“Interdisciplinary Learning” strand focuses on ways of communicating, thinking and understanding ideas and information. It assists students to become active learners and problem solvers.

COMMUNICATION
This domain helps students to understand that communication varies across different settings, contexts and with different audiences. Students will extend their ability to listen, view and respond to information, ideas and opinions and will learn to present ideas and information in various ways.

DESIGN, CREATIVITY and TECHNOLOGY
Students work on investigating, designing, producing, analysing and evaluating solutions to given problems based on the requirements of design briefs. Students consider needs and wants when designing, producing or evaluating processes, products or systems.

THINKING
In this area, students are encouraged to develop a range of skills and behaviours. Creativity, inquiry, reflection and decision making are built on through the use of a variety of Thinking Tools. Tools students are applying and learning about include; Thinking Hats, Graphic Organisers (Flow Charts, Mind Maps, Venn Diagrams), Habits of Mind, to help them become effective and skilful thinkers.

At Lara Lake Primary School we have a vibrant language program. Developing each child's literacy skills is a feature of teaching and learning. Children are taught reading, writing, listening and oral language skills through varied experiences and using a variety of resources. They are given daily opportunities to practise these skills using a range of materials and writing across all genres. We aim to meet the needs of all children in our care, developing each child's literacy skills to their full potential.

The Early Years program is a key part of literacy learning at Lara lake Primary School. Children in grades prep to 4 are involved in a two hour literacy block involving focused guided reading activities, learning centres and a range of opportunties to write in a variety of styles. Children are supported in their literacy learning through use of appropiate texts, continuous monitoring of progress and the development of a love of literature.

Our Mathematics Program encourages and promotes the development of mathematical skills and knowledge to enable children to participate positively, confidently and competently in their daily lives. Students will develop an understanding of the importance and the dynamic role mathematics plays in our society. Skills and understandings developed during the school years will be applied in further studies and future employment.
The underlying structure of our Program has been set through use of the Curriculum Standards Framework (CSF) which details a set of goals and indicators which are important at each level through the school and is now under review with the introduction of ELS ( Essential Learning Framework).
Staff at Lara Lake Primary continue to update their skills through further training and professional development. Teachers in the Prep to Year 4 will continue to use a powerful assessment tool in the form of the Early Years Numeracy Interview. This interview is conducted on a one on one basis and creates for the class teacher a very effective snapshot of student’s understandings in the areas of Number, Measurement and Space and also the strategies students have developed in these areas.
It is certainly an exciting time to be involved in Mathematics at Lara Lake Primary School.

At Lara Lake Primary School students attend our Multi-media Resource Centre where they are involved in a weekly one hour lesson aimed to develop knowledge and skills in using information and communication technologies to enhance student learning. Small groups of students attend the Bright Sparks Program, an enrichment program which includes problem solving activities, movie making, digital imaging, podcasting, animation using Stop Motion Pro and Kahootz and other challenging tasks. Our Multi-media Resource Centre has 30 computers plus a Mini Centre of 8 computers that are used by students for projects and small group work. The school has networked computers in each classroom. Students have access and regularly use ICT equipment such as digital and video cameras, scanners, the internet to gather information for their learning, email and access to the school’s intranet.

Health and Physical Education learning experiences are provided for Lara Lake students to promote their understanding in the following areas: - physical activity, fitness, health, movement, food and nutrition, health, safety, human development and human relations.

They Physical Education program encompasses learning experiences in fundamental motor skills, minor and major games, athletics, gymnastics, dance, perceptual motor skills, fitness skills, traffic safety, Bicycle Education (grade 3/4) and swimming.

Health Education is taught as part of Lara Lake’s integrated curriculum and activities are planned to link into the various themes, which form the focus for teaching and learning each term. Developmental programs are taught by the classroom teacher to cover topics in human development, human relations, safety health of individuals and populations, people and food.

Grades 3 – 6 children are involved in Interschool sport, swimming, athletics and Cross Country, giving our students the opportunity to participate in competitive sport.

Through studies of Science and Sustainability children are provided with exciting opportunities to investigate the chemical, physical and natural world, to acquire knowledge and use the skills of scientific investigation, reasoning and analysis to ask questions and seek solutions about the world they live in.
It is through these studies that students come to recognise and understand the strengths and limitations of Science and its role in social and technical change. They learn to understand that a sustainable society is one that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of a future generation to meet their own needs.
In the early primary years students develop their language and literacy skills to describe their explorations in Science. They use their senses to form the basis of their scientific skills and detect patterns in their observations of everyday events associated with chemical, physical and natural sciences. In the middle primary years students identify conditions in the environment that affect survival. They investigate their local environment and understand the structure of plants and animals. They learn to apply appropriate scientific language to their investigations relating to chemical, physical and natural sciences. In the upper primary years students develop a more systematic knowledge of science and science concepts. They categorist, explore relationships, link cause and effect, investigate how using force produces motion and contemplate how systems operate. Central to this is their understanding that some questions are open to investigation while others require reasoning and discussion, and that science knowledge is improved and changed by the outcomes of new investigations and explorations.

At Lara Lake teachers plan to cover Science and Sustainability learning outcomes by teaching Science through thematic units of work, using an Inquiry Based Learning Approach, which encourages students to explore their own paths of enquiry. Where necessary specific Science lessons are planned to achieve outcomes not covered in the thematic units and a vegetable garden has been cared for and tended by our senior students for distribution to our local community. Our recent whole-school focus on Science and Sustainability has seen teachers working with an experienced Peer Coach in 2008 and taking part in on-going Whole-School Professional Development, greatly enhancing the teaching of Primary Science at our school.

At Lara Lake Primary School we value the support of our parent community and strive to develop a partnership in learning. Parents are active in our classroom programs and are supported in this through the provision of the Early Years Classroom Helpers program. This provides information about literacy learning, as well as how parents can assist teachers in their classroom programs.

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