Most schools have a philosophy, but we are a philosophy that has a school.
Our philosophy is based on the concept that students have far greater skills and abilities than they are generally given credit for and with the support and guidance of parents and staff, they have the ability to manage their own education.
Young people have brilliant ideas and can do amazing things. We will not let age be a restricting factor in giving young people the opportunity to display this. Young people have far more capacity than the traditional educational system gives them credit for.
The nature of our individual programming, and lack of year levels is an exceptional opportunity for gifted and talented students to specialise in their areas of strength and passion, to meet their individualised learning needs. The acceptance @TC that “all of us are a bit different” has allowed many gifted students to seamlessly integrate within the school.
With input from their parents, each of the 1150 students develops an Individualised Learning Plan (ILP) with a five year time planning horizon. Students are supported in modifying and adapting this plan as their interests change. Once students demonstrate that they have established literacy and numeracy skills, they are free to select 100% of what they study from over 150 options. If there is something a student wants to learn that is not offered they can devise their own elective, called a Personalised Learning Project (PLP).
TC has no year levels, so the students are free to study subjects at a level which suits them and only in areas that they see as relevant and important. This really benefits gifted students as they can rapidly accelerate.
TC acknowledges that it is the student’s learning, not their parent’s or that of educators, and as such it is the student who must take responsibility for their learning.
If any student, parent or staff member makes a suggestion, the answer has to be ‘YES’ unless to do so would take too much time, too much money or negatively impact on someone else. This is called the ‘YES is the default’ policy and is recognised by the Finish hundrEd organisation as one of the most innovative educational concepts in the world. Yet there are many ‘No’s’ at TC. No bells, no year levels, no compulsory uniform, no detentions, no yelling, no bullying and even no homework before VCE level.
School tours for students transitioning from grade 6 to year 7 are available on our website.
To find out more visit our website www.tc.vic.edu.au or join us on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/tempcol/
