As students work towards the achievement of Foundation Level standards in the Arts, they make performing and visual arts works that express and communicate experiences, observations, ideas and feelings about themselves and their world. With guidance, they make arts works in traditional and contemporary (including digital) arts forms in response to stimuli drawn from sources such as play, problem solving, imagination, observation, incursions and excursions. Students’ natural tendency to discover possibilities and limitations is encouraged through exploring different ways of using performing and visual arts elements, principles and/or conventions, skills, techniques and processes, media, materials and technologies.
For example, students could:
At Foundation Level, students make and share performing and visual arts works that communicate observations, personal ideas, feelings and experiences. They explore and, with guidance, use a variety of arts elements (on their own or in combination), skills, techniques and processes, media, materials, equipment and technologies in a range of arts forms. They talk about aspects of their own arts works, and arts works and events in their community.
In the Arts, standards for the Exploring and responding dimension are introduced at Level 3.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in Civics and Citizenship, they begin to develop a sense of belonging to the school community. They are introduced to the idea of the classroom being a community and they learn about respect and concern for others and being fair. They learn about classroom rules and why they are needed. They begin to compare classroom and family rules and other rules that they know about such as those for games and sport. Students explore their responsibilities and rights and those of others in familiar contexts such as the family, the classroom, the school playground and local recreation areas.
Students learn about and celebrate special cultural, local, community and national days; for example, school sporting events and Clean Up Australia Day. They engage in school and cultural events in a responsible and active way.
In Civics and Citizenship, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 3. The learning focus statements for Foundation to Level 2 provide advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 4.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 6 standards in Communication, they begin to identify basic communication conventions in the classroom and playground such as being attentive listeners, facing the speaker, and taking turns. They learn to focus their attention and to listen without interrupting. Students practise retelling what a speaker has said to them and learn to ask questions when appropriate, exploring the interactive nature of communication.
Students respond, in both formal and informal settings, to a variety of stimuli; for example, aural, written and visual texts. They share the meaning they make of these texts with their peers.
Students make regular short oral presentations to groups or the whole class, communicating their ideas on a single topic or a personal experience, the focus being on making themselves understood. They begin to use visual aids such as photographs, objects and drawings to assist them to communicate more effectively.
In Communication, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 5. The learning focus statements for Foundation to Level 4 provide advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 6.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in Design, Creativity and Technology, they investigate everyday, familiar products and recognise the basic characteristics and materials/ingredients from which they are made and how they are used. They explore the differences between natural products and artefacts, and learn that materials can be recycled and reused to produce new products. They play with and manipulate materials/ingredients in both a free and focused manner to foster development of their design and technical skills. They learn appropriate terminology, including the names of materials/ingredients and their characteristics and properties (for example, rough, smooth, shiny, soft, flexible), and processes such as measure, mix, cut, join.
Students think and...
In Design, Creativity and Technology, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 3. The learning focus statements for Levels 1 and 2 provide advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 4.
The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of Language, Literature and Literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together the three strands focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills...
By the end of the Foundation level, students use predicting and questioning strategies to make meaning from texts. They recall one or two events from texts with familiar topics. They understand that there are different types of texts and that these can have similar characteristics. They identify connections between texts and their personal experience. They read short predictable texts with familiar vocabulary and supportive images, drawing on their developing knowledge of concepts about print and sound and letters. They identify the letters of the English alphabet and use the sounds represented by most letters.
When writing, students use familiar words and phrases and images to convey ideas. Their writing shows evidence of sound and letter knowledge, beginning writing behaviours and experimentation with capital letters and full stops. They correctly form known upper- and lower-case letters.
They listen to and use appropriate language features to respond to others in a familiar environment. They listen for rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words. Students understand that their texts can reflect their own experiences. They identify...
As students work towards the achievement of Foundation standards in the Movement and physical activity dimension, they engage in a variety of physical activities on their own and with their peers, with and without equipment, and in a range of environments (indoor, outdoor and aquatic). They begin to develop basic motor skills such as running, hopping, jumping, skipping, catching, throwing, kicking, rolling, balancing, twisting and turning. Through a range of activities, such as dance, gymnastics and games, students progressively gain control of their movements in personal and general space, while stationary and moving. They practise a range of movement patterns in aquatic environments such as: wade-in entry to and exit from shallow water; float with a buoyancy aid; perform a basic leg...
At Foundation, students perform basic motor skills and movement patterns, with or without equipment, in a range of environments. They regularly engage in periods of moderate to vigorous physical activity. They use simple vocabulary to describe movement, the physical responses of their bodies to activity and their feelings about participation in physical activity. When participating in movement and physical activities, they follow rules and procedures and share equipment and space safely.
In Health and Physical Education, standards for the Health knowledge and promotion dimension are introduced at Level 3.
Personal and Family Histories
The Foundation curriculum provides a study of personal and family histories. Students learn about their own history and that of their family; this may include stories from different cultures...
By the end of the Foundation level, students identify similarities and differences between families. They recognise how important family events are commemorated.
Students sequence familiar events in order. They pose questions about their past. Students relate a story about their past using a range of texts.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in the Humanities, they draw on their own experience to help them understand the world around them.
