Junior School (Prep – Year 5)

Our Junior School is a warm, vibrant place where every child is nurtured to achieve their full potential.

We build on the incredibly important foundations laid by our Kindergarten experience. In addition to the social-emotional learning that has already occurred, we add a strong academic program. We have a deep understanding of the importance of childhood and all that it entails in terms of friends, exploration, fun, wonder and a thirst to learn.

We use neuroscience-informed, best practice teaching and learning strategies to teach students fundamentals that will serve them for the rest of their lives. Please see below for more information about our phonics-based literacy program SOLAR and our Writing Revolution integrated learning. We ensure students’ brains are challenged in developmentally responsive ways. We are proud of our strong academic foundation, focused on literacy and numeracy.

We believe in a holistic approach, therefore student wellbeing is emphasised alongside academic success. As has been said, teaching the head without teaching the heart is no education at all.

Prep and Beyond

We know that between the ages of 3 - 7 years old, children's brains are at their most malleable. Give your children a strong start at King David. Our small class sizes and emphasis on teaching best-practice ensure that every child is supported to be their best. Our Prep program instills a love of school with a strong emphasis on core numeracy and literacy skills. With a separate entrance, their own Orientation and dedicated junior toilet facilities, our Prep students are introduced to school with care.

See Prep and Beyond

Science of Language & Reading

The Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) is a evidence-based structured literacy program that teaches children how to read. Using phonics, we explicitly teach our students how to hear and read the 44 combinations of sounds in English. Vocabularly is developed through the rich texts that teachers use in the classroom, alongside explicit instructions and readers.

Find out more

Writing Revolution

This program takes a step-by-step approach to teaching students how to build sentences, paragraphs and whole texts.

The Writing Revolution teaches students how to revise and edit their own work. They are taught how to take notes, summarise, and how to create a coherent argument. These are skills students take with them through to VCE.

Creating smart & caring citizens

Our students are taught the importance of kindness and care alongside their academic work. For example, older students are paired with younger students to act as their 'buddies', helping them to navigate school life. Our Year 5 cohort are our student leaders, shaping our school through their Va'adot (committees), including environmental sustainability, news, tikkun olam (social justice) and tzedakah (charity). Embedded in everything we do is a love for Judaism, which we impart to our students through our key Jewish experiences and learning. Our aim is to create literate and proud Jews who have strong knowledge of history, customs and Jewish texts. We do this in a non-dogmatic way, helping all students find their connections with Judaism. We are proud to be a school that emphasizes the education of the whole person.

Jewish Life

From the celebration of chaggim (festivals) to the weekly celebration of Shabbat, King David moves to the rhythm of the Jewish calendar. Jewish Studies is taught through engaging programs combining formal classes and experiential education.

Recognising that our families are from diverse backgrounds, our focus is on providing meaningful and joyful Jewish experiences so that students can explore their own Jewish identity and understand how the traditions and rituals fit within their own family environment.

There are many opportunities or families to join in celebrations and milestone events and this builds on each student's sense of community and belonging.

Jewish values such as tikkun olam (repairing the world) are encouraged with social justice being one of the values of our school alongside inclusivity and egalitarianism.

Kibbutz David Hamelech

Healthy nutrition and understanding the process of 'seed to table' are two of the objectives of our Kibbutz program. Students have the opportunity to work together to tend part of our School garden and enjoy harvesting their own crops. This teaches our students perseverance and gives a sense of accomplishment to everyone involved in the process. Under the guidance of a qualified horticulturalist and the classroom teacher, our students plant, tend, reap and eat a range of fresh fruit and vegetables. Each student appreciates the process of plant and vegetable growth, not merely the shop bought product. Students have the opportunity to learn responsibility, commitment, compromise and other teamwork skills. It also immerses our students in Jewish culture and history, Hebrew and Science.

We grew parsley and picked it to use on our seder plate for Pesach.

I love digging in the dirt and seeing the wriggly worms!

We learnt the Hebrew words for all the vegetables. I loved digging out the potatoes.

Co-Curricular Programs

King David recognises it is our responsibility to educate the whole child. We have a comprehensive co-curricular program that broadens students’ learning experiences. With a wide range of co-curricular opportunities on offer, students are encouraged to explore their passions. Our before and after school sports programs, lunch time activities, leadership opportunities, participation in inter-school sporting competitions and extensive performing arts programs offer students an avenue for self-expression. These rich holistic learning opportunities available at The King David School provide a broad educational model that extends students to ensure that they develop habits that will see them enjoying a well-rounded life.

Co-Curricular Information

I love the Lego club on Friday lunchtime! We make cool vehicles and buildings together.

At first I was nervous about the drama production but in the end I loved the feeling on stage.

I love playing footy with kids in other year levels in before school sport.