The college offers all key learning areas from the F-10 Australian Curriculum:
· English
· Mathematics
· Religious Education
· Science
· Humanities and Social Sciences - History, Geography
· Languages- Japanese
· Technologies - Design and Technology- Materials (Workshop), Design and Technology- Food Studies
· Health and Physical Education
· The Arts - Visual Art, Music
The curriculum is supplemented with the inclusion of the following features:
1. Research based Pedagogy engages the most pertinent, age appropriate teaching strategies to allow students to achieve success, creating focused goals in their learning while knowing explicitly how to achieve these goals. A teaching pedagogy that centrally focuses on relationships allows teachers to know their students individually, their learning style, how to support them and how to identify, nurture and develop their individual strengths.
2. Genius Hour- each week, students will have the opportunity to explore and engage with a subject of their own choice, following a passion that they wish to investigate. Students will be supervised and work through an inquiry process involving finding and assessing appropriate resources, interpreting the information and then presenting their findings to an audience. Throughout this process students will receive feedback and advice from their peers, again a process that will be explicitly taught to students. It is designed to give students some autonomy in their learning, to look at an area that they would not ordinarily explore and report their findings or outcomes to others and just to have fun. There will be a Genius Hour Night of Celebrations where parents can see the results of their explorations.
3. Design Thinking- Design thinking involves a creative solution to a problem and involves an understanding the problem, ideation, prototype, testing and presenting phases. These processes help develop the 21st century skills of critical and creative thinking, collaboration, teamwork and effective communication. These skills continue to be highly sought after by employers of the future, no matter what the occupation. Where possible, subjects will be taught in an interdisciplinary approach, so that students can see the connectivity between subjects in real world contexts.
4. Student Wellbeing Programs- The college is introducing The Resilience Project into the curriculum as part of the explicit lessons in their Pastoral Care lessons. This program focusses on the appreciation and teaching of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. This program has been evaluated by the University of Melbourne and has found to increase student happiness, engagement with their learning and reduced anxiety and depression.
5. IT Resourcing- mobile interactive whiteboard TVs allow devices to project onto mobile screens. This allows for the dynamic, flexible delivery of curriculum and the capacity for students to project and critically debate their work electronically with others. Cordless connectivity to projector screens allows teachers to move around the classroom and not be tied to the front of the classroom for lesson delivery.
Students will be issued with their college laptop, which they will be responsible to look after for Years 7-9, before a replacement is issued for Years 10-12. This is a college managed device for educational purposes and students will be taught to use technology appropriately for a given purpose. At the same time written skills are explicitly taught and developed across the curriculum.
6. Contemplation and Reflection time
Reflection and contemplation allows students to go inside themselves and be calm and still, to reflect and think about their words and actions through the day and open their hearts and minds to the presence of God directly and in all creation. It is a way to address how we perceive the world in a positive way and to allow ourselves to slow down and be still in the busyness of a school day for a short period of time. It links with the Franciscan charism of connecting with God through prayer, of being still and calm for periods of time, as well as the meditation and mindfulness of The Resilience Project. When students are calm and clear headed, great learning can take place.
7. Teaching environments reflecting age appropriate developmental needs of adolescents.
Learning Spaces are collaborative, creative, dynamic and flexible. Soft furnishings and furniture at various height levels allows for students to stand, sit, work around a shared table with writeable desktops, move between stations, work independently and collaborate in booths. The diversity of learning spaces acknowledges that students learn uniquely with a variety of learning styles and recognizes learning is not done in complete silence, in rows of desks with a teacher standing at the front of the classroom.