St Mary’s College 

Empowering Young Women

as 21^st Century Learners

in a Technology Rich Learning Environment

 

 

Our Vision for Learning and Teaching at St Mary’s College... 

Learning will be engaging and challenging, building the capacity for students to connect, collaborate and be critical thinkers.  

Our girls will be equipped to contribute and be responsible citizens in a digital world. 

A technology rich learning environment will provide a platform for innovative teaching, and learning that is lifelong and lifewide... Anywhere, anytime!!  

 

A message from the Principal...

Implementing a change to our learning and teaching tools such as the 1:1 Laptop Program must be grounded in and true to our common purpose and mission... “to provide a quality, holistic education in a caring Catholic Christian community.”  At St Mary’s College, a quality education must ensure our girls are well prepared for the world of work... and that means the tools and technology used in their world outside of school must be integrated into the learning and teaching at school to ensure their education is contemporary and relevant.

Photo Courtesy of "The Local Bulletin"

 

There are many revolutions... and the digital revolution is just one that will have a major impact on learning and teaching. I suppose it is timely for us to reflect on how technology has been integrated into the curriculum and the limitations that exist when students have limited access. We are on the precipice of a huge change in the medium used in education, not seen since we last moved from slate to paper/pencil.

 

Any such change, naturally, is accompanied by fear and apprehension. But this should not deter us from embracing what is necessary and our responsibility if we are to provide our girls with an authentic contemporary education. Their use of technology must match what they can access at home... to ensure a seamless, consistency in their learning... as it is now more than ever that learning is anywhere and anytime!

 

With this in mind, as I have mentioned before, St Mary’s College will move to embrace a 1:1 Laptop program in 2010. The College will receive funding linked to the Digital Revolution from the Federal Government. Whilst this will purchase a number of laptops to be used in Years 9-12, the College is moving to a school owned, student managed device to be used both at school and home, from Years 8 to 12. As a result, whilst there are no costs associated with the batch of laptops purchased with the Federal funding, there will be additional costs required for the College to upgrade current technology, inclusive of Year 8. This increased cost in Technology will be incurred from 2011 and shared across the whole College by each student enrolled.

 

By 2012, every student enrolled at St Mary’s College will be responsible for managing their own laptop, provided to enhance their learning opportunities and ensure their education continues to be relevant, engaging and challenging.

 

“Learning will not take place only inside school and Colleges, but in communities, workplaces and families.

The shift to thinking about learning beyond the classroom requires a shift of our thinking about the fundamental organisational unit of education...

From the school, an institution where learning is organised, defined and contained....

To the learner, an intelligent agent with the potential to learn from any and all of her encounters with the world around her.”

Tom Bentley, DEMOS

 

Deidre Anderson
Principal

 

 St Mary’s College recognises the financial and other support received from the Commonwealth through the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund (NSSCF).

 

 Why not take time out to have a Minute Meditation?