Advanced Learning

Primary

Our Primary Advanced Learning Centre (ALC) caters for students from Kindergarten to Year 6 who have demonstrated high academic achievement. The ALC provides enrichment and extension for these students through differentiated lessons and programs as they work at an advanced pace. This centre is also involved in several projects that extend students beyond classroom teaching, as students are equipped to study a wide range of subjects in great depth. These include studying notable people in society, creating and performing scientific research, studying Shakespearean plays and creating operating businesses.
Primary ALC students are also provided the opportunity to participate in mathematics and reading programs as well as a variety of competitions throughout the year with other students around the state and country.

High School

In High School we offer several pathways for students to be extended and enriched:

Our advanced learners are placed in the “A” class for each grade and are also given the opportunity to undertake Advanced Learning Projects (ALPs) in addition to other enrichment activities. These projects provide a very flexible approach to learning, allowing students to choose or design their own field of study and work one-on-one with a mentor to develop their skills in this area. The Advanced Learning Co-ordinator is also on hand to assist teachers with individual differentiation for certain students to excel the students at every level. Advanced students who are looking for an academic challenge may occasionally do HSC subjects ahead of their cohort. Gifted students are encouraged to apply to the Scientia Challenge run by GERRIC at UNSW. In addition, mentoring for gifted students is available and is pro-actively offered to students who benefit significantly from the individual assistance and advice.

Enrichment and Extension Opportunities exist for all students who may be interested in attempting challenging activities.

  • Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians – Enrichment Stage
  • Australian Brain Bee Challenge
  • Advanced Learning Projects (ALPs), student-designed or student-selected which require students to work on their own challenging projects over an extended period of time. Students submit a written component and present to a large audience of peers and parents at a special showcase open night at the end of the year. Past projects have designed a cake business, investigated the spine, learnt Spanish and one student composed and designed a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ musical!
  • Tournament of the Minds, a problem solving program for teams of students in Years 7-10 where they solve demanding and open-ended challenges.
  • Writing competitions such as the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry competition and the ‘What Matters’ competition run by the Whitlam Institute.
  • A Philosophy club in which selected students in Years 7 to 11 meet fortnightly to discuss various philosophy issues was run throughout the year.
  • National History Challenge
  • TAS Forensic Science Camp, a week-long camp held at the Armidale School where students engage in complex problems solving based on forensic science, learning specific scientific techniques and skills
  • Evatt Model United Nations competitions

Each year, High School students have the opportunity to enter:

  • The Australian Maths Trust Mathematics
  • UNSW Science competitions
  • The Australian Geography competition
  • The Australian History competition.

These are Australia-wide competitions that gives students the opportunity to try their skills at a challenging level.

C S Lewis Program

The CS Lewis Advanced Learning Program is a gifted withdrawal class for students in Years 7-10. Named after CS Lewis, a renowned Christian theologian and apologist known for engaging readers in stories containing deep theological and philosophical ideals, this program aims to develop critical thinking, research and problem solving skills in its students by providing them with a differentiated and challenging learning environment that goes beyond the curriculum.

Students utilise university content intended for postgraduate research to work on an extended research project, as well as exploring subjects such as psychology and cryptography. This is a popular program with many students seeking to remain in the program each year.

Expect great things

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