We encourage our students to see learning as a lifelong process that will enrich their lives.
In this holistic framework, great academic care goes hand-in-hand with student wellbeing, spiritual development and physical growth.
As a school focused on the education of young men, we use research and experience about gender and learning to inform some of our practice. Engaging boys in the classroom, particularly in the challenging middle years of schooling, is a task for which we are uniquely suited. Our students are engaged in a range of traditional and more contemporary teaching and learning practices designed to develop skills needed for success in our global world.
For this reason, we believe that students must take responsibility for their learning if they are to be successful.
Key features of teaching and learning that will build independence in our learners include:
- Collaboration
- Self-reflection and goal-setting
- Future-focused feedback from teachers and peers
- Clear lesson objectives and criteria for success
- Explicit instruction and inquiry learning
Our teachers continually seek to improve their practice in order to achieve successful outcomes for our students. Teachers engage in regular professional learning, lesson observation and reflection of practice. This means that we can combine new and effective strategies with a clear understanding of what actually works in the classroom. Our students understand that we are truly a community of learners.
"As their learning progresses, our students have the opportunity to study across a range of faculties and to specialise their study in preparation for future careers."
Learning is also divided into specific stages that are accompanied by further specialisation, more specific career orientation, higher expectation and greater challenge.
Students’ learning experiences are organised across these faculties:
Stage 4 (Years 7 – 8)
Students study across all faculties, gaining broad and general experiences in a range of subject areas and general skills and understanding that they will need for their future.
Stage 5 (Years 9 – 10)
Students continue their core study in Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Human Society and Its Environment and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. They also choose two specific electives to study during Year 9 and Year 10. In this way, they begin specialising towards their future.
Stage 6 (Years 11 – 12)
Students continue their core study in Religious Education and English. However, they can choose to specialise in their own specific direction in their final two years. For some students, they will choose to prepare for University by engaging in a number of courses that enable them to gain an ATAR. Other students will choose to prepare for the workforce by supplementing their studies with Vocational Education and Training courses that enable them to gain workplace training and TAFE credentials at the same time as completing their HSC.