Students develop an awareness of spatial concepts through structured experiences within their immediate environment. They investigate the relative location, direction and distance of their home, school, classroom, local parks, shops and other significant features of their environment and begin to understand the geography of their local area. They learn to give and follow simple directions, and describe location relative to other people and places using everyday spatial terms such as front/back, up/down, right/left, near/far, above/below. They draw simple pictorial maps from their developing mental maps of familiar environments.
In the Humanities, achievement standards for History are introduced from Foundation level. Standards for the other Humanities domains are introduced from Level 4.
The curriculum (content descriptions and achievement standards) for HistoryAC Foundation to Level 4 is located here.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 2 standards in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), they learn the safe use of ICT tools, including leaving electrical connections alone, sitting upright in front of a computer, and handling storage devices such as disks and memory sticks carefully. They learn the correct terms to name ICT equipment and, through use, become familiar with common icons on the computer desktop. They develop hand–eye coordination through using a mouse to control the pointer on the screen.
With assistance, students work with different types of data, such as text, numbers and images, to create simple information products and share their ideas. They develop their navigation skills by responding to stimulus in multimedia resources that develop literacy and numeracy skills. They find and compare examples of ICT equipment at home and investigate the purpose of ICT symbols and icons.
In the Information and Communications Technology domain, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 1. The learning focus statement for Foundation provides advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 2.
As students work towards the achievement of Foundation standards in Interpersonal Development, they interact with their peers, teachers and other adults in a range of contexts. They learn to play constructively together and are encouraged to develop friendships with peers.
Students learn to manage their impulses by developing habits and routines that help them to be a cooperative class member. They develop a vocabulary to describe the emotions they experience when interacting with others.
With teacher support, students begin to identify and develop the skills required to work together in a group, including taking turns, and sharing and caring for equipment and resources. Through supported reflection on their own experiences of working with a partner, in small-group and whole-class situations...
At this level standards are not organised by dimensions.
At Foundation, students identify the qualities of a friend and demonstrate care for other students. They contribute to the development of positive social relationships in a range of contexts. They use appropriate language and actions when dealing with conflict. Students describe basic skills required to work cooperatively in groups.
As students work towards the achievement of standards at Pathway 1 Level 6, they develop an understanding of the speakers of the language other than English and the countries, regions and communities where the language is spoken. In preparation for Level 6 standards, students need to develop the knowledge and skills described in the progression measures.
Students are given opportunities to learn about the speakers of the language through the introduction of culturally relevant and age-appropriate stimulus materials, such as CD-ROMs and various digital media, videos, stories and guest speakers.
They understand that the language is used for communication, and that people outside their classroom also speak the language. They begin to understand that there are differences between the language...
In Languages Pathway 1, standards for assessing and reporting achievement are introduced at Level 5. Schools that provide language programs prior to Level 5 should refer to the Languages phases of learning (formerly progression measures) which provide a typical sequence of second language development. The Foundation to Level 4 learning focus statements provide advice for teachers about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 6.
The proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the...
Number and Algebra
Students connect number names and numerals with sets of up to 20 elements, estimate the size of these sets, and use counting strategies to solve problems that involve comparing, combining and separating these sets. They match individual objects with counting sequences up to and back from 20. Students order the first 10 elements of a set.
Measurement and Geometry
Students identify measurement attributes in practical situations and compare lengths, masses and capacities of familiar objects. They order events, explain their duration, and match days of the week to familiar events. Students identify simple shapes in their environment and sort shapes by their common and distinctive features. They use simple statements and gestures to describe location.
Statistics and Probability
Students sort familiar categorical data into sets and use these to answer yes/no questions and make simple true/false statements about the data.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in Personal Learning, they experience diverse approaches and responses to learning. With teacher support, they make links with their existing experiences and develop the view that learning is exploratory, fun and rewarding.
Students begin to reflect on themselves as learners, in particular on their feelings about learning, by responding to open-ended statements such as ‘I’m proud of this because …’, and using visual aids that illustrate their responses to learning, such as happy and unhappy faces. They also reflect on their own learning by responding to prompts such as, ‘What do you know now that you didn’t know before?’
Students are provided with opportunities to learn with peers...
In Personal Learning, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 3. The learning focus statements for Foundation to Level 2 provide advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 4.
The science content includes the three strands of Science Understanding, Science Inquiry Skills and Science as a Human Endeavour. The three strands of the curriculum are interrelated and their content is taught in an integrated way. The order and detail in which the content descriptions are organised into teaching/learning programs are decisions to be made by the teacher.
From Foundation to...
By the end of the Foundation level, students describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects. They suggest how the environment affects them and other living things.
Students share and record observations of familiar objects and events.
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in Thinking Processes, they explore a wide variety of familiar contexts. With encouragement and support, they wonder, question and become adventurous in their thinking about these contexts. Students practise using all of their senses to develop skills in making observations which they share and record.
Students begin to look for simple patterns in their observations by classifying familiar items and by looking for similarities and differences. In integrating information from their own observations, information from peers, teachers and other adults, and information from print and non-print texts, they begin to develop simple explanations for the phenomena they observe. These explanations – not necessarily complete - are...
In Thinking Processes, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement are introduced at Level 3. The learning focus statements for Levels 1 and 2 provide advice about learning experiences that will assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards at Level 4.
