While Gilson College acknowledges the Creator God as the essential source of all wisdom and virtue, the College recognises and respects the place of the Australian Curriculum (AC), the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) learning areas and studies and it endorses their study as part of the formal curriculum of the school.
Gilson College teachers use the ACARA Australian Curriculum frameworks to develop, plan for and deliver learning and teaching from Foundation to Year 10 in each of the eight Learning Areas released by ACARA:
Our VCE program offers a broad range of subject choices that allow students to pursue their interests, and at the same time provide opportunities and learning pathways to continue with their choices of tertiary education. Subjects offered for VCE may vary slightly from year to year and is dependent on student choices. Subjects are offered from mathematics, sciences, humanities, arts, technologies and languages.
The VCE VET programs provide students with the opportunity to gain both a vocational qualification and/or units of study towards their VCE. Through the VET programs, students achieve nationally recognised qualifications and workplace skills. These qualifications can be used to gain meaningful employment as well as provide another pathway for continued learning. The VET units of study at Gilson College, provide credit for VCE Units 1 – 4 in Business, Hospitality (Kitchen Operations) and Sport and Recreation. VCE VET can be used by students to contribute towards a more academic pathway to learning and do contribute to gaining an ATAR score.
Gilson College seeks to embed the scope, knowledge, understanding and skills of these curricula within the relevant spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional components of Adventist Schools Australia’s (ASA) national education framework: ‘The Adventist School – A Community of Faith and Learning’, which includes ‘Values for Adventist Schools’ and associated and the eleven ‘Transformational Teaching - Learning Area’ frameworks.
To develop an appreciation for Christian heritage, Seventh-day Adventist heritage, community building, citizenship, social justice, and stewardship of the environment and resources, Biblical Studies are delivered through the Adventist Encounter Curriculum from Foundation to Year 10, and through the VCE study design: Religion and Society.
The College uses the ASA ‘Transformational Teaching - Learning Area’ values frameworks to embed Christian Values in curriculum and learning and teaching practices.
The Gilson College Curriculum suite also includes the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum. The Victorian Government has introduced child safe standards to improve the way organisations that provide services for children to prevent and respond to child abuse that may occur within their organisation. The standards are compulsory for all organisations providing services to children and aim to drive cultural change in organisations so that protecting children from abuse is embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of leaders, staff and volunteers. This assists the organisation to:
Gilson College acknowledges its responsibilities under Ministerial Order 870 and the VCAA Child Protection Standards and will deliver the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum, through training and professional learning, with the goal to embed in relevant teaching and learning practice by the end of 2018.
The two topics of KS: CPC:
1. We all have the right to be safe
2. We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust
The four focus areas:
1. The Right to be Safe
2. Relationships
3. Recognising and Reporting Abuse
4. Protective Strategies
Gilson College has adopted the ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ (PB4L) framework, which at its core allows the school environment to be positive, and supportive with clear expectations and a collective approach to teaching expected behaviours both in and out of classrooms. These behaviours are explicitly taught.
At Year 9, students enter the College Learning for Life (L4L) program which enables them to develop greater responsibility, independence and leadership by providing challenges that increase their level of flexibility, tolerance and cooperation, enhancing self-understanding and developing a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, the outdoor environment created for them to inhabit and preserve, and the needs of the wider community.
Learning 4 Life is the College's experiential education program that includes outdoor activities and experiences as well as completing modified expectations of the traditional curriculum. It is made up of three components as follows:
These components develop many skills such as confidence, persistence, flexibility, resilience, organisation, and getting along.
The building of relationships is central to the Learning4Life program and it is this that is so vital in our spiritual developmental connection with God. Our program is based on the three elements of Special Character
It has become clear that this program has positive outcomes and a positive impact on most students. Many teachers and parents have indicated positive developmental changes in their students as a direct result of the program. This includes self-confidence, independence, maturity, resilience, English expression, focus on class work, attitudes and values.