Curriculum
The new Dandenong High School offers students a broader and larger variety of subjects that will enhance career pathways and further study. The curriculum is a very distinctive and unique one, which has been progressively devised by staff and key professionals for the past 5 years. It was only once the curriculum was finalised did the architectural work begin - thus, the curriculum drove the design. Dandenong High School adopted a Mode 2 approach to teaching and learning, and will have a team of teachers delivering the curriculum to students. Dandenong High School has opted for 'collaborative learning', which has been used successfully overseas, so that it can be at the forefront of educational revolutions in Victoria. The school offers VCE, VCAL and VET study options, with at least 66 VCE subjects for students to choose from.
Dandenong High School has also developed a Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program over the years. The Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program (SEAL Program) was created to better enforce the needs of students who show above-average capabilities, high levels of task commitment and imagination. This program has become an integral aspect of the school's culture and academic excellence since 1919. Acceleration allows students to start a unit of work earlier, or to move through a program faster than other students of the same age. The integration of enrichment and acceleration is the stepping stone for abstract concepts to be taught to highly capable students.
Every year in May, a detailed examination schedule is utilised to choose 50 talented Year 6 students to join the SEAL Program in the upcoming year. Tests are used and information is collated in many ways, including advice from the applicants' teachers and parents. As 50 students are enrolled into the program at each year level, they make up one full House of one year level. Entry into the Program is in Year 7, however, limited places may be available in later year levels. The Program now does not involve skipping a year level, but gives students the opportunity to complete a 3 year VCE. Students can take up higher level subjects than the mainstream students.
In 2012, students from 7 Eucalyptus, 8 Fern, 9 Grevillea and 10 Banksia are in the Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program.
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Famous quotes containing the word curriculum:
“If we focus exclusively on teaching our children to read, write, spell, and count in their first years of life, we turn our homes into extensions of school and turn bringing up a child into an exercise in curriculum development. We should be parents first and teachers of academic skills second.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)