Junior School

Exciting Journey

Whether attending the Calista Campus (Pre Kindergarten to Year 1) or the Wellard Campus (Year 2 to Year 6), the Junior School provides rich and age-appropriate engagement, exploration, wonder and learning for your child. 

Sequenced activities addressing personal and interpersonal skills, knowledge, understanding and community action, spiral through every classroom programme, from the youngest Pre Kindergarten at Calista to the oldest in Year 6 at Wellard. Maturity grows day by day in preparation for the next stage of the journey.

Empowering Young Lives

The confidence of your child will grow when surrounded by security and care; resilience is strengthened when self-esteem is nurtured and, as a result, your child’s friendship groups will flourish. The collaboration of parents, teachers and children is valued above all else in the building of our culture of trust, understanding and excellence. 

Your child will also meet leadership opportunities at every stage (even in Pre Kindergarten), and will be supported towards personal high achievement and success. Respect and responsibility are important words in Junior School – we use them often.

Stimulating Curiosity

We play, we talk, we research and we discover through our study and recreation. The core learning areas of English, Mathematics, Science and History feature strongly in our weekly programmes, with a vital emphasis on fluid Reading skills: phonics, spelling and comprehension. Generous time is also provided for your child to experience the Arts (Music, Choir, instrumental tuition and Fine Art), Digital Technologies, Physical Education, Languages (Italian) and, of course, Religious and Values Education. 

Further learning and pastoral support will be offered to your child if deemed necessary, and individual learning plans will be negotiated with you and your child. Strategies recommended by external clinicians will also be actioned to the best of each teacher’s ability within the classroom sphere.

In addition, a vibrant and popular Co Curricular programme is offered after school throughout the year allowing your child to sample different, and often, more challenging activities. All children from Pre Primary to Year 6 are encouraged to join in – there is something for everyone.

Purposeful Learning

The Junior School recognises that parents are the primary educators of their children; teachers assist in this important daily endeavour. At all stages, teachers welcome an atmosphere of open communication with families through meetings, phone calls, and diary comments. Concerns raised are dealt with promptly; transparency is imperative, outcomes are shared and confidentiality is respected. 

Personal self-discipline and character development underpin the values, standards and manners your child is taught at home; these can never be underestimated, and are supported strongly by the School. Engagement and focus are implicit requirements at all times so that sound learning is the outcome. 

Creativity and Innovation

Music concerts, Art exhibitions, poetry writing, cooking, textiles, woodwork, and digital technologies combined with 3D printing, plus many more hands-on projects, encourage creative reflection, exploration and action. Allowing children to have-a-go, to branch out, to experiment and to take a few wise risks under supervision, leads to confident entrepreneurs down the track. 

All children can take advantage of a range of wonderful opportunities that will give them the broadest possible perspective for future employment. This process starts in the Junior School.

Service to others

Your child will be encouraged to think beyond him or herself, and to consider contexts existing just beyond the School gates, or sometimes in other countries, that require expressions of compassion and empathy. Classroom inquiry projects often lead to stimulating actions initiated by the children: for example, the sponsorship of a rare species of animal at the Perth Zoo, the planting of trees in the local wetland area, the collection of well-loved toys as Christmas gifts for other boys and girls, cake stalls supporting children and teens with cancer, and the much larger project of raising thousands of dollars to build and help to grow a Junior School in one of the poorer areas of Bali. 

School Assemblies and Chapel services aid the understanding of our own needs, the needs of the world, and the needs of the environment. As a Junior School, we want to be involved in helping others and caring for our world. We know that even the youngest amongst us can help to make a positive difference.