Making Learning Meaningful
Bankstown Girls High School are building student capabilities across all KLAs and empowering students to develop a social conscience.
Location: Mona St, Bankstown
Level: Secondary School, Year 7 to Year 12
Enrolment: 546 students (96% from language backgrounds other than English)
The journey
Bankstown Girls’ High School is a comprehensive high school in the metropolitan South-West region. It is a rich and diverse community in which over 40 different languages are spoken. At Bankstown Girls’ High School, we are committed to developing empowered, creative, thoughtful young women to become proud, responsible active local and global citizens.
We have a culture of future focused teaching and learning, inquiry based strategies and connected curriculum to develop a solid foundation for life-long learning and the development of critical and creative thinking skills.
To address student engagement issues, the Making Learning Meaningful (MLM) project enables student teams to direct their own learning by selecting a global issue they feel strongly about. Our learning environment has high expectations for our students to be resourceful, empathetic and resilient learners. Our program further develops student voice and leadership and effective & ethical use of technology.
The school leadership team supports and is committed to a whole school approach. Each key learning area has developed programs supporting the MLM project. Our teachers engage in ongoing professional learning based around inquiry processes and strategies.
Teachers take the role of learning coaches and facilitators, encouraging student voice and student choice and instilling a school-wide growth mindset.
Our students have made great gains through the project. Students value working collaboratively. They excel in their use of ICT and media skills. They employ critical thinking skills. Across the board students are highly engaged and value their experiences in the project.
Another advantage of the project is the involvement of the greater school community and business and media partnerships which drive the success of the initiative. Students’ works are celebrated and acknowledged beyond the school environment.
Contact details
MLM Coordinator, Enzo Nadile enzo.nadile@det.nsw.edu.au
Enrichment Leader, Nita Barnes nita.barnes@det.nsw.edu.au
Infographic
To access a visual representation of this journey, download the Bankstown Girls High School - Year 9 Making Learning Meaningful infographic (PDF 77.68KB).
View the text alternative for Bankstown Girls High School - Year 9 Making Learning Meaningful infographic.
Guiding research and readings
- New Kinds of Smart; Building Learning Power and Learning Dispositions by Guy Claxton & Bill Lucas
- Growth Mindset - Dan Haesler