Specialist programs

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)

Have you ever wondered about the study of human behaviour and interaction in social, cultural, environmental, economic and political contexts? Well, that’s what the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) are all about! 

HASS covers a variety of areas including history, geography, civics and citizenship, and business and economics. 

Through studying HASS, students develop important skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, decision-making, and adaptability. HASS subjects provide a broad understanding of the world and how people can actively participate as informed citizens.

HASS allows students to explore their personal worlds, including their family histories and the places they belong to. By focusing on their own history and place, students can gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their communities. The exploration of our system of government and different countries around the world, allows students to also view themselves as global citizens and make a difference for all.

Health and PE

At Swallowcliffe School P-6 we recognise Health and PE as an integral and highly valued part of the Australian Curriculum we teach.  Health and PE teaches students how to enhance their own health, safety and wellbeing.  We aim to empower students to develop the knowledge and skills to strengthen their sense of self, build and manage positive relationships and to help in the acquisition of movement skills which will enable them to participate in a range of physical activities.

Healthy, active living benefits individuals and society in many ways. As a result, we help foster a life-long love for sports by offering students the opportunity to participate in various SAPSASA events, our Saturday morning school football teams as well as PE lessons.  These opportunities help students learn about and practise team-work, develop a sense of fair play and sportsmanship, as well as simply having fun with their friends.

Through teaching Health and PE, we aim to help our students become resilient and to make healthy lifestyle decisions, which they will benefit from through their entire life.

Design and Technology

Design and Technology and Digital Technology lessons at Swallowcliffe are aimed to be fun, practical and exciting ways to learn life skills. From using robots to develop programming skills to using our 3d printers for crafting tools and toys, we seek to learn how to solve problems and design solutions to improve our lives and solve real world problems.

While Digital Literacy is a General Capability in the Australian Curriculum – meaning that it is imbedded into every lesson when appropriate – Digital Technology also helps us understand the how and why of all the electronic devices that are required in day to day life and work. Even better, a large focus of the Digital Curriculum is on logical problem solving, planning and design. These life skills are valuable with or without computers. We learn programming, digital safety, application usage and a wide variety of other Digital skills as part of our lessons.

Design and Technology lessons do focus fairly heavily on the Engineering and Materials section of the Design Curriculum. We start with learning hands on basic skills, cutting and shaping and making to turn our imagined solutions into reality, then increase the complexity as skills improve. As we move on from simple cardboard designs and sketched pictures we culminate in combining electronics and 3d printed models to create simple tools and devices.