Learning and Excellence

In line with our College Mission Statement, Sacred Heart Girls’ College provides a dynamic environment that educates young people to be compassionate, discerning, resilient, and true to our motto, Always Striving Upwards.

We are a collaborative, creative, reflective, and innovative learning community, that maintains our culture of excellence through continuous improvement.

Our future focused learning and teaching program offers our young women many opportunities to develop the skills, dispositions and knowledge required to be successful and engaged learners.

Our dedicated teachers seek innovative ways to bring learning to life by making real world connections. Teachers are committed to their own development and regularly participate in a range of professional learning activities, with the constant aim of improving the learning outcomes for all students.

Our learning spaces encourage collaborative learning and a sense of community in an environment that is technologically rich. Our students are provided with a College issued laptop in Years 7 and 10 and all learning spaces include interactive whiteboards to ensure digital technologies are seamlessly and purposefully integrated throughout the curriculum. The College has a well-resourced library and specialised facilities for subjects including Science, Physical Education, Art, and Media to encourage a love of learning.

Curriculum

Our learning and teaching program offers our students many opportunities to develop the skills, dispositions and knowledge required to be successful and engaged learners. In addition to a rigorous academic program, the College offers a range of co-curricular opportunities to further develop and enhance these skills. These opportunities cover a range of areas such as Social Justice, Sport, The Arts, Debating, Student Leadership and subject based competitions and clubs.

YEAR 7 -10 CURRICULUM

Our curriculum is designed so that all students experience each of the discipline-based domains required by the Victorian Curriculum, as well an engaging Religious Education program. We focus on developing the full range of interdisciplinary and physical, personal and social knowledge skills and behaviours that enable students to take initiative, to manage elements of their learning and make responsible decisions.

Students in Years 7 and 8 study a common core program, including a mixture of year and semester length units. All Year 7 students study Indonesian and either French or Italian for a semester, and then choose one of these languages to continue with in Years 8 and 9.

Our Year 9 and 10 curriculum continues to be structured around the Victorian Curriculum but recognises that students at this stage wish to explore new areas of interest, seek new learning opportunities, and begin to consider future pathways. The Year 9 and 10 Elective program facilitates these priorities.

YEAR 7
YEAR LONG (CORE SUBJECTS)	SEMESTER (CORE SUBJECTS)
Religious Education English Mathematics Science Health & Physical Education History Geography Information Technology	Languages Indonesian & French OR Indonesian & Italian Art Dance Drama Music
YEAR 8
YEAR LONG (CORE SUBJECTS)	SEMESTER (CORE SUBJECTS)
Religious Education English Mathematics Science Health & Physical Education Languages (one of): French Indonesian Italian	Art Dance Drama Food Technology Geography History Information Technology Music

YEAR 9
CORE SUBJECTS (Year Long)	ELECTIVE SUBJECTS (One Semester)
Religious Education English Mathematics Science Health & Physical Education History Geography Languages (continued from Year 8) one of: French Indonesian Italian	Students choose 4 electives from any of the following Learning Areas: English Health & Physical Education Humanities Mathematics Science Technologies The Arts
YEAR 10
CORE SUBJECTS	ELECTIVE SUBJECTS (one semester)
Religious Education English Mathematics Science Health & Physical Education History (one semester) Geography (one semester)	Students choose 4 electives from any of the following Learning Areas: English Health & PE Humanities Languages (two semesters) Mathematics Science Technologies The Arts
Year 10 students may be invited to apply for early entry into a limited number of VCE studies if they meet the prescribed criteria for acceleration.

VCE CURRICULUM

We offer a wide range of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) studies. Through our partnerships with local TAFE providers, senior students also have access to Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses as part of their VCE program.

Religious Education is compulsory for all Year 11 and Year 12 students.

VCE Subject Selections

Learning Diversity and Enhancement

The Learning Diversity space creates a safe and supportive environment for many students at Sacred Heart. Specialist staff assist students in maximising their learning potential with specific and targeted support and provisions. Particular focus is placed on learning support in literacy, numeracy, and extension.

Gifted & Talented

Sacred Heart recognises the importance of offering enrichment and enhancement opportunities to develop the potential of our students.

Differentiation in the classroom can add breadth and depth to the curriculum so that students are challenged, and can explore their areas of interest, while further developing their higher order thinking skills.

Outside the classroom, Learning Areas offer a variety of internal and external programs and competitions to extend and enhance learning including the Science Talent Search, Coding Club and Bridge Building Competition.

Students demonstrating high academic potential are also invited to take part in additional activities with the purpose of extending their knowledge in particular areas while working with like-minded students and gaining leadership experience. Such opportunities include Tournament of Minds and competitions and programs run by the Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads (APSMO).

Numeracy

Sacred Heart Girls’ College passionately facilitates our students’ affinity for working with numbers.

