We encourage an active engagement with the world. That includes using public transport to explore Melbourne, exploring the school’s extensive gardens and bush, riding bikes, climbing trees, going on many camps and trips.
In Year 9, our students go on a six-week trip, usually to an international destination. There is very minimal parental contact during this time – sometimes no more than one or two emails.
We’ll be direct, honest, thorough and responsible in communicating information to students about sex and relationships, appropriate to the students’ age and developmental stages.
Students will be using toasters, stoves, blenders, microwaves, cutlery – often without direct adult supervision.
According to our assessment of students’ maturity and abilities, we may teach them to use axes, log splitters and chainsaws.
Similarly, we may teach students how to light fires, and may expect them to start and maintain fires in fireplaces.
We comfort students who are upset, we hug, we’re tactile. We may play rambunctious roughhousing games like British Bulldog, Animal Ball or spotlight.
During maintenance activities students may be up ladders, on roofs, changing light globes, using hammers, saws, mattocks, vacuum cleaners and electrical tools.
We carefully assess children who want to come here, but previous academic success or failure is not a factor in that assessment. Destructive and/or self-destructive behaviour is a factor. We look for evidence of creative interests, selflessness and empathy in students who apply for places here.
We are always happy to supply written reports on request, or to meet with parents and children to discuss progress.
We are very happy for parents to be involved in the life of the school, in all kinds of rich, exciting and rewarding ways. We work on an `invitation-acceptance’ or an `offer-acceptance’ basis. In other words, we may invite parents to contribute to the school in some way, and they may accept our invitation; equally they may offer to help us in some way and we may accept their invitation. However we are not happy with parents who want to impose their own agendas on the school, and we don’t tolerate parents who attempt to bully the school, teachers, or other students.
