Footscray Primary School is a member of the Designated Bilingual School Program. We are active members of the Designated Bilingual Schools Principal and Teacher Networks and benefit greatly from the collaborative approach to resource sharing and knowledge building across this unique group of schools. 

'Bilingual education utilises two languages as means of instruction for students, providing them with the opportunity to learn curriculum content in, and through, both English and a target language...Schools in the Designated Bilingual Program offer strong models of bilingual education, leading to biliteracy learning in students that demonstrate high levels of sociocultural, linguistic, academic and cognitive outcomes. Language teachers who offer bilingual education are suitably qualified teachers with native or near native level of language proficiency able to deliver the Victorian curriculum in the target language.' (DET, 2020)

In 2021, we launched our Italian bilingual program commencing with Foundation and Year 1 students and continuing with each new Foundation cohort to progress towards a whole school program. Within the program, all students learn 50% of the full Victorian Curriculum in Italian language and 50% in English language. We invite prospective families to visit us for a tour to see the program in action and learn more about our approach to bilingual education. 

Footscray Primary School Website