St Joseph’s Primary School learning support trainee Monica Ingram, Year 3/4 teacher Amy Eade, Prep/1 teacher Eliza McNamara and Year 3/4 teacher Lauren Sortino.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Schools across the Catholic Education Sandhurst diocese officially launched Magnify Sandhurst on Tuesday, January 28.
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Among the schools integrating the new teaching and learning program is St Joseph’s Primary School, Rochester, where staff marked the occasion with a morning tea.
Principal Liz Trewick was ready to bring Magnify Sandhurst to students, with the school spending months preparing staff for the changes.
“Magnify Sandhurst is about promoting outstanding learning,” she said.
“It’s explicit and evidence-based.”
The program looks to emphasise how teachers teach, rather than what they teach through structured, pre-planned lessons.
Catholic Education Sandhurst executive director Kate Fogarty is confident that students and teachers will benefit from the new program.
“Magnify Sandhurst is set to transform learning for students with more specific and explicit teaching practices, bringing greater consistency and a more predictable and effective educational experience for all students,” she said.
“The Magnify Sandhurst program combines evidence-based practices in teaching and learning to support each student’s unique needs, strengths and goals, focusing on strengthening core areas like literacy and numeracy, building supportive classroom environments and integrating Catholic values in daily learning.
“One of the key goals of the Magnify Sandhurst approach is to ease the workload of teachers, allowing them to focus more on how they teach rather than what they teach.
“By following a well-structured, sequential curriculum, teachers will work together to deliver the best possible education.”
St Joseph’s teaching staff with their new kits.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
St Joseph’s classroom teacher Amy Eade was excited to implement the program when students returned on Thursday, January 30.
“I think everyone’s going to be on the same page,” she said.
“We can focus on how we’re teaching it, not what we’re teaching, making sure we’re really getting deep into their knowledge.”
The school has already been integrating a similar model with an explicit learning focus, including resources from Jocelyn Seamer Education.
Miss Eade believes this will contribute to a smooth transition to Magnify Sandhurst, particularly for students.
“I don’t think the kids are going to notice a huge difference because we already moved to that,” she said.
“That’s really helped us and I think it’s set us up for success there.”
Mrs Trewick marked the Magnify Sandhurst launch with kits for teachers to use as they fully integrate the new teaching style into classrooms.
These included a wireless clicker for screens, a Magnify Sandhurst notebook and a pen inscribed with a reminder to ‘magnify every day’.
Schools from the diocese also joined a live launch with the Catholic Education Sandhurst team, along with some of the organisations that are contributing to the new program.
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