Enrichment Programs
Buddies |
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The buddies program allows opportunities for students in different classes to buddy up with each other and develop supportive relationships in a safe setting. Through these enjoyable and enriching experiences we aim to develop high student self-esteem and and a connectedness to school and learning. |
Clubs Program
The Clubs program operates at various intervals throughout the year. Students select which club activity they would like to participate in for a five week period, and are able to change activities for the next Clubs session. Here is a sample of what's on offer:
Term 2 - 2008 Clubs - 4 June - 2 July
- Board games
- Chess
- Woodwork
- Bushdancing
- Jewellery making
- Cooking
Creating Our Learning Community |
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At the start of the year all students participate in the 'Creating Our Learning Community' Program, which establishes a positive environment for learning. We start with a whole school assembly, where our Year 5 and 6 students share significant aspects of the school culture, the advantages of a small school and important events in the life of Sir Douglas Mawson, our namesake. |
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 During the 'Creating Our Learning Community' Program, students work on whole school art activities, including a knitted and woven wall hanging illustrating the School’s SCARF (safety, cooperation, acceptance, respect and friendliness) student code of conduct. We also hold a school community celebration picnic and bush dance, which attracts staff, students and their families. |
The benefits of this program are seen in improved attitudes to school and learning, and the building of closer relationships between staff, students and parents and carers.
English as a Second Language
An ESL teacher is available to assist those students who need support and who meet one of the following criteria:
- the student was born in a non-English speaking country
- one or both parents were born in a non-English speaking country
- a language other than English is spoken at home
Support is also available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students whose first language is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language or creole. ESL students may be assisted within the class or withdrawn in small groups, according to their needs.
Gifted & Talent Challenge Program
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The Challenge (or Gifted and Talented) program caters for students who have been identified as gifted and talented. It provides them the opportunity to be extended academically and expand their knowledge on self-interested topics. This is achieved through Individual Learning Plans based on higher order thinking skills. |
Approaches That Work Well When Dealing With Bright Students...Linda Silverman - The Director of the Gifted Development Centre in Denver, USA:
- Find out what they know before you teach them
- Omit drill from their lives
- Pace instruction at the rate of the learner
- Use Discovery Learning Techniques-Inductive Learning strategies such as those explained in the Bloom's Taxonomy model
- Allow them to arrive at answers in their own way. They enjoy devising their own problem solving techniques
- Allow students to form their own cooperative learning groups
- Design an Individual Educational Plan
- Teach them the art of argument, to understand when it is appropriate to argue and also to understand the reactions of others to their argumentativeness
- Allow students to observe
- Be flexible in designing programs by providing students with a variety of program alternatives such as independent study, special classes, mentoring and enrichment activities.
Human Values / Self Awareness Program |
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The aim of our Human Values program is to enable students to take responsibility for the choices they make in their lives. The method of teaching human values at Mawson enables the students to live their lives to the fullest, through the development of character and all aspects of the personality. |
Instrumental Music Program
The school through the Instrumental Music Program offers students in Years 5 and 4 the opportunity to participate in a recorder band. Children will be instructed in a Program that is recognised internationally as being unique and has been successfully operating in the ACT for over 30 years. This instruction is given in a group situation rather than on a one-to-one basis. The Program is deliberately limited in the number of students involved so the child’s selection is a bonus to the education offered by the school. There is a small annual cost for the two-year program, which is allocated to the purchase and maintenance of instruments and music stands and the purchase of music for your child's use as well as the general running costs of the Program. The Department of Education employs qualified and experienced classroom teachers as instructors for your child, who will receive three music lessons a week.
Learning Assistance and Reading Recovery
These programs provide additional teaching resources to assist students in need of support in literacy and numeracy. The Learning Assistance or Reading Recovery teacher provides this support. These teachers are trained to identify and assist students either in small withdrawal groups or in consultation with teachers to support the students in their mainstream classes.
Some students find it hard to learn to read and write and Reading Recovery helps six-year-olds that have had a year at school to become successful readers and writers within a short time. It is an individual program where the child and the teacher work together for half an hour every day on literacy strategies specifically designed for that student.
Library and Computer Lab
The Mawson Primary School library is well resourced with a large collection of fiction and non-fiction items. In addition to computers with internet access, there are several inquiry computers which students can use to do resource searches. Each class has a scheduled weekly library time in which they participate in an educational program. Students are encouraged to bring a library bag to regularly borrow books and other resources.
Students have access to computers in the Computer Laboratory and in their classrooms allowing them to extend and develop learning in word processing, spreadsheets, graphics and multi-media CDs and accessing the internet for research. Students also enjoy the many and varied educational games.
We are proud of the recent upgrade to our Computer Lab, which provides our students with state-of-the-art technology.
Music Tutor Program
The Bellchambers Music School provides instrumental tuition for students, on the school premises. For further information the contact number is 6281 6270.Preschool Liaison Program
The Mawson Pre-school is staffed independently to the Primary School although there is continuing informal communication with the Junior section of the school. The preschoolers join the junior students at the Junior School Assemblies throughout the year, as well as having fun with their Year 4/5 buddies. An integration program is conducted during Term 4 with the Kindergarten class, where the pre-schoolers make numerous visits to the school learning about routines, classes and the playground. This program prepares students for their formal primary education.
Mawson Pre-school may be contacted on 6205 6666.
Rostrum
The Rostrum public speaking program involves students from years 3 to 6. After speaking lessons in the classroom, students prepare a speech on a topic of their own choice, which are presented to their classmates. Three class finalists are selected to go onto the school finals. The winner then goes on to represent Mawson Primary at the District Finals.
School Counsellor/Special Needs Team
A counsellor is available to provide assessment of students and to be part of the Special Needs Team. The Team meets weekly to discuss the needs of students who have been referred by their classroom teacher. The team then determines the appropriate support needed.
'You Can Do It' ProgramThe program develops the potential of all children (academically, intellectually, interpersonally and emotionally) through instilling in children five Foundations - Confidence, Persistence, Organisation, Getting Along and Resilience - that research indicates as determining the extent to which children achieve and experience social and emotional well-being. Central to the development of the five Foundations is explicit instruction in the Habits of the Mind: |
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