At Years 7 and 8, the ability for the students to work confidently with multiplication tables, decimals, fractions and directed numbers is important in underpinning their forays into algebraic manipulation and their work with measurement and probability problems.

Students are pre-tested on the key aspects of numeracy concepts and processes, and Numeracy Mentors provide one-on-one assistance where necessary to reinforce and supplement the work done by the classroom teachers. Post-testing tracks progress made by each individual student and informs the next steps required in the important journey towards mastery of essential numerical skills.

Numeracy Support then continues, in groups, during Year 9, ensuring each student enters her Senior Years at the College as a numerate young woman.

Literacy

Sacred Heart Girls’ College is committed to building, developing, and extending our students’ literacy inside, and beyond, the secondary school classroom. 

At Sacred Heart Girls’ College we know that the move from a primary to a secondary school environment means a leap in learning expectations and literacy. Using transition data, pre-testing data and teacher referrals, Year 7 students who need additional support are offered weekly small group sessions with a member of the Literacy Team to develop their skills in reading and writing. In Year 8, students who would continue to benefit from additional support are offered a term of Literacy Booster sessions focussing on their skills in grammar, punctuation, writing, spelling, reading and vocabulary. 

One to one assistance is provided to students with specific literacy needs throughout their time at the College. Students with English as an additional language (EAL) are also supported to participate in the EAL curriculum.

The Literacy Team works closely with the College Library to engender and share a love of language and literacy in all its many forms. The library catalogue includes a wide variety of genres and text types including multicultural literature and film, graphic novels, and Aboriginal poetry. 

We are dedicated to helping all students meet their potential and develop as empowered, confident, and critically literate learners. 

Outdoor Learning

Our Outdoor Learning Program runs over four years, with all students participating in a series of sequentially linked adventure experiences. Developed using an experiential learning model, it is designed to challenge students individually and collectively by placing them in unfamiliar surroundings, and in a range of situations.

In the classroom students can continue to pursue outdoor and environmental learning through the Year 9 elective program and in the VCE subject of Outdoor & Environmental Studies.

Year Level Camps

Year 7 Discovery Camp

Focussing on accepting challenges and building friendships, Year 7 students participate in a range of adventure style activities. Students spend one night in a cabin and the other in a tent at a bush campsite.

Year 8 Challenge Camp

Held along the Mornington Peninsula coastline, the Challenge Camp focusses on marine environments. The three-day program aims to extend the skills students acquired during their Year 7 experience.

Year 9 Mountain Camp
Year 9 Students spend four days in the iconic Bogong High Plains of Victoria. The alpine location increases the level of personal and physical challenge while providing opportunities for students to connect with each other and the surrounding environment.

Year 10 Summit Camp

Structured as a four day journey, Summit Camp is for many students the finale of their Outdoor Education experience at Sacred Heart. The focus of the Year 10 experience is on leadership, accepting challenge, and community action. Set across four stunning locations, students can choose from sea kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing or multi activity programs.

Outdoor Ed showreel

Investigating Melbourne

All Year 9 students participate in a five-day Investigating Melbourne Program. This cross curricular program develops students’ knowledge and understanding of complex urban communities.

Visiting sites across the city centre, students enhance their understanding of Melbourne, its rich history, development, and challenges. They discover the many opportunities the city provides both residents and visitors to partake in entertainment and artistic endeavours including sport, cuisine, music, fine and street art, architecture, and sculpture. The program builds students’ navigational and team building skills and nurtures independence.

Throughout and following the experience, students are encouraged to think creatively, maturely, and empathetically as they become more aware of social and cultural issues pertaining to Melbourne. Students complete related learning tasks for numerous subjects and work together on a group project and presentation on a set theme. These tasks are designed to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they consider the challenges faced by various groups in our city.

Music Program

We are proud to have a vibrant, varied music program supported by a wonderful team of industry professionals with experience teaching and performing all over the world. Every student involved in our Music Program is provided with the opportunity to foster a life-long love of music, including wide ranging opportunities including Year 7 Band Program, individual singing, instrumental music and our premiere College Orchestra.

Throughout the year our music students partake in a wide range of wonderful performance opportunities both at the College and in the broader community, experience life on the road with interstate Music Tours and develop their skills at Music Camp.

Music is an essential part of liturgical life at Sacred Heart Girls’ College - in the words of Martin Luther: "Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world."

Pathways & Careers

At Sacred Heart Girls’ College, we believe in the provision of a holistic education that prepares students for an everchanging world and for careers and jobs that may not yet exist. Our emphasis is on equipping students with the skills and disposition they will need to become work ready, lifelong learners.  

Our progressive Careers Program provides students with an insight to life beyond Sacred Heart Girls’ College. Recognising that each student is unique, we emphasise the many pathways available for students to achieve their goals and ambitions. 

The Pathways & Careers Program at Sacred Heart is broad and responsive to the needs of our students. It includes Morrisby Profile Testing, our Future Ready program, career counselling, subject selection advice and support in transitioning to higher education.  