Early learning and junior school
Early Years
The Early Years of Tagai State College provides students enrolled in Kindergarten to Year 3 with a supportive learning environment in which they begin to explore and learn.
Tagai State College is committed to every student achieving the essential literacy, numeracy, oral language and health skills fundamental to their development. To deliver on this commitment, our Early Years Curriculum is founded on the following:
- Knowledge of early childhood development.
- Building partnerships with students, families and communities.
- Establishing flexible learning environments.
- Creating engaging contexts for learning and skill development.
Attending Strait Start enables children to benefit from quality early learning experiences, by making new friends, improving their social, emotional, speech, language and physical skills and building a connection with the school along the way. Children can access Strait Start from 12 weeks of age, through to four years of age.
Tagai State College's Kindergarten programs are based on the Queensland kindergarten learning guideline which provides advice for planning, interacting with children, monitoring and assessing learning. Teachers engage children in active, language rich learning through play, real-life engagements, routines and transitions. Foundations for Success is a resource which acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' ways of knowing and being and supports the embedding of personal and cultural identities and connections with families and communities in the learning program.
Our Kindergarten programs further develop children's thinking and problem-solving skills as well as their language, social and creative capabilities. These skills form the foundations for engaging in the content of the Foundation – Year 2 requirements of the Australian Curriculum, supporting continuity of learning for children across Kindergarten to Year 2 and a successful transition to Prep.
In Kindergarten, children must be turning 4 years of age by June 30, in the year that they register. There is no opportunity for early entry into the Kindergarten program. Use the kindy calculator to see when your child can start Kindergarten.
English
Tagai State College has adopted the Simple View of Reading as the foundation of Tagai's Literacy System. The Simple View is a theoretical framework that was published by Gough and Turner in 1986 based on the premise that Reading Comprehension is the product of word recognition and language comprehension. At Tagai we use a Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) approach to reading, which teaches the relationship between the sounds of the letters and their written form. Letters and sounds are taught in a sequential order. We utilise the PLD resources to support the teaching of phonics. Students who are learning to read are still acquiring the code and require learning word recognition through decoding, using a systematic synthetics phonics approach. Students who are reading to learn have acquired the code required for PLD Stages 1-2 and the emphasis on teaching shifts to listening comprehension. All students engage in rich text lessons to teach listening comprehension and to build background knowledge.
The Tagai State College English Units have been specifically designed by the Tagai Teaching and Learning team to meet the specific needs of our students, teachers and context. The units and assessment tasks are genre and year level specific and aligned to the Australian Curriculum. The majority of Tagai State College students are learners of Standard Australian English (SAE) as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D). The Standard Australian English language is imperative for our students' achievement in literacy, numeracy and all curriculum areas. The Tagai English Units foreground how to teach the SAE language demands whilst supporting our students to access the curriculum.
Mathematics
At Tagai State College, our mathematics program is based on the Australian Curriculum and has been specifically designed to meet the unique needs of our students, teachers, and context. Portfolio assessment tasks are aligned to year level expectations and the Australian Curriculum, ensuring consistency and clarity. The program includes EAL/D considerations and addresses language demands to support students in accessing the mathematics curriculum. It also incorporates a conceptual thread that links concepts across multiple year levels, making it easier for teachers to plan, teach, differentiate, and assess student learning effectively.
Science
At Tagai State College, our science program is based on the Australian Curriculum, which covers each of the three strands – Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour, and Science Inquiry. The majority of primary classes across the college are made up of multi-age cohorts. To support this structure, the Tagai Science Units have been designed to incorporate science inquiry skills from each year level, with clear links across multiple year levels. This approach makes it easier for teachers to plan, teach, differentiate, and assess student learning in a cohesive and developmentally appropriate way.