SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE
Newstead, TAS
Scotch Oakburn has opened a new facility, Helix, using educational research from around the world on aspects of facility design that positively impact on learning. Helix has added value to students’ learning by providing spaces that encourage and celebrate 21st century teaching and learning.
The school also recently introduced the Discovery Framework, which puts learners (or ‘explorers’) at the centre of an experience that allows them to shape their own learning journey. Explorers make discoveries about themselves, their environment, society, other cultures and global systems. The 12 ‘discoveries’ that underpin the framework include sense of responsibility, teamwork, compassion, inquisitiveness, inventiveness, appreciation of diversity, and commitment to sustainability. The framework will ensure character education remains integral at Scotch Oakburn.
And as part of its early learning program for 3–5-year-olds, the school has implemented a Bush Kinder approach, based on the idea that children’s contact with nature is extremely important from a very early age and for extended and repeated periods. This interaction with their environment builds confidence, sensitivity, resilience, curiosity, empathy and environmental awareness. Fun and play are central components of the program and staff members are guided by the children’s curiosities and interests, balanced with the educator-inspired provocations including shelter building, researching and reporting flora and fauna, observing evidence of natural weather effects, and developing rope skills to enhance constructions.
