HALE SCHOOL
Wembley Downs, WA
Hale School has implemented a range of initiatives, both technological and social.
The teaching approach and curriculum design for maths for Years 7 and 8 have been completely transformed by using Microsoft OneNote and Office 365 to support a problem-based blended learning paradigm. Students access problem sets designed by teachers and are required to find solutions to those problems without any teacher input in the first instance. Students must be able to justify their answers to each problem. Subsequently, the teacher formalises the learning through sharing of student responses and direct teaching, and students then make effective entries in their learning journals. This develops each student’s ability to summarise learnings in their own words, and provides great references that students can use for their revision.
‘Service learning’ is integrated into Hale’s curriculum from Years 1 to 9 (becoming voluntary in Year 10). The school has partnered with the Path of Hope Foundation, which provides mentoring programs for women and children who’ve been victims of domestic violence. That partnership involves Hale boys visiting the women’s refuge and mentoring, playing with and assisting children with homework. For many of the children it will be their first experience of a positive male role model. Over half of Hale’s students continue volunteering in their senior school years, and the culture of ‘giving back’ has meant many ex-students have even formed their own alumni to continue giving back to the community.