Specialist Subjects

Specialist Subjects

Waikiki Primary School is fortunate to have dedicated specialist staff who provide weekly lessons in the curriculum areas of:

Music:

The Waikiki Primary School Music program is led by passionate music educator, Mrs Kate Cullinane. Students are exposed to a dynamic and rich West Australian Music Curriculum experience that is engaging and fun.

Students are encouraged to meet their creative and expressive potential by making music through singing, moving and playing classroom percussion instruments, ukulele and contemporary band instruments. Waikiki Primary School uses the Musical Futures approach across all year levels.

Musical Futures is a learner-led approach to the teaching and learning of music that promotes innovation, creativity, inclusion, diversity and lots and lots of music-making. We lead the world in the development of accessible, engaging and relevant music programs

Students not only express themselves musically but respond to the music of others in various settings. Students draw upon their own cultural traditions and experiences to learn about those of others. Learning through the arts at Waikiki encourages students to understand themselves and the world around them in a meaningful and culturally respectful way with regular links to Rockingham’s and Australia’s indigenous heritage.

  • Choir

Our choir meets each week on Wednesday mornings before school. It is available for students in years 4 – 6. There is no audition, but students need to sign a commitment to participate for the whole year.

Choir performances are organised throughout the year and involve a combination of school and community based events. Some of these performances are out of school hours and during weekends / school holidays.

  • IMSS

One of the unique and highly regarded programs for students in public schools is the instrumental music program run in schools through the Department of Education’s Instrumental Music School Services.

Selection into this program is based on musical aptitude testing and other criteria. If your child is selected, this outstanding program will take your child’s love of music to the next level. They will receive free instrumental tuition and the opportunity to participate in a range of music enrichment activities.

At Waikiki Primary School, we offer lessons in classical guitar to selected students in Years 5 & 6. The selection process takes place towards the end of Year 4, with selected students expected to participate in the programme throughout their time at Waikiki Primary School and into high school if they are going to one of our feeder high schools (Safety Bay SHS, Rockingham SHS and Warnbro SHS).

   

Physical Education:

The Physical Education Program at Waikiki Primary School develops our students’ skills through explicit teaching (using the Waikiki Approach) and the implementation of these skills and strategies through a range of activities and games.

Our Junior Program (PP-Year 3) focuses on the engagement in and enjoyment of regular movement-based learning experiences. Our students are assessed on fundamental movement skills including running, jumping, balancing, rolling, leaping, dodging, skipping, bouncing, throwing, catching, kicking and striking. Students are then encouraged to further develop these skills whilst they identify rules and fair play when participating in a range of competitive and noncompetitive physical activities, sports and games.

Our Senior Program (Year 4-6) further develops these fundamental movement skills in a range of specialised games and sports. This provides the opportunity to participate positively in groups and teams, encouraging others and negotiating roles. Students are assessed on the skills during game play and how they develop their game sense by applying critical and creative thinking processes in order to demonstrate ethical behaviour and fair play that aligns with rules. The Senior Program also included the introduction of the SEPEP Program which allows the students to take over their learning through coaching, managing and umpiring games.

Waikiki Primary also organises our own Faction Athletics and Cross Country Carnivals. These events are an opportunity for our students to develop school pride and enthusiasm with all students and year levels participating and cheering each other on.

We were proud to offer our students the ability to participate in an extra 40 minutes of physical activity each week through the implementation of our Before School Clubs Program. Students across all year levels are invited to explore their skills whilst engaging in different activities including; running, skipping, frisbee, juggling, soccer, AFL and basketball for 10 minutes before the school day starts. Waikiki is proud to have purchased new sports equipment through successful grant applications to support these activities.

Science:

At Waikiki Primary School, Science is taught as a specialist subject with children in kindergarten to Year 6.

All students are exposed to a wide range of hands-on and engaging science activities in the purpose built, well resourced, Science Room for one hour per week.

In line with the West Australian Curriculum, Science is taught across three interrelated strands: Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills.

The Science Understanding strand is comprised of four sub-strands: Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth and Space Sciences. Each Term, we focus our planning, teaching and assessment on one of the four sub-strands.

Throughout the whole year Science Inquiry Skills are explicitly taught using the Waikiki approach, while also fostering an enjoyment of scientific investigation. In Lower school all students complete a range of hands on activities that will assist them to learn how to predict, conduct a fair test, gather and represent their data and communicate their findings. In Upper school, all students review how to scientifically plan an investigation, how to use a wide range of equipment to collect valid and accurate data, to present the data appropriately in tables and graphs and how to analyse the data to find the answer.

Waikiki Primary School is a part of the Peron North Science Network which consists of a group of committed primary school teachers from across the Rockingham area. They work together to plan for strong science outcomes and achievement across the network and meet each term.

Throughout the year students across the school are encouraged to participate in a number of different activities including Gardening Club, The Science Fair and Science Week, which gives them the opportunity to relate the Science they learn to their daily lives.

L.O.T.E:

At Waikiki Primary School our specialist language program is Indonesian and is taught by our specialist language teacher, Ibu Marianne da Cruz. Students from Year 2 to Year 6 engage in Indonesian lessons for one hour per week using the KETAWA online Indonesian Language learning program produced by the Department of Education WA. The program is designed for students in Western Australia and is aligned to the Western Australian Languages – Indonesian curriculum.

The WA Languages – Indonesian curriculum allows our students to develop communication skills in the Indonesian language, an understanding of the role of language and culture in communication and a capability for reflection on language use and language learning.

 

Students learning a second language in primary school benefit from a deeper understanding of their first language plus an increase in memory and brain function. It also helps them to explore and recognise their own cultural identities as they come to understand those of the language being learnt. Learning a language enhances literacy skills, helps develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, fosters respect and understanding of other cultures and has been found to improve the overall performance at school. Learning to communicate in another language challenges children to discover more about how other people live, and opens their mind up to different cultures and ways of life.

 

Design & Digital Technologies

At Waikiki Primary School, design and digital technology is taught as a specialist subject with children in kindergarten to Year 6.

All students are exposed to a wide range of hands-on and engaging activities, projects and the theatrical knowledge required.

In line with the West Australian Curriculum, students explore technologies, including its purpose and how technologies meet personal and social needs.

Students examine the characteristics and properties of some technologies from one of the technologies contexts:

Engineering principles and systems Food and fibre production Food specialisations Materials and technologies specialisations.