• Technology is quickly becoming more than a facilitator of learning; it is becoming the major method boys use to communicate and socialise, as well as explore their world.We need to design education to meet their needs.
• We recognise that students have a great diversity in abilities, interests and achievements.
• Physically, boys are at differing stages of development; whilst many have already reached and progressed through puberty, others are still developing into young men.
• Intellectually, there is research to suggest that the developmental gap between boys can be up to 6 years at this age.
• These two years are an inflection point whereby a boy’s interest in his education can be driven by his personal interests, levels of engagement and connectivity to people around him.
• Boys in Year 9 are starting to explore the world around them and consider what is meaningful and relevant. Making learning relevant to this development will not only engage boys but guide them into deeper thinking about themselves and prepare them better for the rigours of Year 10, 11 and 12.
• Scotch boys are yearning to make independent choices about all matters of their life, yet may not have the experience to do this without some guidance.

In Year 9 students will participate in the Scotch College Wellbeing program that has been modelled on the SensAbility program from Beyond Blue. SenseAbility is a strengths-based resilience program designed for young Australians aged 12-18 with the aim of enhancing and maintaining emotional and psychological resilience. The program is based on cognitive-behavioural principles, the evidence-based approach which says that our thoughts play a critical role in influencing feelings and consequent behaviour. The program focus on the development of essential life skills: Problem solving; Planning and Time Management; Communication; Helpful Thinking and Self-Talk; and Emotion Recognition and Regulation. The course will be facilitated by each student’s Head of House and will focus on issues relevant to students in Year 9 such as Cyber safety and behaviour, Mindfulness, Relationships, Approaches to Study and Resilience.

The Year 9 programme is designed to bridge the gap between working with peers to complete a project and taking part in active service learning. Students are immersed in a curriculum that promotes social, civic and environmental responsibility, both in individual subjects and through Cross Curricular Priorities. To do this, subjects value diversity and justice and promote an appreciative awareness of the interdependence of all aspects of the environment. The connections between these responsibilities provides motivation and purpose and fosters the development of vital human characteristics such as resilience and empathy. In Year 10, Service Learning is timetabled and this provides for a consistent and diverse programme to be delivered. The College has developed relationships with many local service agencies and the boys spend time off campus with these local operators and also assisting members of the College community. Through Year 9 and 10 our courses are designed to assist the boys in becoming responsible local and global citizens who strive to uphold the College’s values of Integrity, Stewardship and Service.

The Curriculum is sourced from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority and is the Western Australian version of the Australian Curriculum.  It comprises content descriptors, General Capabilities and Cross Curricular Priorities. General Capabilities are a set of identified skills that are to be included across all learning areas. At Scotch, we achieve this through explicitly teaching the Approaches to Learning. Cross Curricular Priorities engage students with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Australia’s engagement with Asia and Sustainability.  Ideally, teachers find genuine opportunities to deliver their content through the lens of the CCP. The CCP are best taught where appropriate rather than forcefully constructing lessons that explicitly teach them.

The method of teaching is concept based and aims to bring real world understanding and context to a students learning; promoting creativity and critical thinking.  This is also combined with an Inquiry approach, when appropriate, that starts by exploring concepts through open questioning, problem solving or self-discovery rather than presenting information as facts and providing a clear pathway to gaining knowledge. This approach is student centered and sees the teacher in a facilitator role.

An outline of the learning outcomes set to a timeframe is provided to all students studying the course and their parents via Seqta Learn and Seqta Engage.  In addition, an outline of the assessments, assessment types, weightings and dates are provided so that students can plan their term.

The emphasis on assessment is based on content from the Australian Curriculum. Each curriculum area will have assessment types that best fit their content such as;

• Oral Assessment
• Written Response Task
• Production/Performance Task
• Portfolio
• Investigation Task
• Examinations

Any assessment that carries a weighting towards their final grade will have an explicitly defined marking key that will result in a percentage for each boy. The assessment criteria will be shared with the boys prior to any summative assessment, when appropriate. Far from teaching to the test, it is deemed that for students to have the greatest chance of success, having an understanding of how to succeed in that assessment is critical. In the case of content driven assessments, such as tests, the criteria provided before hand will be a list of learning outcomes that are to be assessed. On completion of the summative assessments the boys will receive a percentage result and, given the assessment is a task weighted greater than 5%, they will also be provided with feedback via Seqta Learn.

