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Secondary School

Secondary School

Private High School for Years 7 to 12

Teaching and learning

Our goal is to inspire, so every girl finds what she loves to do, creating a brain-state that combines high focus, high motivation, high effort and low stress. Helping all girls to achieve their personal best is our challenge. We recognise each girl will have her individual strengths and challenges and thus teaching staff cater for the range of girls in their class supporting and extending each student.

Our focus is providing opportunities to grow for each girl. This includes learning of both subject specific content and skills, combined with the 21st Century Skills and dispositions she will need to be future ready for the changing world she will embark upon.

As a community, we recognise that our staff are our greatest asset. They are collectively a passionate, innovative, caring group of professionals who are experts in their subject area. The expectation of consistent, high quality teaching and learning is supported by professional learning, development and growth based on sound educational research.

All staff are trained in the use of Visible Learning and 21^st Century Learning Design to support their practice in the classroom. Educational leaders work with staff to refine their practice providing feedback to aid reflection. Each teacher is an active member of the professional learning community who work together to achieve the College purpose, “To inspire girls to become extraordinary women.”, through a process of continual improvement guided by the Teaching and Learning Framework.

Our staff across Year 7 to Year 12 work in partnership with parents and students to facilitate the best possible learning outcomes whilst supporting individual difference, as each student finds a balanced path for her journey through school. We are proud of the strong academic results we have achieved consistently with our students. These results show high performance but also great depth of achievement by our students. With a large range of subject offering at the College, Penrhos has various pathway to support our students to find their passion and grow to become the best versions of themselves.

Find out more about our programs including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Gifted Education

From the Dean of Teaching and Learning

Nicole Blyth

blythn@penrhos.wa.edu.au

Pastoral care - thrive

thrive describes the range of programs, experiences and connections that support the wellbeing and personal growth of our girls. Learning to thrive at Penrhos is achieved through a pastoral curriculum based on best practice in positive psychology.

You can see the full thrive program here.

YEAR 7 thrive

Year 7 students participate in transition and social and emotional learning activities. They learn strategies to assist with emotional regulation (for example, anger and worry) and are introduced to helpful thinking frameworks: optimism, putting things in perspective, developing ‘grit’ and the ‘gratitude attitude’.

YEAR 8 POSITIVE EDUCATION

Year 8 students explore coping strategies, helpful thinking and mindsets. They develop a tough times toolkit and have an opportunity to delve into the personal values that guide them. They participate in the Media Smart Program which challenges media messages to young people, particularly with regards to body image.

YEAR 9 LEARN, LIVE, GIVE

Year 9 students are provided with a framework to investigate their personal values, character strengths and leadership qualities while examining local and global issues.

PASTORAL TIME

During pastoral time (pastoral period, Form and Connect Form), activities, guest speakers, workshops and assemblies are organised by the Head of Year or a member of the Pastoral Care Team.

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

Students learn to build a range of skills, knowledge and behaviours to assist them to stay safe online. The focus is for students to think before they act and to engage positively when online.

PROTECTIVE BEHAVIOURS

The Protective Behaviours curriculum is a personal safety program that teaches children, young people and adults a range of skills and strategies to: identify, respond to and find help in a range of unsafe situations while developing healthy and respectful relationships.

CONNECT FORM

In Secondary School, Connect Form is a student wellbeing initiative to connect older and younger students in House groupings several times a year.

BIG SISTER AND LITTLE SISTER

Big Sister is our peer support program where older students are role models and mentors to younger students in the Secondary School over a three-year period. The Little Sister program encourages interaction between girls in the Secondary School and the Early Learning Centre.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP

Leadership opportunities exist for students in Years 7–12 based on the whole person paradigm; mind, heart, body and spirit. Our structure recognises that students have different interests, abilities and talents, and various leadership positions allow them to harness these and develop their unique leadership style.

SOCIALS

Student social events are organised with the intent of promoting positive interactions in a well-supervised and fun environment, with students from our school and, when invited, students from other schools.

CHILL OUT ZONE

The establishment of a quiet, tranquil zone in the Secondary School provides girls with a dedicated space to use mindfulness, meditation and reflection to promote their own wellbeing and stress management.