Curriculum at Sale College
A summary of the VELS structure can be obtained by clicking here.
English
All students study English from year 7 to year 12. We aim to foster the ability to communicate clearly and accurately in both written and spoken English. Reading for pleasure and information is actively encouraged. At all levels students have the opportunity to participate in reading and writing competitions such as the Premier’s Reading Challenge.
Year 7 enjoy an integrated curriculum STEPS. A small teacher team draws the strands of Humanities and English learning together in powerful ways.
Year 8 continues skill development in the areas of reading, writing, comprehending, speaking and listening. Students are encouraged to incorporate ICT into their presentation of work.
Year 9 and 10 English involves consolidating skills and enrichment activities. Students explore everyday, literary, film and media texts. They practise using language for different purposes and audiences, some of which are drawn from the workplace in anticipation of the choices students will be making.
At year 11 and 12 as they move into senior years students have the opportunity to choose from a range of options: English, English literature,VCAL literacy, to meet their individual needs.
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Mathematics
The teaching of mathematics is an ever evolving process and Sale College endeavors to find a balance between skills, (tools of the trade), and applications. Mathematics provides the perfect vehicle for teaching students how to think.
Sale College continually strives to present Mathematics in a way that is stimulating, accessible, rigorous and effective in an effort to engender a love of learning at the same time as providing core skills. For details on courses offered, please link to the Mathematics Learning Domain handbook.
As mathematics learning occurs along a continuum of skills and understandings that develop in complexity, the learning and teaching of mathematics at Sale College is well-planned to accommodate ability levels.
A variety of methodologies are utilised to improve attitudes towards mathematics, develop powers of logical thought and provide students with the means to explore and apply mathematics in their natural and man-made surroundings. Evolving technologies are readily adopted and incorporated, altering the emphasis on the learning and teaching of mathematics from time to time.
At Yr 7, mathematics is under the umbrella of the subject “Discovery”, which includes scientific and numerical knowledge and applications.
At Yrs 8, 9 & 10 students are ability grouped, enabling students to progress at a more suitable rate. LANS, STANDARD, GOURMET and SEAL are the groupings adopted.
The “Maths Mate” homework program is incorporated at all these levels.
Yrs 7, 8 & 9 operates at Guthridge Campus and Yrs 10, 11 & 12 at Macalister Campus.
Yrs 11 & 12 mathematics is grouped according to the VCE subjects of General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods, Further Mathematics and Specialist Mathematics and VCAL mathematics is also available.
A high participation rate in the Australian Mathematics Competition occurs annually.
The Arts
Sale College offers an extensive Arts program from Year 7 to VCE, incorporating both Visual and Performing Arts.
Year 7 and 8
Visual Arts
See our Visual Arts virtual galleries
All students complete a semester of Art at Year 7 and a semester of Graphics in Year 8. In these units, students study the elements, principles and concepts of art and design.
Performing Arts
All students complete a semester of Music at Year 7 and a semester of Drama in Year 8.
Find out more about the Sale College Drama Program
In Music, students learn about styles and history of music, basic notation and learn to play keyboard.
In Drama, they study movement, mime, sound and visual comedy.
Instrumental Music lessons are also available in Woodwind, Brass, Guitar, Percussion, Voice and Keyboard.
Get more information about Instrumental Music.
Year 9
At year 9, a range of electives are available in the Arts including 2 D drawing and painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Printmaking, Music, Instrumental Music and Drama Performance. Details about these courses are available in the Year 9 Handbook.
Year 10
At year 10, students move to the Macalister Campus and, as in Year 9, a range of electives are available in the Arts including 2D Art and 3D Art, Photography, Media, Visual Communication and Design, Instrumental Music and Drama Performance. Details about these courses are available in the Year 10 and VCE Handbook.
VCE
In Years 11 and 12, students can select from a range of subjects including:
- Theatre Studies (Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
- Music Solo Performance (Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
- Visual Communication and Design (Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
- Art (Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
- Studio Arts (Units 1, 2, 3 & 4)
- Media (Units 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Details about these courses are available in the Year 10 and VCE Handbook.
Science
Students at Sale College get an opportunity to investigate different aspects of Science (Life, Physical, Earth etc) through practical investigations, research and other activities.
Year 7 introduces the Science Laboratory and Scientific Method through topics such as Solids, Liquids and Gases. This knowledge is then used to learn about different types of mixtures and how to separate them. Contact and Non-Contact Forces are investigated as is the Classification System and Astronomy.
Year 8 cements the particle model by investigating atomic structure, and chemical and physical changes. Geology looks at minerals and different types of rocks. The structure of plant and animal cells and how they function lead to an investigation of stem cell technology.
Year 9 investigate the topics of Light, the Periodic Table which leads onto the different types of Chemical Reactions. A topic that covers how organisms respond to changes and control themselves is also covered.
Year 10 students can select do either a Life Sciences or Physical Sciences unit or to complete both units.
Sciences offered at VCE include Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology.
Languages other than English (LOTE)
At Sale College, students have the opportunity to study Japanese. Japanese is compulsory for year 7 and year 8 students with the option to continue their study in Japanese through years 9 to VCE.
