Vision for Learners – a new approach to developing our students for the real-world
Everything we do at Endeavour College, and how we do it, is a natural extension of our Mission – to develop students’ God-given gifts and abilities for life and community. This Mission and The Endeavour Way, inspire our students to grow as individuals, be effective collaborators, and contribute to the wider community.
LEARNING AT ENDEAVOUR
A hallmark of learning at Endeavour College has been the ability to offer students of diverse backgrounds and interests a varied and balanced curriculum that focuses on the development of the whole person. God has gifted all people differently and as a secondary school, we have the responsibility of giving opportunity for those gifts to be enhanced as well as the opportunity for the development of skills and knowledge that allow students to move into life beyond the College as confident and contributing members of our wider community. We firmly believe that students who will be best placed to flourish both within the school and beyond are those with a sense of confident independence, the ability to work naturally interdependently and those who have a heart and capacity to positively influence the world in which they live through their sense of collective action.
The Vision for Learners has its own embodiment in both the senior years and middle years.
In the Middle Years, students have the opportunity to study courses in line with the Australian Curriculum and with an increasing focus on general capabilities. To assist in the transition into secondary school, students are placed in core classes with specialist middle years teachers for the majority of lessons. These core classes allow for the benefits of transdisciplinary and integrated approaches, including some project-based learning units, to be fully realised in student learning, and also support students in their developing interdependence. Students have the added benefit of specialist teachers for Languages, The Arts, Physical Education and Technology subjects. The use of core classes continues in a reduced format in Year 8, giving students the chance to develop their independence while learning to build significant relationships with a smaller number of teachers.
In the Senior Years, students make informed choices about their learning pathways, choosing from a broad range of subjects. Students are encouraged to be increasingly independent and explore their future options through work experience and our Pathways program. It is at this stage that all students are assigned a course counsellor who remains working with the student and family until the end of Stage 2. While the majority of students study 5 subjects at Stage 2, to achieve their SACE, the opportunity exists for students to study subjects outside of our campus, including a range of Vocational Education and Training (VET) subjects that are accessed in line with student pathways. Students develop in their understanding of the role of others who can support their learning, such that a level of true interdependence can be achieved.