At Sacred Heart College, importance is given to a rich, broad curriculum which through participatory learning develops basic skills and allows students to become competent knowledge managers. The curriculum aims to maintain high academic standards by providing programmes which respond to the changing needs of the school community.Curriculum Developments In 2003, Sacred Heart College introduced the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program. This program provides a framework of academic challenge and life skills for students in Years 7 – 10. The Middle Years Program offers an educational approach that embraces yet transcends traditional school subjects. It is based on the premise that education can foster understanding among young people around the world, enabling future generations to live more peacefully and productively than we do today.
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme clearly identifies the student as the central concern of a school’s curriculum. Intercultural awareness is a key value of the program, and for our school, Religious Education is a core component. There are five other areas of interaction vital to the program: Approaches to learning; community service; health and social education; environment and homofaber (human advancement and achievement over time). These pervade and recur throughout the four years of the Middle Years Program, through the nine subject groups and also through interdisciplinary teaching and projects, whole school activities and the Personal Project, which students undertake in Year 10. The International Baccalaureate does not set or mark examinations. It does, however, validate schools assessment standards at the schools’ request. The student’s accomplishments, measured during the school’s assessment process, are recorded by the school in a portfolio of achievement which is provided by the International Baccalaureate organisation for each student who completes the Middle Years Program. The Portfolio, which has a self-evaluation by the student, may contain academic results, information about community service, the personal project and extracurricula achievements. A student’s achievements in subjects that are not part of the Middle Years Program may also be recorded.
