As students move through our Primary School (R-6) we seek to meet the needs of each stage of their development with relational warmth and professional excellence.

Inspiring Curiosity

Our early years classrooms (R-2) draw inspiration from the Reggio Emilia educational approach, which highlights children’s exploration of their environment as competent and curious individuals, and the shared learning that can occur between students, teachers, families, and the wider community.

Teachers throughout the Primary School aim to bring an engaging, responsive, and inspiring learning experience to our students. They are intentional about the objects, sounds, systems and atmosphere they bring to their classrooms; maintaining a safe, comfortable, and welcoming environment that promotes effective learning.

Growing as Learners

At Cedar, student agency is valued and students are invited to help shape their learning in a range of ways. From Reception through to Year 6, students are guided in their growth across seven key learner qualities: Collaboration, Communication, Self-Management, Reflection, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Inquiry.

The application of these qualities looks different at each stage of a student’s development. Our teachers focus on age-appropriate expressions of the seven qualities at each year level, with every student developing an expanding set of skills and behaviours as they move through the primary school. These qualities help students become active participants in the learning process. As they develop these qualities, students learn to communicate clearly with teachers and peers and become self-reflective and aware of what they need to help them succeed. Students are encouraged to participate in setting meaningful and realistic learning goals as they grow in confidence with this skill set.

Building Skills for Life

We understand that as students learn and grow together some relational issues are bound to surface. At Cedar, we take a proactive approach to coaching students through the complexities of social interaction through the ‘What’s the Buzz’ social skills program. We also directly promote the five life skills as students are encouraged to be helpful, careful, patient, responsible and respectful. Whenever friction occurs, these moments contain valuable learning opportunities for all involved. We are guided by the principles of restorative practice in re-establishing a respectful and inclusive learning environment.