Learning at our school

Find out more about what your child will learn at our school.

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is responsible for the curriculum, Kindergarten to Year 12, for all NSW schools.

For the high school years, NESA develops syllabuses for all subjects in 8 key learning areas:

• creative arts
• English
• human society and its environment (HSIE)
• languages
• mathematics
• personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE)
• science
• technological and applied studies (TAS).

NSW schools also offer special religious education and special education in ethics via approved providers, where available.

Like all NSW schools, we have developed teaching and learning programs to suit our local context and the needs of our students.

To learn more about the curriculum in NSW, visit:

• NSW Department of Education – key learning areas
• NESA’s Parent Guide – Schooling in NSW which provides information about learning stages, key learning areas and syllabuses
• NSW Department of Education policy – Curriculum planning and programming, assessing and reporting to parents K–12.

Stages of learning

There are 6 stages of learning from Kindergarten to Year 12. High school covers Stages 4 to 6.

• Stage 4 includes Years 7 and 8.
• Stage 5 includes Years 9 and 10.
• Stage 6 includes Years 11 and 12.

Gifted and talented learners 

Manly Campus is an academically selective school, and therefore all learning opportunities, and related assessment activities, have been developed to meet the needs of gifted and talented learners. 

Gifted and talented learners:

• comprehend complex ideas more fully
• learn more rapidly and in greater depth than their age peers
• may exhibit interests that differ from those of their age peers.
• have an unusually well-developed sense of justice and fairness
• exhibit emotional intensity
• have hobbies and interests similar to those of older peers
• often have a tendency to prefer the companionship of older peers
• have an enhanced capacity to empathise with the feelings of others
• often demonstrate a more mature sense of humour than age peers.

Source: Gifted and talented students: a resource guide for teachers in Victorian Catholic Schools (2013)

Underachievement

Gifted underachievers are students who possess considerable intellectual potential but who are performing in a mediocre fashion or worse in an educational setting. (Davis, 1997)

Characteristics of gifted underachievers:

• poor test performance
• daily work frequently incomplete or poorly done
• superior comprehension and retention of concepts when interested
• shows initiative in pursuing self-selected projects at home
• easily distracted; unable to focus attention and concentrate efforts on tasks
• has an indifferent or negative attitude towards school
• vast gap between qualitative level of oral and written work.

Strategies to help underachievers meet their potential:

• consistent and realistic feedback on work
• independent study to learn how to manage research without teacher direction
• one-on-one tutoring for talent development
• real world audience to be given realistic feedback from experts
• conceptual discussion to explore themes, generalisations, issues, problems
• individualised benchmark setting to plan and monitor performance goals short term
• enrichment/extension projects and self-direction.

Source: Reforming Gifted Education, Karen B. Rogers, Ph.D.

Project based learning

Project based learning (PBL) is an inquiry driven methodology that requires you to solve relevant, real-world problems. By doing so, you attain and strengthen skills essential for success in the 21st century – collaboration, communication, creativity, and digital citizenship. PBL is perfect for gifted and talented students as it provides them with the opportunity to learn in an environment that is challenging, creative, collaborative and dynamic. You will work on subject-based PBL projects in years 7, 8 and 9, and on cross-curricula PBL projects in year 7. During PBL projects, students will be assessed on academic content, as well as 21^st century skills – critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation, and presentation skills. See rubrics for these skills at the end of this booklet.

There are three key stages for every project: discover, create, share.

Discover: During this first stage of a project, you will be engaged in a series of inquiry-focused learning activities - mostly self-directed - to help identify and learn content and skills you 'need to know' to be successful with a project.

Create: During the second stage of a project, you will be working to create a product or solution to a problem. This typically involves brainstorming, planning, seeking feedback and then editing/refining a product.

Share: The final stage of a project will see you preparing to showcase your learning (and often a final product) to a public audience. Often this will involve giving a presentation and/or defence of their work.

Rubrics for assessing collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and innovation, and presentation skills to be used for self and peer assessment during PBL projects at Manly Campus can be found at the end of this booklet.

Source: Bianca Hewes from Project based learning.