St Andrew’s Cathedral School

SACS Learning Profile

At St Andrew’s we strive to develop young people spiritually, socially, intellectually and physically within a learning community that respects the individual by acting with integrity and justice in conformity with the teachings of Jesus Christ. This Learning Profile provides a blueprint for students, staff and parents. These collaborative partnerships provide the foundations of a dynamic School community that nurtures passionate learners preparing to meet the world and the unknown future.

This Learning Profile places the focus on the characteristics and outcomes of quality learning, and also provides a clear expression of the School’s approach to curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, reporting and evaluation strategies. The Learning Profile states clearly the characteristics of a learner that are valued, nurtured, supported and developed while in our care at St Andrew’s. As a leading Anglican School we occupy a unique City location and we pride ourselves on our inclusive demographic. The diverse social, pastoral and intellectual needs of our students are acknowledged in the Learning Profile and help to highlight the working relationships that provide the special character and ethos of learning at St Andrew’s.

The SACS Learning Profile is a cross-curriculum Kindergarten to Year 12 matrix that focuses our attention and efforts on our core business - quality learning in the daily classroom across the whole School within the framework of a Christian worldview. Consequently, the structure that has been adopted in identifying the learning characteristics reflects a developmental and hierarchical approach. The learning behaviours are those we would observe within our classrooms as indicators of quality learning by the students.

The Learning Profile relies on establishing routines that create supportive behaviours at the following levels:

Foundational
Basic
Mature Higher Order Thinking

Each of these Profiles is based on the five Es Learning Cycle outlined below (adapted from Bybee, R.W. et al., 1989):

Engage	Object, event or question used to engage students. Connections facilitated between what students know and can do.
Explore	Objects and phenomena are explored. Hands-on activities, with guidance.
Explain	Students explain their understanding of concepts and processes. New concepts and skills are introduced as conceptual clarity and cohesion are sought.
Elaborate	Activities allow students to apply concepts in contexts, and build on or extend understanding and skill.
Evaluate	Students assess their knowledge, skills and abilities. Activities permit evaluation of student development and lesson effectiveness.

(http://faculty.mwsu.edu/west/maryann.coe/coe/inquire/inquiry.htm)

If we are to develop learners with these characteristics and habits of mind then we need to build a developmental model based on the identified elements of these behaviours. The Foundational Profile provides this basis through applying daily School and classroom routines and is crucial to the subsequent learning behaviours in our hierarchical model. The Basic Profile illustrates the behaviours that learners display as they develop and mature. The Mature Higher Order Thinking Profile identifies behaviours towards the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy hierarchy and the characteristics of the IB Learner Profile.

Naturally, as we start to address student learning and identify observable classroom behaviours the actions of the teacher come into play. The catalytic role of the classroom teacher is universally acknowledged and so a Teaching Profile is being designed to complement and support the Learning Profile. It will be based on the pedagogical practices identified in the seven elements of the NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards. In this Profile these identified best pedagogical practices will also be aligned to the five Es Learning Cycle so that we focus then support our actions as facilitators of quality learning.

Click here to view the the SACS Learning Profile Matrix.