Our Pedagogy
We will deliver the NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum. Your child will engage in the same learning content as most other students in NSW. What's different about Green Mountain Community School is how and why your child is offered learning opportunities and the community that surrounds them as they thrive.
Our educational approach equips students with skills and knowledge in the 7Rs - Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, Resilience, Relationships, Respect and Reflection. Literacy and numeracy is taught through explicit guided and independent learning tasks offered at the child's individual pace within an inclusive culture of non-comparison. Our skills-based teaching and learning program is driven by children's interests and their natural curiosity, enabling classes to collaboratively discover a range of local perspectives and put learning into real-world action.
We will utilise evidence-based pedagogies to ensure your child receives a holistic education that encompasses their whole ecology - place, culture, family, head, heart and hands. Indigenous communities have known for thousands of years that children learn better on the land than in a box. First Nation pedagogies, such as embodied discovery, learning through movement, story and place-based exploration, enable our children to develop environmental stewardship and social-emotional awareness.
Your child's learning is supported by community members, such as artists and environmentalists, as well as their teacher.
Our educators receive specialist training in nature-immersion teaching and learning practices from nationally recognised leaders in this field, and are accredited through the NSW Association of Independent Schools.
Educational philosophers that inform our pedagogy:
First Nation Peoples Traditional pedagogies, Nature Immersion, Bush School, Permaculture - learning through observation, movement, story, on Country and in community with a long-term outlook
Rudolf Steiner Waldorf approach - learning through holistic integration of spiritual, intellectual, artistic and practical skills
Lev Vygotsky Constructivist approach - learning at the child’s pace with considered scaffolding and companionship by someone who has mastered the task (peer or adult)
Maria Montessori Whole child approach - learning within a considered, prepared environments that reflect psychological and social development phases
Loris Malaguzzi Reggio Emilia approach - learning through self-direction, experimentation, community and expression
Ken Robinson Imagination and Innovation - learning through a diverse and individualised curriculum which awakens curiosity within an organic system that includes high quality teacher training and development
Tonia Gray Wilderness education + 7Rs - learning in wholeness about Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, Resilience, Relationships, Respect and Reflection
Pasi Sahlberg Let the children play - learning through experimentation, exploration and discovery