McKinnon Secondary College

Teaching and Learning Charter

March 2002

Part One: Beliefs and Values

Personal Identity

v    Every individual is important. We recognise and appreciate the diversity of our students and the enrichment it brings to our school environment.

v    We nurture and support the growth of all individuals as they seek to achieve their personal, educational, moral and social goals, developing in each a sense of self-worth and self-respect.

v    We enable students to reach their potential by providing a broad range of choice in curricular and extra-curricular programs.

Personal Development

We aim to:

v    develop a community of lifelong learners, fostering a love of learning in everyone.

v    develop confident learners who are: prepared to take well-reasoned risks; adaptable enough to respond to change; resilient enough to persevere when challenged; and resourceful enough to take some measure of responsibility for their own learning.

v    support all members of our community in their pursuit of greater wisdom, knowledge and insight.

v    challenge everyone to strive for personal excellence.

v    acknowledge and celebrate each success.

v    give our students the opportunity to develop and demonstrate leadership.

Sense of Community

We aim to:

v    provide a caring and safe community in which everyone feels a sense of belonging, ownership, pride, and personal responsibility.

v    foster a school community in which all members respect each other’s rights, and care for the physical and emotional well-being of others.

v    foster in all members of our community an awareness and appreciation of their place in the world.

v    develop in everyone the wisdom to contribute and the willingness to serve all the communities to which they belong.

Part Two: Powerful Learning

At McKinnon Secondary College we want all students to reach a high level of competency in:

¨     collecting, analysing, organising and evaluating information

¨     communicating ideas and information

¨     planning and organising activities

¨     working individually and in teams

¨     using mathematical ideas and techniques

¨     solving problems

¨     using technology

and to develop

¨     creativity

¨     cultural understanding and acceptance of diversity

¨     a positive attitude to personal health and fitness.

We assist students to develop these key competencies across all learning areas. Our assessment of learning reflects these skills and attributes that we seek to develop in our students. In addition, we want all students to achieve the specific knowledge, understanding and skills associated with each Key Learning Area, as outlined in the Curriculum and Standards Framework.

We expect our students to become confident, motivated, interested and self-directed learners. We believe that every student is capable of taking the next step in his or her learning, and we aim to create a climate which maximises the potential for this to take place in all of our classrooms.

Classroom Environment and Relationships

¨     Our classrooms are places of activity where students learn by doing and by participating.

¨     Classrooms within our school community create a sense of belonging and purpose.

¨     Relationships within our classrooms value and respect individual talent, effort, integrity and difference.

¨     The classroom environment is positive and safe, with clear rules and expectations. Co-operation, collaboration and a sense of caring for one another are clearly evident.

The Learning Process

¨     We recognise that learning is a process of construction, which builds on prior knowledge, and takes place effectively when students are able to challenge and modify existing views.

¨     We encourage our students to: take risks with their learning, formulate their own questions, make links and associations, and experiment in the search for greater understanding.

¨     We provide opportunities for students to investigate and make discoveries for themselves.

¨     We believe that students should learn to: think critically, analyse and solve problems.

¨     We ensure that students have opportunities to apply their knowledge and be able to demonstrate and communicate their learning in a variety of ways.

¨     We recognise that students learn in different ways, and our teaching caters for these differences.

¨     We provide opportunities for students to work collaboratively and achieve success in a team.

¨     We teach students strategies that are essential for working independently.

¨     We make clear to our students the outcomes we want them to achieve.

¨     We believe our students should be equipped with the skills of metacognition. We understand this to be the development of an awareness of one’s own learning, the ability to reflect upon mistakes and the capacity to learn effectively from them. These learning tools should be incorporated in all areas of the curriculum.

¨     We offer some flexibility in timing so that students have opportunities to work at their own pace, yet we encourage all students to accept the responsibility for meeting all set work deadlines.

¨     We assist students to develop a process of self-evaluation to measure their own achievements against previous attainment levels.

¨     We recognise achievement and encourage continual improvement.

The Learning Programs

¨     To make student learning personally meaningful, we as teachers plan, monitor, evaluate and reflect upon the effectiveness of our programs.

¨     We strive for an inclusive, challenging and progressive curriculum which will have personal relevance to all students.

¨     Our programs integrate skill development with the understanding and application of concepts.