Sunrise seeks to provide an excellent educational environment for Christian parents desiring a Biblical Christian education for their children. Another of our distinctives is that the criteria for every curriculum area, is evaluated in the light of Biblical teaching.

Sunrise approaches the eight areas of learning, as articulated by the Commonwealth Government, with the aim to successfully educate each student to achieve personal excellence and the attributes of a quality leader to help fulfil their God given destiny. They will be provided with the opportunity to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary for the transition to secondary and tertiary education and eventually the workforce.

At Sunrise, we believe that faith is for all of life. We do not teach ‘Bible’ or ‘Christian Studies’ as a separate subject. To do so is to imply that faith is separate to the rest of life. Each school day starts with a class devotion or an assembly of praise and encouragement. Each day presents moments to pray with the children. Every subject brings opportunities to draw attention to the character of God, or to expound the intricacies of his creation. Each day concludes with a reflection time and opportunities for thanksgiving. We encourage our teachers to be an extension of the home to make the most of those ‘teachable moments’ to train and reinforce right behaviour, to honour and glorify God, and to instil a healthy and rounded world view.

Sunrise recognises that a formal, consistent, teacher directed and cyclic programme, which incorporates the student’s individual creativity and learning style, should be followed for teaching to be effective. This also enables the keeping of objective and accurate records using standardised tests. Teachers adhere to a lesson allocation guide to ensure a well-rounded curriculum is presented and that all subject areas are allocated appropriate time.

English

At Sunrise the learning area of English is divided into seven categories – reading, literature, spelling, writing, listening, speaking and drama. Each category is a tool in which to learn about and appreciate the creative attributes of God.

The School has developed a language syllabus which provides the staff with expectations and ideas in the teaching of each language area.

Sunrise uses an intensive phonic approach to teach spelling, reading and comprehension. Our data indicates that there are a far greater proportion of students becoming fluent readers and confident spellers using this phonetic approach. Sight words and high frequency words are also included in the programme. In Junior Primary classes English is taught both as a whole class and in small groups.

Upper Primary spelling classes use the S.R.A. Spelling Mastery Programme while the S.R.A. Reading laboratories are used as a basis for teaching reading. The teaching of grammar is also intensive and focuses on the mechanics of the English language. It is a goal of our programme that the education offered at Sunrise is balanced; therefore, we use a variety of text both classic and contemporary.

Testing and assessing occurs through formal and informal means. The formal assessment includes standardised tests in Week 7 of Terms 2and 4, the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) at the Grade 4 and 6 Level and the Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (WALNA) in Grades 3, 5 and 7. The informal assessments are conducted as part of the requirements in the individual syllabuses in all grades.

Our English Programme includes support for children who have English as a second language. Care is taken to integrate these children into the classroom with some use of a specialist teacher and Learning Assistance Programme helpers to give one to one aid on a regular basis.