Canowindra Campus

Canowindra was developed in 1997 to provide a unique educational experience for Year 9 students which will foster, through teamwork, a strong sense of individual worth and a sense of community.

Canowindra's Vision Statement states:

We recognize that students in the 14-15 year old age group are going through transformation as they develop themselves spiritually, mentally, physically and socially.  Canowindra provides a special environment where students can focus on the development of their individuality whilst maintaining social interaction with their peers.  Students become personally involved with their education by participating and collaborating in an integrated, hands on program.

Canowindra is a small community of people working and learning together. Students have graduated from the two Middle Schools from the Taylors Lakes and Keilor Campuses. Canowindra represents a coming together of the cohort for the first time with the purpose of uniting the students for their final four years at school.

The Canowindra staff specialise in the needs of middle adolescents aged 14 - 15. They see the child as a whole person, an individual who needs adult support and guidance during one of the most important growing stages of their life. Students continue to move from a dependent stage in their development into a more independent stage. The staff help the child make the transition through this stage of their adolescence as smooth as possible and at the same time help each one become a life long learner and gain strong Christian values.

Students will learn as a member of a homeroom group in core and integrated subjects, and as members of smaller groups in activities and elective classes.  The Canowindra staff are concerned about how students learn and the fact that they can learn. One of our aims is to show students that learning is within their grasp and is their responsibility so that when they go into Year 10, the transition is not traumatic.

As a learning community, Canowindra:

• Recognizes the ongoing nature of learning.
  
• Acknowledges that learning involves taking risks.
  
• Recognizes the variety of ways in which we learn.
  
• Involve parents and other interested people in our classrooms.
  
• Encourages talking, writing and doing - parents, students and teachers.
  
• Encourages participation from parents and students in decision-making.
  
• Recognizes that at different times of the year different programs require intense focus and attention, which impact significantly upon the regular delivery of the curriculum
  
• Ensures a team approach to the development of the whole curriculum across the year
  
• Supports one another.
  
• Focuses on current community issues.
  
• Exposes students to the world beyond their local community
  
• Encourages professional interaction about the learning needs of young adolescents.
  
• Have fun.
  
• Accepts the concept of life long learners for all of us.
  
• Involves teachers involved with collaborative groups of students.
  
• Provides a supportive learning environment for all.
  
• Involves students in co-curricular activities.

Canowindra offers all students experiences in the bush and the city through the Outdoor Education and City Experience Programs well as their local community.  Being a stand-alone program, it fosters a close sense of community amongst the students through the emphasis on teamwork and collaboration.

The Notebook Program.

Since its inception, the Canowindra program has featured the use of notebook computers as tools to aid student learning.  From day one of ownership, students are taught how to customise their computers and use a wide range of software including Office 2000,Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher.  Having a notebook computer gives students their own personal powerful learning tool as well as encouraging independent and collaborative learning whilst at the same time, providing a flexible medium catering for individual learning styles.  

The notebook program immerses students into a technologically enhanced learning environment that promotes anywhere anytime learning with ready access to the World Wide Web and the many resources it offers as well as the ability to communicate through emails.  The regular use of the Internet and emails provides students with the confidence and critical literacy skills to be discriminating consumers of information.  With the growing importance of communication, the development of these skills are essential and will enable the students to communicate and collaborate in a global context and hence, be prepared for the challenges of their future work environments.

Innovative curriculum demands new technologies.  At Overnewton, technology responds to the curriculum and information needs of the students.  The use of notebook computers at Canowindra is the technological response to the innovative approach to learning provided within this special environment catering for the needs of Year 9 students.

Teaching and Learning

The curriculum delivered at Canowindra is divided into four sections and is best illustrated by the following table: