Our School Learning and Teaching in Senior School

At Ivanhoe Girls’ we focus, through the strategies discussed on the preceding pages, on developing four key capabilities in our students. Extensive evidence shows that these capabilities will both equip our students for the changing world of work and developa life-long love of learning.

Years 7 and 8 – Transition and Developing a Breadth of Knowledge

The middle years of schooling are a significant time for brain growth and development. It is very important for students to practise and gain skills in all learning areas. With this in mind, all Years 7 and 8 students study a core curriculum in a broad range of subjects.

Students are expected to take responsibility for and to be actively involved in their own learning. They are encouraged to collaborate with as many different students as possible and the timetable is constructed with this in mind.

Year 9 – Discovering Self and a Place within the Community – “I Can”

The Year 9 program is designed to empower students to develop a deep sense of self-efficacy; that is, to be confident in declaring “I can!”.

By the end of Year 9, Ivanhoe Girls’ students will be able to state: “I can connect, I can create, I can know and I can think” and will also be able to demonstrate that these statements are true. 

The “I can” model underpins all learning that takes place in Year 9 electives and all learning activities make concrete links back to this model. The model encourages students to experience learning at Year 9 as increasing levels of mastery across these four domains, rather than seeing Year 9 as just a collection of discrete and unrelated subjects and disciplines with separate knowledge, skills and competencies.

Years 10 to 12 – Learning for Life Beyond School

Typically all students in Year 10 will commence one VCE subject that will enable them to complete one four-unit VCE subject by the end of Year 11. This enables the students to take up an additional VCE subject in Year 12 or alternatively to place greater focus on the remaining VCE subjects being studied. The VCE program is extremely flexible, making it a superior program to others offered globally. Some of the features of the VCE include:

• The VCE is an internationally-recognised program that has minimal restrictions on breadth and depth of subject choices. Students are able to pursue their passions in a vast array of subjects, whether they are in one particular discipline, or across a range of disciplines.
• The VCE can be completed over a number of years to accommodate the needs of individual students.
• The flexibility of the VCE means students can participate in overseas exchanges and be confident of being able to complete their VCE on their return. Similarly, students with chronic conditions or whose participation in national sporting teams means long absences from school, can complete their VCE over three years or longer.
• The VCE provides highly-capable students with the opportunity to complete extension studies, such as a first-year university subject or a vocational subject.