Gifted year 7 students will be grouped together this year under an accelerated program that is being piloted at Caroline Chisholm Catholic College.
The school has introduced an ‘Aspire’ program to its curriculum, the program tailoring classes for a hand-picked group of students and encouraging extra-curricular activities and community service.
Under the program, every Aspire student also learns to play an instrument.
Sarah Moss-Holland, who helped developed the program and is the school’s learning director for years 7 to 9, said Aspire catered for year 7 students who had exceptional academic abilities.
Caroline Chisholm is running two classes of 29 students at the Christ the King girls campus and St John’s boys campus in Braybrook, with plans to expand the program to year 8 and 9 students over coming years.
Ms Moss-Holland said students were selected for the Aspire program based on their primary school profiles, individual testing and meetings with the students and their families.
“It’s unique in the sense that we’re picking students who have higher abilities across a range of disciplines rather than just targeting single programs, such as maths or English,” she said.
“It’s all-encompassing. They have a slightly different timetable to the rest of our year 7s, and they will do a range of different thinking processes and activities to build their skills across levels.
“Hopefully, by the time they reach years 10, 11 and 12, they can work out where their real strengths are, take on those accelerated subjects and potentially do some university subjects during their year 12 here as well.”
