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Why choose our school?

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El Arish State School provides you child with the best start in their educational journey. With the help of dedicated staff, fabulous parents and citizens group and many local amazing families that make our school feel like a large family. We look after each other, work and learn together to make our school great.

We operate two classes, prep to year 2 and year 3 to year 6. Within in these classrooms we run multi-aged programs to suit the ability and need of your child. The classrooms have full time teacher aides and a full time teacher.

Research has highlighted the benefits for both teachers and children when learning and teaching in a multi-age classroom. Benefits include more holistic, child responsive curriculum practices that consider the understandings, capabilities and dispositions that children need for future work, e.g. working in diverse environments that seek workers who are multi-skilled, literate, cooperative, creative, adaptable, independent and resourceful. Children and teachers usually have the opportunity to work together for more than one year, which enhances continuity of learning and the forming of positive relationships with teachers and children, and between children.

Because of the mixed age group, the younger children benefit from the positive models of older children, often aspiring to their levels of capability. At the same time, the older children rise to the expectations of the younger children and teacher, being very responsible and having opportunities to lend and use their expertise.

Social constructivist and critical perspectives of learning and teaching (upon which the Early years curriculum guidelines is developed), affirm the use of a multi-age classroom approach. Strategies used in this approach include:

  • recognizing and building on children’s diverse backgrounds, understandings and experiences.
  • understanding how children learn.
  • building connectedness between learning experiences.
  • acknowledging children as unique individuals with diverse and complex identities.
  • recognizing children as active” agents” of their own learning.

Taken from Multi-age learning and teaching (PDF, 210KB).

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Last reviewed 14 January 2020
Last updated 14 January 2020