A range of specialist programs are offered to students as part of the curriculum:
- Languages
- Music
- Physical Education and Sport
- Resource Centre, ICT and research.
Spanish
The Spanish program at Yeronga State School runs from Prep through to Year 6. Our program's main goal is 'critical fluency' i.e. getting students to be able to effectively communicate in Spanish. Students in Prep through to Year 6 have 30mins per week face-to-face lessons.
Spanish language is not only the second most important language after English in Business and Internet; it is also a very popular language. Twenty-three countries native language is Spanish; approximately five hundred eighty million people speak Spanish in the world. Furthermore, Spanish grammar is extremely logical and regular: this language is written, read, spelt and pronounced exactly in the same manner.
Learning a foreign language broadens children's cultural awareness as well as helping their intellectual development. Research shows that it is advantageous for children to learn a second language from a very young age as they are less inhibited about speaking in front of their peers and develop a more authentic accent, including the development of English language skills. Children also develop intercultural competence as they learn how to consider the perspectives of people from other cultures in their communications.
Prep Spanish Program (ELLA Program)
Yeronga participated in the trialling of the ELLA F-2 program in 2019 – 2021. The ELLA F-2 program will continue to be used in the curriculum and give students a great opportunity to expose them not just in learning a language but also cultural competence. ELLA is a digital, play-based program that includes a series of interactive applications (apps), aimed at making language learning engaging and interesting for children in early years of schooling.
Yeronga State School follows the Australian curriculum for the delivery of the Spanish Program:
The Languages curriculum in Australia aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that students:
- Communicate in the language they are learning
- Understand the relationship between their own language and culture and, the new language and culture that they are learning
- Develop intercultural curiosity, acceptance and capabilities
- Understand themselves as bilingual and / or global communicators
Students are encouraged to use the Spanish language as much as possible for classroom routines, social interactions, structured learning tasks, and language experimentation and practices. Students have opportunities to engage with members of the community who speak Spanish, which in some cases will be facilitated via digital technologies.
The English language is also used for discussions, grammatical and cultural clarifications and or explanations and reflection; this enable students to accept and embrace multiculturalism and develop knowledge of other cultures and bilingual skills, to share ideas about other languages and cultures in the world.
Music
All students attend music classes with a specialist teacher, timetabled for 30 minutes each week. They engage in a rigorous program of learning, and learn through singing, playing, listening, moving, responding, improvising and composing.
- Our Instrumental Music Program includes a string orchestra program (starting in year 3) and the concert band program (starting in year 5).
- Choirs and other ensembles are organised by the class music specialist each year depending on time allocation and the interest of students. Options may include choral groups at various levels and instrument groups.
More information on these programs is available.
Physical Education and Sport
All students participate in physical education for 30 minutes each week. These classes focus on developing the skills and habits needed to live a healthy, active life. Children participate in:
- games, athletics and dance
- swimming in Term 1 and Term 4.
In Years 1 and 2 children attend swimming lessons with their class teacher. Parents are also encouraged to attend these lessons to provide the additional support needed for younger children. In Years 3 to 6 swimming lessons are taken by a specialist PE teacher.
Inter-house sport
Children belong to one of four sports houses, all named after Australian poets:
- Evans – Red
- Lawson – Blue
- Kendall – Green
- Paterson – Yellow.
Inter-house sport includes:
- the school cross country (early year)
- athletics carnivals (mid year)
- swimming carnivals (late year).
In addition to our class-based physical education and inter-house sport programs, children have the option to participate in a wide range of inter-school and district/regional sport. Sports include athletics, swimming, tennis, and team sports such as netball, softball, T-ball, cricket, rugby league and soccer.
Interschool sport is played at Gala Days, providing a carnival type atmosphere. Children not participating in inter-school sport undertake other class and physical education activities. For more information about
extra-curricular sport .
Resource Centre, ICT and Research
The school’s teacher librarian delivers weekly lessons to support classroom learning and develop children’s ICT and research skills. The resource centre is also open at lunch time for borrowing and research. It offers a wide range of books, digital tools and computers for students and teachers.