Years 5-6

Years 5-6

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Thamarrurr Catholic College has a pedagogical approach that is tailored to our students’ needs as Murrinhpatha speaking Aboriginal students in Wadeye and English as Additional Language learners. Our Upper Primary program has been developed in line with the Northern Territory Indigenous Languages and Cultures Curriculum (Band 3) and the Australian Curriculum (V9).

In Years 5 and 6, the main language of instruction is English and our students continue to develop literacy skills in both languages. Dynamic teaching teams consist of local Murrinhpatha teachers, non-local English teachers and local Murrinhpatha speaking Assistant Teachers who have deep knowledge of local culture, families and the students’ learning context.

Teaching teams deliver the InitiaLit program for English literacy instruction in Years 5 and 6, along with Shared Reading and Shared Writing practices within the Literacy Block. InitialLit is an evidence-based whole-class literacy program focused on teaching essential knowledge for Reading and Writing, focussed largely with a clear focus on synthetic phonics (breaking words into sounds).

Our Murrinhpatha language and culture program for Years 5 and 6 aims to deepen our students’ knowledge of kinship, dreaming sites and stories, country, being ‘on country’, environmental features and cultural practices. 

Our teaching teams provide an engaging and rich curriculum that covers Mathematics, Health and Social Sciences, Science, Religion, Health and Physical Education and the Arts through integrated learning experiences.