Dapto High School

- published October 2009

School profile

Dapto High School is a Years 7–12 school located near Wollongong, New South Wales. It has 950 students and a staff of 80 including 66 teachers. The student population is relatively homogeneous with significant numbers of students coming from third- and fourth-generation central European families. The school’s mission is ‘to provide a just and caring learning environment which encourages all students to Strive for Higher Things’.

College website: www.schools.ash.org.au/daptohigh

Andrew Fitzsimons, Principal

‘We recognise that our graduating students will be moving into an increasingly globalised world of work and further study. We are on the edge of Asia and students require educational experiences that will encourage them to look beyond the local horizon and be prepared for opportunities and challenges in a changing world. Our recently established connection with a South Korean school has opened up important opportunities for students and parents to engage with Asia. The resources made available through the Leading 21st Century Schools: Engage with Asia (L21CS) project have challenged us to focus more directly on studies of Asia. Our key starting point has been to concentrate on The Arts learning area through the creation of an Asian sculpture garden and the development of Arts units of work with an Asian focus.’

View video of an interview with Andrew Fitzsimons at the 2009 L21CS Forum

Getting started

Our school leadership team consisting of the Principal, Deputy Principals and heads of faculties, devotes one meeting a term to engagement with local leaders from the business, industry, commerce and community services sectors. Our key objective is to gain their perspectives on major issues impacting on education. A common thread running through these strategic meetings relates to the global, international and competitive dimensions of companies and business operations.

This has provided us with an important backdrop for exploration of our school programs and practices, particularly in the context of the national imperative for schools to actively engage their students with Asia.

The leadership team recognises that many of our teachers, through their travels, increasingly know and understand more about Asia. Michelle Cooper, Head of Creative Arts, is particularly knowledgeable about Asia and studies of Asia in schools. She has developed strong, professional connections with the state Asia education advisor and is acutely aware of the range of Asia-focused resources available to schools.

Following my participation in the initial L21CS forum in 2008, I requested that she take a leadership role for studies of Asia in the school. It was decided that studies of Asia be a major focus for one of our executive meetings. With leadership provided by Michelle and using resource personnel from the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, our leadership team participated in a briefing/workshop where we gained a more focused awareness and deeper understanding of the implications of the National Statement for Engaging Young Australians with Asia in Australian Schools, its implications for schools and the importance of including studies of Asia in school programs.

This was an important vehicle for the leadership team to make a general commitment to including studies of Asia in a more focused way in the school. Consultation with the parents and citizens association has led to a strong endorsement of this focus.

A focus on the Arts

We recognised that the incorporation of studies of Asia would take some time, requiring considerable amounts of professional development and a continuing review of teaching and learning programs across the school. It was decided that our initial focus would be on The Arts learning area with the Head of Creative Arts taking not only a leading role with teachers in her area, but also the role of promoting, sharing and making visible the outcomes of teachers’ and students’ work in this area. The visual dimensions of Arts learning activities would lead to high visibility and prominence in the school.

Two important initiatives have been implemented as the means for including studies of Asia in the Arts program. Units of work drawing on Asian culture, beliefs, visual symbols and icons have been written for students in Years 8 and 9. Skills, techniques and styles relating to Asian art have been introduced to students who have been encouraged to apply their growing knowledge, understanding and skills to their own experiences and artistic expression.

The second initiative has been the creation of an Asia sculpture garden in the school grounds. Work has started on this project which will be a highly visible and prominent school feature. Students have been motivated through exposure to, and study of Asian sculpture to create their own clay models for incorporation into the garden. This has been a highly engaging project and has given the Head of Creative Arts the opportunity to share with staff the intended outcomes of the project and to suggest possible links with other curriculum areas. A photographic and visual record of this enterprise is also being maintained for sharing and communication purposes.

Links across the school

At this stage we have not moved towards the development of sequential Asia-focused programs across the school. Nor have we conducted a formal curriculum audit of our programs. However the Head of Creative Arts in her studies of Asia leadership role has had many informal discussions with staff to gauge the extent to which Asian content has been included in their programs. Essentially her role is to encourage, motivate, support and mentor staff as appropriate to look for ways of incorporating studies of Asia into their classroom programs.

As a result there is increasing interest in incorporating studies of Asia in some curriculum areas. For example, she has worked closely with some teachers of human society and its environment (HSIE) and a unit of work on immigration to Australia now has a focus on immigration from Vietnam rather than the traditional focus solely on European immigration.

Increasingly units of work related to civics and citizenship are now including Asian content.

Planning has been undertaken in relation to including the approved Board of Studies international studies course in the Year 11 program for 2011.

A chaplaincy program has recently commenced in the school. It provides us with a significant opportunity to assist students to explore the world’s religions. The nearby Nan Tien Buddhist temple has proved to be a useful resource to assist students to gain first-hand knowledge of aspects of Buddhist practice in the context of a study of Asian religions. Visits to the temple have also been part of the Year 9 Arts elective program.

Connecting with Asia

In 2008 we established a sister-school relationship with a school in South Korea. Students, teachers and parents from Dapto participated in a study tour earlier this year. Half of the 21 tour members had never been out of Australia before. We look forward to a reciprocal visit in 2010 and see this relationship as one which will strengthen our drive to progressively implement studies of Asia in the school.

Our next steps

We are committed to progressive implementation of studies of Asia and see the work being undertaken in The Arts as a model for developmental work across the curriculum.

We are exploring ways of strengthening our sister-school program and will explore ways of developing electronic links between our two schools and to encourage contact between students.

We will continue to encourage and support teachers to incorporate Asian content into their teaching and learning programs.