Students are introduced to the Japanese writing scripts and develop the four macro skills of reading, writing listening and speaking. This is achieved through the use of the Hai! textbook series as well as a variety of activities and games. Student learning is enhanced by the use of ICT incorporating Japanese word processing, computer games and educational Japanese internet sites.
The study of Japanese is supported by a strong and positive relationship with a sister school in Okinawa, Japan. Senior students have the opportunity to visit Japan. Our last group visited Tokyo and Kyoto and participated in home stay while attending our sister school in Okinawa.
The Humanities
Humanities is made up of three disciplines: Economics, History and Geography. At years 7, 8 and 9 these are taught in the core curriculum under the title Humanities.
Studies of Civics and Citizenship are also taught in the humanities classes at years 7 and 8.
At year 10, students are offered electives from each of the Humanities disciplines.
Humanities subjects are offered at VCE.
Economics
Economics is the study of how different societies allocate scarce resources to satisfy the wants and needs of its members. As with any social science, economics is concerned with human social behaviour: the behaviour of individuals and the interaction among them.
Economics is also concerned with how to best manage resource scarcity and addresses the requirements for human survival and economic sustainability.
Economics is included in all core Humanities subjects from Years 7 – 9. At Year 10 students are offered electives from the Humanities discipline.
A number of VCE subjects including Accounting, Business Management, Economics and History are based on Economics knowledge, understanding, reasoning and interpretation.
History
Students can study History at Sale College at all levels, from Year 7 through to VCE.
Years 7 and 8 study ancient civilisations, such as Egypt, the mediaeval period and early British history.
In Years 9 and 10 the emphasis is on Australian history, covering the early years of settlement, the gold rushes and federation, through to the Twentieth Century and beyond.
At VCE level, Year 11 students again study Twentieth Century history, but this time with a focus on world events such as the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Cold War or the rise of the Taliban.
Year 12 students return to an in depth study of key ideas in Australian history.
Geography
Geography principally addresses six questions and has five key concepts.
Geographers ask the following questions:
- Where is it?
- What is it like?
- Why is it there?
- How did it happen?
- What impacts does it have?
- How should it be managed for the mutual benefit of humanity and the natural environment?
The five central concepts of Geographical studies are:
- Location and distribution;
- Place;
- People-Environment Relationships;
- Spatial Interaction: and
- Region.
Geography is included in the core curriculum under the title Humanities from Years 7 – 9. At Year 10 students are offered electives from the Humanities discipline.
Health and Physical Education
Sale College offers a variety of Health and Physical Education classes from years 7-12.
In the junior years (7&8) Health and PE are core subjects covering topics such as athletics, minor games, smoking and puberty. At year 9 we understand the importance of participation and provide gender specific classes as on option to both males and females along with traditional Physical Education Classes and Outdoor Education.
Years 9 & 10 students can also choose to participate in the Advance Program (a government funded program) which studies Surf Lifesaving and is designed to develop leadership qualities.
At VCE levels student have the opportunity to choose from Physical Education, Outdoor Education and Health and Human Development.
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Sport
Students have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sports at Sale College. Carnivals are conducted in swimming, athletics and cross country and these days are aimed at involving the maximum number of students. A new house system has been introduced in 2009 for these events.
A wide range of individual and team sports are also catered for with students progressing from the East Gippsland to Gippsland level and if successful then on to the Southern Zone or State finals. In recent years students have made State finals in swimming, athletics, cricket, soccer, basketball, tennis and badminton.
Students also have the opportunity to compete against other schools in football, netball, basketball, rugby, table tennis, clay target shooting and lawn bowls.
Design, Creativity and Technology
In the learning areas of Design, Creativity and Technolgy our motto is
“Preparing students for tomorrow today”.
Units are designed to reinforce many skills and processes through sequential “hands on” practical activities that provide students with experiences in the areas of:
MATERIALS
Wood
Metal
Plastics
SYSTEMS
Electrical
Mechanical Engineering
FOOD
Years 7-8 introduce students to a broad range of skills such as:
the Technology Process
Occupational, Health and Safety requirements
Processes
Tools
Machinery/Equipment
In Years 9-12 students can elect an area to continue acquiring skills which may be valuable for pre-apprenticeship and/or workforce applications.
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Information & Communications Technology
Sale College has a strong focus on using ICT to support and improve Teaching and Learning.
Each Campus is provided with two computer laboratories, computers in each Resource Centre, computer pods containing up to 15 computers in Technology, Arts and Health/PE as well as netbook computers on trolleys on each campus.
In addition, many classrooms have up to five PCs available in the room. All are supported by a robust network allowing storage of student work and high speed access to the Internet. A comprehensive range of software applications are available to support the college curriculum requirements.
Year 7 students have access to four interactive whiteboards (one per team of two classes). Many classes have roof mounted multimedia projectors, with portable projectors also available.
Resource centres also have available digital video and audio equipment.
All learning areas strongly integrate the use of ICT into classroom learning and activities with all students having individual email accounts.
All ICT elements are reviewed annually for compliance with the college’s ICT roadmap as well as to accommodate new technological developments.
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