Creative arts

Overall considerations:

• visual arts and music must be taught each year
• drama and dance should be included in each stage of learning
• there is no requirement to teach all four artforms at the same time

The discrete skills, knowledge and understandings of each artform are taught through learning experiences in:

• visual arts – making and appreciating
• music – performing, organising sound and listening
• drama – making and appreciating
• dance – making, composing and appreciating.

School planning for the creative arts supports schools to consider a variety of ways to implement the syllabus.

English

In each year of learning, students must study examples of:

• spoken texts
• print texts
• visual texts
• media, multimedia and digital texts.

Across a stage of learning, the selection of texts must give students experience of:

• texts which are widely regarded as quality literature
• Australian literature, including texts that give insights into Aboriginal experiences in Australia
• a wide range of literary texts from other countries and times, including poetry, drama scripts, written and picture books
• texts written about intercultural experiences
• a wide range of factual texts that present information, issues and ideas
• texts that include aspects of environmental and social sustainability
• an appropriate range of digital texts, including film, media and multimedia

Handwriting and using digital technologies must be explicitly taught in Early Stage 1 to Stage 2 and have syllabus outcomes dedicated to this.

Objective C – thinking in ways that are imaginative, creative, interpretive and critical looks differently across the stages:

• Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 involves thinking imaginatively and creatively
• Stage 2 involves thinking imaginatively, creatively and interpretively
• Stage 3 involves thinking imaginatively, creatively, interpretively and critically.

A school's English scope and sequence should be developed using the English K-10 Syllabus. Literacy is a general capability that is embedded throughout the NSW syllabuses. The National Literacy Learning Progression is a helpful resource but should not be used to develop scope and sequence documents. This resource may be more helpful when planning and programming learning/units of work and assessment tasks across key learning areas.

Human Society and It’s Environment (HSIE)

Overall considerations:

• The HSIE key learning area has two syllabuses, history and geography. These syllabuses must be taught across each stage of learning. There should be equal teaching and learning time allocated to history and geography.
• The content of history and geography should be taught individually and not integrated together.

History syllabus

• Each content area must be taught in each stage of learning, incorporating historical concepts and skills.
• Content is intended to be taught through the process of historical inquiry.
• Key inquiry questions are optional but can be used to frame the learning experiences.

Geography syllabus

• Each content area must be taught in each stage of learning, incorporating geographical concepts, tools and skills.
• Content is intended to be taught through the process of geographical inquiry.
• Key inquiry questions are optional but can be used to frame the learning experiences.
• Students must engage in fieldwork in each stage of learning. Fieldwork involves observing, measuring, collecting and recording information outside the classroom. Fieldwork can be undertaken within the school grounds, around local neighbouring areas or at more distant locations.

Mathematics

The syllabus is organised into mathematical proficiencies, called Working Mathematically, and three content strands.

Working mathematically is required to be integrated into all learning/units of work.

The components of working mathematically are integrated into the three content strands.

There are five inter-related components of working mathematically. They are:

• communicating
• problem-solving
• reasoning
• understanding
• fluency.

Working mathematically has a separate set of outcomes for the communicating, problem solving and reasoning components:

Understanding and fluency components do not have an outcome. These components are embedded in the development of knowledge, skills and understanding of content areas.

When planning for teaching and learning, working mathematically describes how content is explored and developed.

The three content strands are

• number and algebra
• measurement and geometry
• statistics and probability

Teachers should develop and make connections within strands and across strands to support the development of deep knowledge and a conceptual understanding for students. For example:

• within a strand - between ‘whole number’, ‘addition and subtraction’ and ‘multiplication and division’
• across strands - between ‘number and algebra’ and ‘measurement and geometry’

A school's mathematics scope and sequence should be developed using the Mathematics K-10 Syllabus. Numeracy is a general capability that is embedded throughout the NSW syllabuses. The National Numeracy Learning Progression is a helpful resource but should not be used to develop scope and sequence documents. This resource may be more helpful when planning and programming learning/units of work and assessment tasks across key learning areas.

Personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE)

Schools must meet K-6 PDHPE policy and programming requirements by addressing PDHPE-related policies. This includes:

• teaching child protection education and road safety education in every stage of learning.
• providing weekly physical activity as part of physical education to address the Sport and Physical Activity Policy requirement. The K-6 PDHPE Sport and Physical Activity Policy advice document (DOCX 70KB) explains the difference between physical activity, physical education and sport and provides examples of how schools can meet their weekly requirement of 150 minutes of planned moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Content from each strand must be taught every year. The three strands are:

• Health, wellbeing and relationships
• Movement skill and performance
• Healthy, safe and active lifestyles

Connect content across syllabus strands to transfer knowledge, understanding and skills of health and physical education concepts.

There should be equal emphasis on health and physical education concepts.

Skills from each of the three skill domains, self-management, interpersonal and movement, must be taught in each year of learning. Schools have the flexibility to select and/or emphasise the most appropriate skills.

Key inquiry questions are optional but can be used to frame the learning experiences.

Science and technology

The syllabus outcomes are presented as:

• Skills
• Knowledge and Understanding.

The skills of working scientifically, and design and production, enable students to develop and consolidate their knowledge and understanding of science and technology.

All five content strands are to be delivered by the end of each stage of learning.

The five content strands are:

• living world
• material world
• physical world
• Earth and space
• digital technologies.

The inquiry and focus questions are optional but can be used to guide and frame contextual teaching and learning experiences.

Languages

Each syllabus is organised in two strands: communicating and understanding.

Authentic, real-world, communicative tasks with audience, context and purpose should form the basis of teaching and learning programs (task-based learning) by integrating content from both syllabus strands.

There are two levels of language learners in K-6 languages. These are beginners and students with prior learning and/or experience.