Special Programs

HOMEWORK CLUB

The Homework Club at Debney Park has been running successfully for three years. Students who have attended the Homework Club have said that the assistance and support they received enabled them to understand their work more clearly and improved their results.

It provides support for our students in the following ways:

• Providing tuition in subject areas where students need further explanations and practice
• Revision for SAC's (School Assessed Coursework), Assessment Tasks and Examinations
• Assistance with homework in a quiet working environment
• Catching up with work

The Homework Club is open every Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:30-6:00 pm with two tutors in attendance on each day.

Students from all year levels are welcome to attend. There are no charges for the program.

MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAM

The Middle Years Program at Debney Park SC , 'Towards equity and excellence-every child matters', is aimed at ensuring that all students are challenged and engaged in a fulfilling learning program. The program that is currently in place was developed following the college's experience as a Middle Years Research and Development (MYRAD) school which studied and implemented best practice. Many models of middle school organisation were explored before this program was introduced in 2005 following a successful pilot program the previous year.

The program is characterised by an integrated approach across four broad areas of learning. There is an emphasis on developing professional relationships between teachers and students. Each middle years class is taught by only four to five teachers and this team takes the responsibility for ensuring that the educational and welfare of each student is met. Subjects taught are:

Communication (English, ESL, Humanities and Italian)

Investigations (Mathematics and Science)

Design Briefs (Design, Creativity and Technology and the Arts)

Recreation (Health and Physical Education and Interpersonal Development)

Learning programs, designed to meet the needs of individual students are developed by a small team of teachers for each middle school group. These programs are developed utilising the specialist knowledge, skills and interests of the teachers in the team. Classes are organised to cater for the preferred learning styles of groups of students. Non-traditional composite groupings are featured in the program when this type of grouping is considered to be appropriate.

One of the exciting developments over the past year has been the incorporation of multimedia into a number of curriculum programs. Classes, small groups and individual students are able to utilise the specialist information communication technology facilities that the college can offer through the dedicated multimedia facility, soundhouse@debney . In this facility staff and students become learning partners as they explore creative ways of using multimedia to assist in the production of units of work.