Buderim Mountain State School is a large primary school with over 1,000 students. To ensure we meet the needs of all of our students as individuals, and to prepare them as best we can for their futures, we are proud to offer a diverse range of excellence and extension programs within the school.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
Buderim Mountain State School has implemented a school STEM program, as part of the Technologies Australian Curriculum. This provides an opportunity for even our youngest children to delve into subject matters that will play a significant role in their future education and lives. Research suggests that a large percentage of our student population will work in occupations that require STEM related skills.
Over the course of the year, all students from Prep to Year 6 participate in STEM lessons – focusing on both Digital and Design Technologies. Throughout each term all students have access to 5 hours of STEM lessons. During these specialist lessons students learn to:
Digital Technologies:
- Build, design and/or code robots (using block coding for their algorithms)
- Lego Spikes, Lego EV3s, Lego Wedos, Spheros, Ozobots, Blue Bots
- Code using block coding
- Scratch Junior and Scratch (Prep and Year 3)
- Makeymakeys (Year 6)
- Drones (Year 5)
Each class also takes part in Design Challenges each year – focusing on the following
Design Technologies:
- Students follow the design process – Investigate, Generate, Produce, Evaluate, Collaborate and Reflect
- Focus on Repurposing, Reusing and Recycling materials where possible from our Makerspace
Robotics club is also provided throughout the year – Semester 1 (Years 5 and 6) And Semester 2 (Year 4). During their weekly sessions the students learn and develop their coding with the focus on getting ready to compete in a local competition throughout the year:
- RoboRave (Term 3)
- First Lego League (Terms 3 and 4)
Language Studies
As part of the Australian Curriculum: Languages, Buderim Mountain State School students learn Japanese from a specialised teacher. Students from Years 5-6 attend the lessons for 1 hour per week.
Extension Programs
Buderim Mountain State School ensures we meet the needs of all our students as individuals, and we aim to prepare all students the best way possible for their futures. To help achieve this, we are proud to offer a diverse range of excellence and extension programs within our school. To extend the capabilities of students recognised as learning above and beyond their current year curriculum, and to connect them with likeminded students, we currently offer three extension programs. Solid Pathways, planned and delivered online by the Department of Education is a program for our high achieving First Nations Students, while our Aspire excellence programs, which are planned and delivered by our teachers, provide an opportunity for our students to explore the curriculum at their level. All three of these programs are supplementary to the differentiation offered in our classroom lessons and occur during school hours.
AspireOur extension program known as Aspire, enriches and extends the curriculum being delivered by the classroom teacher. Throughout the school year, we offer learning program for English and Mathematics for students in Prep - Year 6, facilitated and delivered by an experienced enrichment teacher. The extension program your child will be engaged in during this time will provide them with the opportunity to work with like-minded students, immersing them in challenging and inspirational learning experiences, related to their current units of classroom work. Selection into these programs is through A-E achievement as well as additional assessments.
Aspire+
Selected students with high potential and exceptional academic ability will have the opportunity to engage in a learning environment that is intellectually stimulating and rigorous. Aspire+ fosters advanced analytical, critical and creative thinking skills, enabling students to work on an individual curriculum plan in selected learning areas. Different year level curriculum is planned and co-ordinated by an experienced Aspire+ teacher, in consultation with the classroom teacher and our Head of Curriculum. Individual student needs are identified through learning and assessment data as well as additional identification processes.
Solid Pathways
Solid Pathways is an academic extension program for high achieving First Nations students in Years 4-6. Selected students participate in weekly online lessons aligned to the Australian Curriculum with a focus on critical and creative thinking, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture.