Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School is, and always has been, committed to ensuring each student is best prepared to live the productive, fulfilling and enjoyable life of their choosing. How this is achieved has continually evolved but as progress accelerates, it’s time for a step-change.

Globally, change has never been so fast, yet it will never be as slow as it is right now. The world is increasingly complex, reliant on technology, and facing sustainability and social issues unimagined by previous generations. Many of today’s careers will be obsolete.

It is with this certainty that we prepare our young people for their future, and while we don’t know what that looks like, we do know the skills they’ll need to adapt and thrive. These include the ability to learn independently, to collaborate productively, to innovate, problem-solve, to take responsibility, to think critically, have empathy and self-awareness, and to be entrepreneurial.

Introducing empowerED, Ivanhoe Girls’ new, immersive learning program designed to intentionally develop these complex competencies.

empowerED will be delivered from 2027, in a dedicated term, in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10. Our students will be coached and mentored to develop, plan and execute projects that spark their interest. During their empowerED term each year, students will be accessing the Australian Curriculum and preparing for their VCE, but they will be learning through projects and experiences rather than ‘subjects’. They will get to experience the freedom of being ‘off timetable’ so that they can go deeper into their learning.

Learning in empowerED will rigorous and challenging. There will be assessment and there will be credentials to earn, in fact at times we expect it will push our students well outside their comfort zones.

Progression through empowerED will be measured using The University of Melbourne’s Complex Competencies Framework. ‘Agency in Learning’ is the focus. We want our students to develop the skills to know “what to learn, how to learn it, and who to learn it from” in order to be able to solve real problems. The knowledge and skills gained in this program, along with their strong ATARs, are the best things our students can take into their futures in a rapidly changing world.

We are so grateful that we have the space on our campus to create a specific facility for empowerED, so our students can immerse themselves in the program for a term each year whilst staying connected to their co-curricular activities, their House, and all the support structures we offer them. The planning application has been approved for our new learning facility, to be located on what is now the car park along Upper Heidelberg Road, and the Board has approved the engagement of a builder. We expect construction to commence in the next few months.

An important part of the development of our new facility will be extensive opportunities for our students to engage with the builder and the incredible team of consultants we are working with to deliver the cutting-edge home of empowerED.

Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School foresees systemic change in education. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is championing the Learning Compass 2030 which is responding to the need for students to learn to navigate by themselves, through unfamiliar contexts and find their direction in a meaningful and responsible way, instead of simply retaining fix instructions or directions from their teacher. We believe that this type of learning and these skills will eventually become the standard. 

empowerED will put our students on the front foot.