Teaching & Learning

At Buninyong Primary School, literacy consists of specific time each day for the teaching of reading, writing and spelling.

All Prep-Year two students take part in daily phonemic awareness lessons using the Heggerty Program as well as explicit phonics instruction using the Sounds-Write Program. This explicit teaching is highly structured and supports students to master their  letter-sound relationships and decoding skills.

Once students have mastered these early literacy skills, emphasis is placed on comprehension strategies, fostering a deep understanding of texts. This ensures a well-rounded literacy education, empowering students with both foundational skills and the ability to extract meaning from diverse materials.

Our students in Years 3-6 also currently spend dedicated time four times a week participating in specific spelling lessons aimed at their level using the Spelling Mastery program. This approach uses a direct instruction style of teaching promoting skill development that effectively supports students to become proficient readers and writers

Additional support beyond the classroom is provided to students through a range of intervention and tutoring programs.

At Buninyong Primary School we have a whole school, coordinated approach which sets high expectations for all of our students in mathematics.

Our approach to the teaching of mathematics centres on engaging our students across all areas of the Victorian Curriculum. We value and promote the use of hands-on learning and teacher modelling of explicit mathematical strategies. Building strong foundational mathematical skills with an emphasis on automaticity and fluency is a central element of our teaching of mathematics.

Our teachers assess and monitor student achievement regularly throughout the year in order to identify each student’s needs in mathematics, allowing the teacher to plan for future instruction and to support their students to set learning goals. 

Our maths intervention program is provided for identified students who require additional support beyond the classroom.

Japanese

At Buninyong Primary School, all students actively participate in learning Japanese. The program offers a mixture of learning about Japanese culture and language with opportunities for the students to speak, read and write the Japanese language. The students are exposed to cultural festivals and are immersed in a classroom filled with Japanese artefacts.

Music

Students are encouraged to work cooperatively and to incorporate the school values of optimism, commitment, respect, compassion and honesty in all of their music lessons.

The Music Program at Buninyong Primary School strives to give students a greater understanding and appreciation of music through singing, movement and performing. Students learn to read and write basic notation, explore different genres of music and importantly play a variety of instruments. Buninyong has a Junior and Senior Choir that performs at assemblies and outside the school and we have instrumental teachers for guitar, keyboard, drums and trumpet.
The Buninyong Primary Choir meets weekly and often performs at assemblies with opportunities to sing outside of the school throughout the year.

In Term 3 the Grade four students hold the Story of Buninyong, an indigenous studies and local history project which culminates in a public performance. The school rock band and choir perform songs written specifically for the project while the Grade 4’s sing and dance their way through the story.

Physical Education