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We educate the whole child

At Princes Hill Primary School, we believe in education for the whole child. Our approach is holistic recognising the context of family, home, and community in a child’s life.

We cater to the varied needs and passions, inquisitive endeavours, and creative expressions of up to 450 children from the surrounding neighbourhood.

Our experienced educators strive to constantly inspire and encourage the children to pursue their very best.

We believe in education for the whole child.”

School Kids playing cards game
Girl in Science Class

We educate for a changing world

The doors at Princes Hill opened in 1889, but our pedagogy is firmly positioned in the 21st century. We offer a rich educational program underpinned by the new Victorian Government Curriculum F-10, which aims to give students the skills they need for work and life:

  • English
  • mathematics
  • scientific knowledge and skills
  • resilience
  • respectful relationships
  • use of digital technologies
  • the arts, humanities and languages
  • health and physical education
  • the capacity for critical and creative thinking and expression.

More on our curriculum.

We seek to foster children’s creativity, social flexibility, initiative, and innate curiosity so that they may thrive in, and contribute to, an ever-changing world.

Girl in Science Class

We support children’s development in three important ways:

1. LIFELONG LEARNING

Our approach asks children to grow and call on creative, lateral and critical thinking, and to be able to use their skills regularly throughout life. Collaborative learning promotes technological literacy, teamwork, problem solving through discovery, and the independent use of critical and creative thinking, and ethical, intercultural, personal and social capabilities.

2. WELLBEING

Wellbeing is about young people feeling safe and motivated in their learning, and developing healthy lifestyles through positive social, emotional and physical choices. The hallmark of a safe school is whole school wellbeing. For us this means all members of our school community feel a sense of belonging, and are valued, respected and free from discrimination and harassment.

3. LITERACY AND NUMERACY

Literacy and numeracy competency are essential for living and learning in the real world. We offer meaningful contexts in which children can acquire these skills, and varied opportunities for them to make relevant connections to their new understandings and to apply their knowledge in new ways.

Our vision is to nurture in children a desire to learn throughout life and to develop the capacity to exercise judgement and responsibility in matters of morality, ethics and social justice.”

We strive for teaching excellence,
We live our values

Our values are … One community, Expanding possibilities,
and Strong and capable children.

We are passionate about fostering a learning culture that is visible, positive, and owned by children, teachers, and parents. We maintain strong connections between our values, our actions, and our emphasis on child wellbeing that supports children to feel safe, encouraged, and physically and emotionally secure to reach their full potential.

We also value productive, collaborative partnerships with our families. Understanding and trust between parents and teachers develops through clear, respectful dialogue and follow-up. We respect the shared investment we make in educating the whole child.

JOIN YOUR CHILD’S JOURNEY > Click to read how to get involved

One community

We all have a part to play in the life of our school and community. We are respectful and supportive, and we look for the good in those around us.

Expanding possibilities

We see, unlock and expand the potential in our children, in all its different forms, and we understand that knowledge can be expressed in different ways. We spark ideas, we wonder about possibilities, we problem solve, and we share exchanges.

Strong and capable children

Children are active citizens and they can influence the world around them. Our children are at the centre of everything we do, and we act in their best interests. We also value productive, collaborative partnerships with our families. Understanding and trust between parents and teachers develops through clear, respectful dialogue and follow-up. We respect the shared investment we make in educating the whole child.

School values pinned to wall

Our Mission and
Principles of Learning

Our mission is to partner with our students on their lifelong journey of learning and discovery, so they may participate meaningfully and purposefully in a world they are already helping to shape.

We do this by:

  • providing a solid foundation of fundamentals, while simultaneously developing the motivation and the skills to discover more
  • nurturing a desire in every child to question and wonder about the world around us and our place within it: the why, the how, the what if?
  • sparking a lifelong love of and commitment to wondering, learning and discovery—about self, community, and our world.

We describe our educational philosophy through a set of principles of learning, which helps to create an excellent and consistent teaching and learning environment:

  1. Children are active, important members of a variety of communities (e.g. family, school, ethnic cultures, multimedia and friendship groups). Their understanding of the world develops through these social and cultural interactions.
  2. We develop motives to learn through positioning ourselves within social situations.
  3. We learn through the unity of emotions and intellect.
  4. We learn through critical engagement in complex, purposeful contexts where relevant connections are made to our world.
  5. We learn through consciousness of thought where we reconfigure pre-existing understandings and concepts.
  6. We learn through active participation in the many forms of expression.