Curriculum

Genazzano is structured according to developmental stages of student learning:

• Early Years (Prep-Year 4),
• Middle Years (Years 5-8),
• Later Years (Years 9 and 10) and
• VCE Years (Years 11 and 12)

Through this structure we offer an enriching and engaging curriculum designed to meet the developmental needs of students in line with different learning needs along the P-12 continuum.

The curriculum is based on a model that supports both the academic and pastoral needs of our students and is informed by a number of key documents including the College Vision and Mission Statement, Teaching and Learning Charter, Victorian Essential Learning Standards framework and VCAA study designs and assessment guides.

Early Years Handbook

The Early Years provide a learning environment that encourages best effort, is supportive of individual differences and is alive with enthusiasm and activity. Staff encourage students to assert their independence, use initiative, make decisions and to believe in themselves.

The curriculum for the Early Years learner is comprised of instruction in Religious Education, English (Literacy) and Mathematics (Numeracy), Integrated Studies and specialist classes in Physical Education, Italian, Music, Literature and Information Literacy and Visual Arts. Emphasis is placed on the development of fundamental literacy and numeracy skills.

Middle Years Handbook

The Middle Years encompass the needs of both primary and secondary students, and therefore embody the richness and diversity of two distinct pedagogies. Year 5 and 6 classes offer a combination of separately taught specialist subjects in LOTE, the Arts, Science and Physical Education. Homeroom teachers offer an integrated curriculum in the other subjects, with one or more Key Learning Areas acting as host or co-host for a subject for the term.

In Years 7 and 8, we adopt a more traditional secondary format of offering separate subjects taught by specialists.

Learning and teaching activities include negotiated curriculum, differentiated learning, creative thinking, multiple intelligences, critical thinking and collaborative learning. There is an emphasis on peer relationships and active involvement, with classrooms set up in clusters to facilitate this interaction.

YEAR 9 – Making Connections

A special program called Making Connections tailored for the special developmental and learning needs of Year 9 girls complements and enhances the curriculum at this level. Aspects of the Making Connections Year 9 program include:

• An inter-disciplinary approach to learning
• Immersion days
• Extending opportunities for student choice

These inclusions to the program aim to assist students to understand themselves better as learners and to understand their place within their immediate and wider community.  Students at this level are encouraged to make decisions about their own learning pathways, further develop their interests and skills and are also given the opportunity to explore new areas of study.

Making Connections aims to help students become aware of, and be able to respond to, the social and political world around them.

The Making Connections curriculum has been designed to allow students to think in ways that are progressively more abstract, critical and reflective.  It also provides opportunities for students to gain experience in working as part of a team and helps develop skills such as co-operation, organisation, delegation and planning.  Learning strategies tap into the positive potential of peer group influences.  Additionally, students are encouraged to engage in their learning by participating in exciting activities, both subject-specific and inter-disciplinary, that engage them at a personal level and are challenging and connected to issues that our students regard as meaningful and important.

Through Making Connections, all Year 9 students participate in comprehensive personal development to reflect upon themselves as individuals and upon their role and place within the wider society.  Students also participate in an extensive leadership program which challenges students to be resilient, to problem solve effectively, to understand the responsibility that comes with being in a position of leadership and, most importantly, to recognise their own leadership strengths.

An Inter-disciplinary Approach

As the name suggests, Making Connections challenges students to understand that learning is not an isolated experience related to one specific subject or topic.  The program helps students recognise that what and how they learn in one area is connected to how they learn in others.  The ability to problem-solve and think critically is considered crucial to their learning. 

Immersion Activities

Much of the research related to how students in Year 9 learn best points to the importance of providing students with the opportunity to understand how what they learn in the classroom relates to the real world.  The Making Connections program therefore helps them see and experience first hand the practical aspects of what they are studying in class.  The immersion activities the students participate in will relate to both core and elective studies and will provide students with the opportunity to enhance and consolidate their skills and knowledge.

Later Years Handbook

The needs of students entering the Later Years are unique in this period of preparation for the senior years.

Students at this level are encouraged to make decisions about their own learning pathways, develop their interests and skills and are given the opportunity to explore new areas of study. It is a time for students to strengthen their social skills and to develop positive relationships with their peers and adults both in the school and in the community.

Curriculum allows students to explore issues related to health, welfare and ethics within the context of their core studies. Students are guided and encouraged to be independent learners and the establishment of sound work habits is emphasised. Students are encouraged to self-monitor in order to identify their own strengths and weaknesses.

The process of personal, academic and careers exploration is the basis for informed decision making as students make choices for VCE. Technology enhances learning in all areas of study. Special features of the program at this stage of learning include the Social Awareness program, the Outdoor Education Camp program, Peer Leadership training, the Work Experience program, the Kimberley Scholarship and the Driver Education program.

VCE Handbook (PDF)

Students in the VCE Years can undertake studies in VCE courses, the VET (Vocational Education and Training) program through our affiliation with the Inner Melbourne VET Cluster and University Enhancement Studies. Students undertaking a VCE program have usually elected to do more than the minimum requirements to broaden their VCE program and subsequent career and tertiary course possibilities.

Students usually select a total of 23 semester length units of study. This involves at Year 11, two English units, one Religion unit and 10 other units of study. At Year 12 it entails two English Units 3 & 4 and the four sequences of Unit 3 & 4 studies. Some students may elect to undertake a Unit 3 & 4 sequence in Year 11, a Unit 1 & 2 in Year 12, a sixth Unit 3 & 4 sequence at Year 12 or a University Enhancement Unit at Year 12. Some students may have undertaken a Unit 1 & 2 study at Year 10 or also include VET studies in their program.