Mud Cakes At The Mish, Robin's Plum Duff, The Gilla the Moon, Why the Emu Cannot Fly, Rak Niwili and Did the Fox Make Friends When He Came To Australia?. The readers will soon be available in packs of five for each title. Each pack will include Teacher Notes to support the use of the reader in class programs.

Parent Brochures for English K-6

Parent information brochures for the strands of Talking and Listening, Reading, and Writing are now available from the Board of Studies. These brochures provide parents with an overview of the content in each strand in each Stage as well as some advice on how parents can support their child's learning in talking, listening, reading and writing. The brochures, which contain information that is consistent with material being developed for the revised syllabus, can be used as handouts at parent meetings or kindergarten orientation days, as reading material at the school office or as reference material during parent interviews. The text from the brochures can also be downloaded for incorporation in school newsletters from the Board's website:

http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

Update on English, Parent Information.

If you would like further information regarding these items or K-6 curriculum matters in general, contact Margaret Malone, Inspector, Primary Education, ph (02) 9367 8199 or fax (02) 9367 8484.