The Approaches To Learning (ATL) underpin the unique educational experience that we offer at Scotch College. The College recognises that skill development and content acquisition are both vital to adequately prepare boys for life beyond school. As such, the ATLs are explicitly taught in lessons and feature in unit planners. During the unit there is a focus on one or two specifically taught ATLs. These are accompanied with formative assessment methods that allow a teacher to make a judgment on the skill level as per the continuum. A rubric that outlines the observable behaviours at each level from Novice through to Leader for each specific skill, developed by teachers, is used to assist teachers to make this judgment. It would be expected that through formative assessment, a teacher could initially place the student as a novice, learner, practitioner or leader in the particular skill based on their age level. Following completion of the unit, the teacher can determine if the student has moved along the continuum in this specific skill.

In Year 9 examinations occur at the end of Autumn Term and Year 10 examinations occur at the end of Winter , and are compulsory for Mathematics, English, Science, Humanities and Languages. The Arts and Design and Technology use the practical work completed by students to provide the experience of working in a Practical Course of Study, as such, acting like an examination.  Examinations in Year 9 and 10 are an important experience that provide students with a measure on how successful their study techniques are for long term retention.

The achievement standard describes an expected level that the majority of students are achieving or working towards by the end of that year of schooling. Some students will have progressed beyond the achievement standard; others will need additional support. The expected standard for each year is reported as a ‘C’ grade.

We grade using A through to E. The grade boundaries are determined by Curriculum Leaders who work in conjunction with the teachers to place students in a grade boundary according to the grade related descriptor. A general indicator is provided in the table below;  

Teachers provide students’ with personalised feedback after each summative assessment that has a weighting of more than 5%. It will be made available to both students and parents through Seqta Learn and Engage respectively. The approach teachers will take when providing the student with feedback will involve outlining what went well, providing at least one area for improvement and a strategy to achieve this. The area for improvement could relate directly to the content or skills demonstrated in the assessment, or it could focus on the process and preparation work that took place prior to the assessment.

Reporting will be semesterised. Each subject report will contain:

• A weighted progressive total (as a percentage)
• A grade (A-E as related to the grade related descriptor)
• An examination grade (Semester 2 where applicable)
• A cohort distribution
• A grading of the ATLs that have been explicitly taught in the course, using the department developed rubrics of observable behaviours. (Novice through to Leader)

Due to continuous reporting we do not provide comments on reports. Feedback is timely, specific and targets the learning within the assessment and improves students’ learning. In addition, parents are contacted when their son significantly underperforms in an assessment or has not produced an assessment at the achievement standard.

Students in Year 9 and 10 will study the following compulsory subjects:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• Individuals and Societies
• Physical and Health Education
• Languages (French or Indonesian) or Functional Literacy and Numeracy
• Outdoor Education

Students will choose to study one semesterised course from each learning area; The Arts and Design and Technology. These Year 9 courses will run for 15 weeks each and the Year 10 courses will run for a semester.  

The Outdoor Education Programme for Year 9 is in Winter Term and runs at Scotch College’s Outdoor Education Centre, Moray. It involves a five-day expedition programme where the boys focus on leadership and independence, through an expedition-based programme that encourages them to explore concepts of group leadership, personal challenge and citizenship. As with all Scotch Outdoor Education programmes, the entire experience is underpinned by the values of “Leave no Trace”. In Year 10 the Outdoor Education Programme engages boys to choose a single mode of recreation in the outdoors to pursue and master. While continuing the journey of learning underpinned by principals of “Leave not Trace” boys choose one of a number of expeditions that extend their skill and understanding in a single disciplined environment. The goal being to upskill the students so as they continue to participate and engage in the outdoor pursuit beyond their years as a student at Scotch College. The choices include climbing, caving kayaking, Scuba diving, surfing, hiking, canyoning and mountain bike riding. https://home.scotch.wa.edu.au/outdoor-education/ 

In Years 9 to 10, a Certificate of Academic Excellence is awarded when a student receives 5 or more A grades and his remaining subjects are at a C grade or higher.