Loreto College Ballarat - Year 9 Active Learning Program

Year 9 Active Learning Program

It is our vision, as a Loreto school, to offer a Catholic education that liberates, empowers and motivates students to use their individual gifts with confidence, creativity and generosity in loving and responsible service. The Year 9 Active Learning Program helps to promote this by providing active learning programs that are aimed at year nine young women. As young people grow they continually want to spread their wings and gain independence of mind and interests. They are experiencing profound physical, social, emotional and intellectual developmental changes as they move to greater levels of challenge and independence. Students at this age begin to see parents and teachers as less important models, especially with regard to issues that are of immediate concern. In contrast, peers become more important as models. We believe in working in collaboration with parents to develop your daughter’s skills to manage and cope with independence when it comes. The greatest shift in coping occurs between 14 and 16 years that make it the optimum time for adolescents to contemplate their coping behaviour and this makes it the ideal time to implement an Active Learning Program.

Year 9 girls have a growing interest in the future and, in particular, the pathways they intend to pursue, so they increasingly are aware of the world outside the school. Adolescents are more likely to judge learning activities and experiences in terms of where they will lead, and respond positively to a curriculum that links with, and has meaning for their lives outside as well as in the school. Added responsibility and expectations can be a time of adventure, learning and growth. Using the Victorian Essential Learning Standards as our curriculum guide, girls will further develop skills in working in teams, civics and citizenship, resilience, thinking and problem solving as well as focused activities relevant to Key Learning Areas/ Domains. Research shows that skill building needs to happen just prior to the onset of that behaviour, therefore Year 9 is the perfect level to introduce them to a safe, contained and monitored extended learning program. Loreto aims to deliver this program in a manner that balances all levels of VELS curriculum with the active learning program. The Year 9 Active Learning program, helping to develop pathways.


3 day alternative program
Melbourne Experience
Outdoor Education
Primary School Science Visits
Be Real Game







3 day alternative program
Day 1: Self-reflection day: This day largely allowed students to focus on themselves through a number of personal development activities including beliefs and values, making connections and effective meditation for stress relief. The day also blended in some gentle light exercises such as Pilates and other activities. Day 2: Amazing race: As the students negotiated the Ballarat CBD they discovered some land marks and learnt many essential navigation skills which helped to prepare them for their Melbourne Experience that occurred later in the year. Day 3: Selection day The students selected from a large range of activities that included cosmetic making, chocolate making, jewellery making, knitting, water aerobics, self-defence, professional make-up application, cycle/spin class, Dance (creative style), punch art, T-shirt printing etc.




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Melbourne Experience
Two day stay in Melbourne . This program encouraged the year 9 young women to take as much responsibility for this experience as possible. The students had to begin their preparation weeks before the experience began. With some parent/guardian and teacher guidance the year 9’s organised how they were travelling to Melbourne , organised their own ‘homestay’ and how they were going to get back and forth from this ‘homestay’ to their Melbourne meeting point. Once in Melbourne all year 9 students congregated at Telstra Dome, divided into their groups and began completing many learning activities based around the Melbourne CBD . This provided many of our young ladies with challenges from navigating the Melbourne public transport system to working efficiently as a team member. The VELS curriculum complements the Melbourne Experience.


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Outdoor Education
The Outdoor Education program is an exciting program that takes many students outside of their comfort zone. This program operates over 4 days in a bush setting near Anglesea. Camping under bivvies, walking through bush, no technological comforts, completing difficult activities all help to make this program fun, exciting and extremely rewarding. Students talk about this program with passion many years after they have graduated from Loreto College .





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Primary School Science Visits
Each year 9 science class invited a primary school to visit. The year 9 class then helped to teach the primary school students a range of science through hands-on fun activities. Part of their organisation was that each year 9 science group had to research, organise and deliver their own science activity to the primary school students.


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Be Real Game
Job simulation game. This learning activity is an extension of year 9 Humanities where students look at real world jobs and learn what it is like to be in the workforce. These 3 days help the students to focus on many job related activities, including resume writing, what job may I like, university decisions and what is the workforce really like.