Our Curriculum and Electives

Pushing the boundaries

Our curriculum pushes the boundaries of your child’s academic abilities while helping them grow into independent learners capable of creative and critical thinking.

Your child can choose from a wide variety of electives while still completing the NSW Education Standards Authority's (NESA's) curriculum.

Our curriculum helps students to find the courage to extend beyond their comfort zone in all aspects of life to achieve their best both academically and personally.

Electives offered

Pre-Kindy curriculum

The Pre-Kindy curriculum centres on foundation skills and knowledge to prepare the students for a successful transition into Kindergarten.

Using a combination of the Early Years Learning Framework and elements of NESA's Early Stage 1 core Key Learning Areas, the curriculum acknowledges that play is the best vehicle for early-learning as it provides the most appropriate stimuli for brain development.

The curriculum is delivered by the class teacher, an assistant, and a combination of specialist teachers where appropriate.

Junior School, K-6 curriculum

For our Junior students, we develop lessons in line with the NESA syllabus and their six key learning areas:

  • Creative Arts
  • English
  • Human Society and its Environment (HSIE)

  • Mathematics

  • Physical Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)

  • Science and Technology.

We enhance this standard syllabus with extra subjects related to:

  • Dance
  • Drama
  • Language (such as French and Chinese), taught by our specialised, foreign language teachers
  • Music and Choir
  • Physical Education and Health
  • Visual Arts.

Senior School, 7-12 curriculum

We emphasise traditional subjects while offering an engaging variety of electives.

Year 7 Electives

All students in Year 7 2024 study the compulsory core subjects:

  • Drama

  • English

  • Geography

  • History

  • Mathematics

  • Music

  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)

  • Science

  • Technology

  • Visual Arts

  • French and Mandarin (one Term each language).

In addition, our Year 7 students will complete one semester of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Integrated Study and one semester of ‘The Big Ideas’, which is a Humanities Integrated Study.

These two courses are aimed at targeting cross curricular learning and the soft skills that are increasingly becoming a requirement in the rapidly changing workforce that our students will be entering in the next decade, including: adaptability, attitude, communication, creative thinking, work ethic, flexibility, problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration. They will also complement the core studies in the Stage 4 curriculum, emphasising the NESA General Capabilities of:

  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Ethical understanding
  • Information and communication technology capability
  • Intercultural understanding
  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Personal and social capability.

Year 8 Electives

All students in Year 8 2024 study the compulsory core subjects:

  • English
  • Geography
  • History
  • Mathematics
  • Music
  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
  • Science
  • Technology
  • Visual Arts.

Students can also choose one language elective from:

  • French
  • Mandarin.

Year 9 Electives

Students in Year 9 2024 study the compulsory core subjects:

  • English
  • Geography
  • History
  • Mathematics (Level 5.1, 5.2 or 5.3)
  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
  • Science.

Year 9 students can choose three elective subjects from the following list:

  • Additional Studies
  • Chinese
  • Commerce
  • Computing Technology
  • Dance (Accelerated Stage 5 Course)
  • Design and Technology
  • Drama
  • Food Technology
  • French
  • History Elective
  • Music
  • NSW School of Languages
  • Photography and Digital Media
  • Physical Activity and Sports Studies (PASS)
  • Visual Arts.

Year 10 Electives

Year 10 2024 students study the compulsory core subjects:

  • English
  • Geography
  • History
  • Mathematics (Level 5.1, 5.2 or 5.3)
  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
  • Science.

They can choose three electives from the following subjects:

  • Additional Studies
  • Commerce
  • Dance (Accelerated Stage 6 Course)
  • Design and Technology
  • Drama
  • Food Technology
  • French
  • History Elective
  • Information and Software Technology
  • Music
  • NSW School of Languages
  • Physical Activity and Sports Studies (PASS)
  • Photography and Digital Media
  • Visual Arts.

Year 11 Electives

HSC students take 12 units in Year 11 (excluding extension subjects). The study of English is compulsory. 2024 subjects include:

  • Ancient History
  • Biology
  • Business Studies
  • Chemistry
  • Community and Family Studies
  • Dance (Accelerated HSC Course)
  • Design and Technology
  • Drama
  • Economics
  • English Advanced
  • English Extension 1 (1 Unit)
  • English Standard
  • Enterprise Computing
  • Food Technology
  • French
  • Geography
  • Legal Studies
  • Mathematics Accelerated
  • Mathematics Advanced
  • Mathematics Extension 1 (1 Unit)
  • Mathematics Standard
  • Modern History
  • Music 1
  • Music 2
  • NSW School of Languages
  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
  • Physics
  • Society and Culture
  • Software Engineering (UTS)
  • Studies of Religion (1 Unit - Compacted Stage 6 Course)
  • TAFE/TVET
  • Visual Arts.

Year 12 Electives

In Year 12, HSC students take a minimum of 10 units. They can choose from a wide variety of 2024 subjects including:

  • Ancient History
  • Biology
  • Business Studies
  • Chemistry
  • Community and Family Studies
  • Design and Technology
  • Drama
  • Economics
  • English Advanced
  • English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D)
  • English Extension 1 (1 Unit)
  • English Extension 2 (1 Unit)
  • English Standard
  • English Studies
  • Food Technology
  • French
  • Geography
  • History Extension (1 Unit)
  • Information Processes and Technology
  • Investigating Science
  • Industrial Technology - Multimedia
  • Legal Studies
  • Mathematics Advanced
  • Mathematics Extension 1 (1 Unit)
  • Mathematics Extension 2 (1 Unit)
  • Mathematics Standard 1
  • Mathematics Standard 2
  • Modern History
  • Music 1
  • Music 2
  • Music Extension (1 Unit)
  • NSW School of Languages
  • Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
  • Physics
  • Society and Culture
  • TAFE/TVET
  • Visual Arts.

All senior students have free access to our Senior Study Centre which runs from 3:30 - 6:30pm Monday to Thursday. Each day, two teachers representing two different faculties are on duty to assist the students with questions and support. Timetables of support on offer are distributed to Year 11 and 12 parents and students each week.

Languages

We offer both French and Mandarin.

Your child learns French from Kindergarten onwards and both French and Mandarin from Year 3 until Year 8, after which these languages become elective subjects. French is available as an HSC subject.

In Year 9 and 10, French students have the opportunity to go on a study tour to New Caledonia to deepen their language abilities.

We run a French Club and a Mandarin Club after school for students to practice and expand their language skills.

If your child is interested in a language other than French or Mandarin, they can study through the distance education platform NSW School of Languages at an additional cost.

“We are ever mindful of the need to make our students more curious, more collaborative, more multicultural and more globalised. Our classrooms depict, increasingly, such future orientation. They are places where thinking skills, feedback and styles of learning are incorporated in the daily program.”

Dr Nancy Hillier, Principal