We are thrilled to be featured in The Age on Wednesday 4 December 2024, in recognition of our innovative approach to learning which has led to outstanding NAPLAN results this year.
In The Media: The Age, 4 December 2024, page 6 & 7
…At the Knox School, which has also made this year’s list of “schools making a difference”, teachers have turned the disruption of the COVID pandemic to students’ advantage.
Students from Year 4 on at the private Wantirna South school have flexible learning sessions, allowing them to decide what they work on for several periods each week.
“We’ve been committed for the last couple of years to our approach of personalised learning,” Principal Nikki Kirkup said.
“That means really knowing our students and knowing how they learn, but giving them really engaging experiences.”
The school’s learning model has three components: academics; skills-based learning (including critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity); and the “character journey”. “When we talk about a focus on great academic results, it’s not to the detriment of the other two, it’s both,” Kirkup said.
The approach involves inquiry-based learning in the Junior School and project-based learning in the Senior School, underpinned by the foundations of literacy and numeracy.
Students experience real-world learning “Knox-peditions”, where they identify a problem in the community and an individual who could benefit from a solution.
This year, Year 9 students worked with experts to produce portraits for patients at a nearby residential care home. The students have maintained their connections with the residents and are continuing to visit them weeks after the project was completed.
“What we see is a heightened level of engagement and motivation because their outcomes are real and tangible,” Kirkup said.
“You then see that transfer across into things like NAPLAN results, because we see improved numeracy and literacy as a result of that immersive learning experience.”
Read the full article by clicking here (paywall exists).
Journalist Alex Crowe, The Age
Pictured: our Year 4 students with their Smoothie projects.
