CITY CURRICULUM PILOT
PROJECT CONCEPT STATEMENT
(November, 1996, for Wesley
College Council and staff)
WESLEY COLLEGE MELBOURNE IN MELBOURNE
Melbourne City --
A Campus for Wesley
CONCEPT
Based in CBD premises and under the
guidance of the Head of the Year 9 City Curriculum Pilot Project and Year
9 Homeroom Teachers, Year 9 students, largely self regulated, will use
the resources found in the City of Melbourne to excite their curiosity
regarding themselves and their place in an urban Australian environment,
with an emphasis on community awareness and service.
It is an opportunity to
develop aspects of Ellyard's preferred future for Victorian education,
viz. a self managing Learning Centre utilising Knowledge Navigators to
"encourage the development of innovative caring students with a planetary
outlook."
PRIME CONSIDERATIONS
Scope
This venture will be more than a
'camp' in the city -- Chum Creek among the sky scrapers.
It may commence at this level, but the mission to the students' needs and
the richness of the resource is highly likely to lead to a large, expanding
and sophisticated operation.
Location
The location of the premises
-- the Homeroom -- is crucial. It must be amenable
to the fulfilment of the purposes of the program and not, by its position,
force any prejudices upon the program.
A Wesley stamp
The program must be distinguishable
as a uniquely Wesley College program. It needs to be a natural projection
of what makes Wesley Wesley. To this end it must be outward looking
and seek to serve. Social conscience must be a constant coloration
of the program. The locale and outlook of Wesley's Prahran Campus
are benchmarks for these imperatives.
THE PROGRAM
The program will be an integral part
of the revised school-based curriculum recommended by the Glen Waverley
Middle School Project Team.
Its pivot will be the exciting of
conscience. Students will participate in Melbourne City's daily evolution and be encouraged
to form personal judgements regarding urban values.
Depending upon the degree of the
revision of the Middle School curriculum, the program will extend that curriculum
into first-hand, participatory studies of
-
commercial
-
cultural
-
governmental
-
intellectual
-
legal
-
recreational
-
social and
-
spiritual
life in the City of Melbourne.
Students will be challenged to take
a stance regarding these human pursuits in an urban society. The study of
them will be placed in a social context. A watershed for this will
be a Chapel Service for students and their parents and teachers conducted
in Wesley Church, Lonsdale Street, at which the focus will be the preaching
of a Sermon on this theme.
THE GAIN FOR STUDENTS
A conscious emphasis
on 'values education' creating awareness in the students of their personal
and social place in society and their responsibilities.
This paraphrase of part of the Glen
Waverley Middle School Project Team's rationale will find fuller and more
immediate fulfilment in a separate, exciting and pertinent environment.
Real local, regional, national
and international dimensions of this awareness exist within the strategically placed
and revitalising City of Melbourne.
GLEN WAVERLEY ONLY?
Initially, middle and outer suburban
Glen Waverley students are seen to gain more from such a concept than middle
and inner suburban Prahran and Elsternwick students. However, it
may well be envisaged that there are equal gains to be made by the latter
two groups.
TIMING OF PREPARATION AND COMMENCEMENT
January-August, 1997:
Establishment of premises; program design; establishment of contacts.
August-November, 1997:
Pilot programs.
November-December, 1997: Evaluation
of pilot programs.
February, 1998:
Commencement of program. |