One of the major key distinctives that we have as a Christian School is our curriculum. Yes, whilst we teach subjects such as English, Maths, Science HSIE and PDHPE like other schools and we use the NESA curriculum, the perspective from which we teach should look very different to other schools.

One of the key pillars to our existence in the College’s Constitution is that we teach our subjects from a Biblical perspective. What does that mean? It means that in every subject in every year level we try to point our students towards God. For example, in English we talk about the power of words to create and heal or to destroy or tear down, in Maths we show how Mathematical formulas are a language to describe aspects of God’s creation such as area or volume, in History we teach how men and woman of courage and faith have at times changed the course of history.

As a teaching team, it takes a great deal of time and thought to create a curriculum that teaches our children well and helps our children have an understanding of God through that curriculum. To help us in our task we use a curriculum planning tool called Transformation by Design. Transformation by Design is written by Christian Education National and is used in schools around the country and increasingly internationally as well. It is based on the work of Wiggins and McTighe who created Understanding by Design a very well-known curriculum planning model (also known as backwards planning). Teachers start with what students need to be able to understand and do as a result of the teaching, then move to how teachers will know that students do indeed understand the knowledge and can do the skills through good assessment design and then focus on the design of learning to ensure students will learn the knowledge and skills of the unit.

Transformation by Design takes this a step further and adds in the biblical perspectives and ways we can live out that perspective (called Threads in Transformation by Design). As a teaching team, we have been using this model since 2019 and we continue to keep our team upskilled and developed in it, most recently in our staff professional development week and Tuesday afternoon with Jo Fahey from Christian Education National presenting to staff.

Transformation by design is an important tool that is used to fulfil our vision of In Christ, partnering with families in providing excellent academic and practical education, preparing students to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God.

Mrs Lisa Dumicich

Interim Principal

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Term 3 Week 5, 2024