Department of Education - Victoria

We provide a dynamic learning environment that engages and inspires students to achieve their personal best in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation. We continually improve procedures and practices at Toorak Primary School so that every child has the opportunity to succeed.

The buildings and grounds at Toorak Primary School have been fully refurbished to provide an attractive, inviting learning environment for all students. Wider community members also utilise the array of facilities on offer at Toorak Primary School. Our inner-city school has an enrolment of approximately 440 students with 18 classes. Single levels operate across the school from foundation through to grade 6 where possible.  Four specialist classes including French, Physical Education, Music and Visual and Performing Arts are offered to all students throughout the year. Other languages available at Toorak Primary School include German and Swedish through external providers. As part of the Performing and Visual Arts Programs, a school production is staged every second year with a musical production, alternating with a school Art Show. 

Teaching at Toorak Primary School is grounded in educational research and cognitive science. We ensure that students make the most of their time on task by maximizing the quality of each learning moment. Our approach focuses on building each learner's brain through explicit direct instruction, repetition, teacher fidelity, and purposeful engagement. Committed to evidence-based decision-making, TPS draws on Rosenshine's research to design and map our curriculum, select effective instructional strategies, and structure lessons with precision.

We employ explicit teaching, delivering new material in manageable steps, along with guided practice, teacher modelling, questioning, and review and retrieval practices. These are whole-school strategies that ensure all students make steady progress in their learning journey.

Our reading instruction is comprehensive, acknowledging that teaching reading goes beyond phonics. It is supported by phonological awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary development, and comprehension, ensuring that our curriculum fosters student fluency in all essential components.

At TPS, instructional routines are crucial. We prioritize teaching first, reducing cognitive load, providing ample opportunities for practice, and focusing on efficient and effective learning. As educators, we recognize that knowledge stored in long-term memory is active and can be applied flexibly and effortlessly across a range of contexts. At TPS, knowledge is what students think with. With this in mind, we are dedicated to a knowledge-rich curriculum, ensuring that foundational, enabling, and problem-solving knowledge is strategically developed as students progress through each stage of their education.

Our professional learning program is designed to build professional practice, knowledge, capacity and understanding of curriculum. We recognise that teaching is an incredibly complex profession and that to meet the needs of students, we require ongoing opportunities for practice improvement. At Toorak Primary School, we are also committed to developing a strong and vibrant professional learning culture, where all teachers are given the opportunity to learn and grow together. Built on a foundation of trust, our teachers have opportunities to observe and coach one another, with the view to provide the best possible education for a diverse student community.

Our school's Behaviour Management approach is based on the School Wide Positive Behaviour framework and Restorative Practices.

School Tours can be arranged upon request, and more information can be found by visiting our website: http://www.toorakps.vic.edu.au/ or by contacting the school on the following: email toorak.ps@education.vic.gov.au or on 98272959

The successful applicant needs to exemplify the DET values and the school's values of respect, kindness, responsibility, honesty and friendship, and be prepared to be actively involved in a supportive and growth mindset culture.

 

SC1    Demonstrated knowledge of the relevant curriculum, including the capacity to incorporate the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills. Demonstrated capacity to respond to student learning needs.

SC2    Demonstrated capacity to implement high impact teaching strategies, guided by how students learn, and evaluate the impact of learning and teaching programs on student learning growth. 

SC3    Demonstrated capacity to monitor and assess student learning. Demonstrated capacity to use data to inform teaching practice and to provide feedback on student learning growth and achievement to students and parents.

SC4    Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated capacity to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the broader school community to support student learning, wellbeing and engagement.    

SC5    Demonstrated behaviours and attitudes consistent with Department values. Demonstrated capacity to reflect upon practice and engage in professional learning to continually improve the quality of teaching.