Northcote and China part 1: VCE offshore launches

Northcote High School VCE commences in China

Last week a great international milestone was achieved for an Australian Government school. After five years of intensive work with key stakeholders, including numerous government departments and partner schools in China, the very first VCE class was delivered by Physics teacher Ms Regan Lin at Hengshui No1 High School. Almost 70 students at Hengshui No1 High School in Hebei province (south of Beijing) and Baotou Foreign Languages School (in the Inner Mongolia Semi Autonomous Zone) will study the VCE certificate with teacher mentoring from our very experienced teachers. 

For our staff, the professional development opportunities when mentoring partner teachers delivering the VCE overseas are profound and we have already seen the benefits this year, when six NHS staff spent part of the Term 2 holidays delivering workshops at a VCE Conference in Nanjing.

The VCE, a premier Australian curriculum, prompts and challenges students in Asian countries in new ways and tests new skills. And at the end of this, a student in China finishing the VCE and receiving an ATAR has access to an Australian tertiary institution through the same pathway as everyone else: an exciting prospect in China, as it is here.

The Victorian Government's "Partnerships for Prosperity" outlines the current China Strategy being pursued by the state. A pdf copy is linked from the Internationalizing Education@NHS page on the school website.

Nick Murphy