St Clare’s College has been selected as an Excellence Awardee of the Australian Education Awards 2023,  for Innovation in Curriculum Design. This award recognises excellence in curriculum design in an Australian school. Our Year 8 cross-curricular project – ‘Lights, Camera, Change in Action’ – has been nominated in this category. 

This project is part of a curriculum at St Clare’s College that is educating girls in a new way that truly reaps rewards, both inside and outside of the classroom.

The curriculum fosters and nurtures the connections between learning areas. The ‘Lights, Camera, Change in Action’ project enables Year 8 students to combine elements of their learning in English, Religion and Music, underpinned by our 2023 student theme, “Cast your stone, create the ripple”, inspired by Mother Theresa. 

Students are provided with the opportunity to see how their learning transfers across a variety of key learning areas. They enjoy the overlap between subjects and appreciate the opportunity to build upon their knowledge of a variety of subject areas through a single cohesive project. 

The project begins with a launch day event, and the students are mentored by industry experts throughout the term. In 2023, St Clare’s partnered with StarTime Studios for this project, an organisation created and run by film industry professionals. Year 8 students engaged in conceptual development workshops, run by English and Religious education staff members and film-making workshops run by StarTime. Students learned skills surrounding film production, sound engineering and editing for maximum effect.

The project culminates in a Film Festival, where students present their films to a panel of industry experts and receive feedback on their film’s conceptual development and technical execution.

Our student’s engagement has been our biggest indicator of success. Allowing students to see connections between their in-school learning, whilst forming relationships with industry and the world around them, has seen an increase in student engagement and inferential thinking skills. Students are able to understand the connections between the many facets of their learning and use their successes in one learning area to access other, more challenging areas of learning. 

By engaging in collaborative and creative projects, students learn to associate group collaboration with success and enjoyment, in turn, allowing for the development of a skillset that transcends the classroom and follows them into their everyday lives.

Highlights of our award-nominated curriculum:

  • St Clare’s College’s Lights, Camera, Change in Action cross-curricular project educates girls in a new way that reaps rewards, within and beyond the classroom.
  • This project enables Year 8 students to combine elements of their learning in English, Religion and Music, culminating in the production of a short film that shines a light on social justice. 
  • Due to the hands-on, real-world nature of the curriculum, students are given the opportunity to achieve in diverse ways.
  • Student engagement and attainment has been our biggest indicator of success, as students see connections between their in-school learning and the world around them. 

The award winner will be announced at a gala event on Friday 11 August.