The Year 9 and 10 curriculum is designed to allow students to select and create a study program from a wide range of subjects.
Extensive opportunities
Years 9 and 10 students combine core subjects with elective subjects. These electives offer the broadest possible range of subjects and experiences to help students make informed decisions about their VCE choices.
Core Subjects
English
Mathematics
Accelerated Mathematics is available in Year 9. Mathematical Methods Units 1 & 2 are available in Year 10.
Science
Geography
One Semester
History
One Semester
Physical Education
English
Mathematics
Accelerated Mathematics is available in Year 9. Mathematical Methods Units 1 & 2 are available in Year 10.
Science
Geography
One Semester
History
One Semester
Physical Education
In Years 9 and 10, students select three elective subjects of their choice in Semester 1 and a further three in Semester 2.
Students develop their ability to communicate in French and understand the role of language and culture through various topics related to lifestyles in French homes, division of household tasks, part-time work, leisure, shopping and food, and visiting Paris.
Years 9 & 10
Art
Based on the governing principle of observation, Year 9 Art explores various forms of documentation and personal expression. Building on key ideas established in previous learning experiences, students develop and extend skills in a variety of artmaking techniques and processes.
Design
Year 9 Design offers students the opportunity to create functional furniture and textile products through the application of the design process, project-based research, critical analysis and inquiry. Students work authentically in a studio environment to invent, visualise and prototype design solutions, gaining the skills and knowledge needed to develop ideas into commercially viable ventures.
Drama
Year 9 Drama students work collaboratively to improvise with the elements of drama and narrative structure to develop ideas and explore subtext to shape devised and scripted drama. They manipulate combinations of the elements of drama to develop and convey the physical and psychological aspects of roles and characters consistent with intentions in dramatic forms and performance styles.
Music
Year 9 Music students learn how to improvise in a jazz idiom, compose music for other instruments and how to perform on their selected instrument. They develop their skills through practical activities and build upon theoretical music knowledge with focused performance opportunities.
Financial Literacy
Students explore the world of money and investments. What is money, where does it come from, how do we make it, and just as importantly, how do we keep it? Over the course of the semester students will develop ICT skills to enable to them to produce budgets for individuals in order to manage their personal finances. Students will be introduced to the share market and property markets, learn how prices change and how to invest into these markets.
Ethics
How do I live a good life? What are my rights and responsibilities? How do I decide what is good and bad when making a moral decision? In this subject, students are introduced to the meaning of ethics, and what it means to live responsibly. They explore aspects of personal morality and what this means in our daily, social interactions.
Australia's Health
This subject focuses on the health of Australians and what influences or impacts on the variations in health. Students consider how age, gender, socioeconomic status and culture can create inequalities and influence health status.
Outdoor Education
This subject focuses on developing the key skills and knowledge to safely participate in activities in outdoor environments and to respect and value diverse environments. Students will investigate the different types of outdoor environments and discover what motivates individuals to experience nature.
Coding
Students are guided through several of the more popular coding styles used by coding engineers today, focusing on HTML, Python and Javascript, to learn the basic mechanisms of coding.
Students develop their ability to communicate in French and understand the role of language and culture through various topics related to health and fitness for young people, relationships, comparing the past and present, media, environment issues and plans for the future.
Japanese
Students develop their ability to communicate in Japanese and understand the role of language and culture through a variety of topics relevant to their own life and to those of Japanese teenagers, focusing on cultural similarities and differences. Students learn to talk about urban and country lifestyle; street directions; school trips; transportation; part-time work, future careers and aspirations; exchange program.
Latin
Students develop their ability to read Latin through the story-based approach of the Cambridge Latin Course. They amplify and consolidate their knowledge of the classical language in the context of Imperial Rome in the first century CE. Students investigate the social, political and historical aspects of Roman culture as an essential preparation for the reading of authentic Latin texts.
Studio Art
Studio Art as a subject allows students to explore and create through a series of self-directed learning tasks that build on a student’s prior learning and skills established in, but not restricted to, previous art and design subjects. Weighted equally between critical thinking and practical art production this subject aims to promote the important role research and conceptualisation play in the art making process.
Photography
Photography introduces digital and black and white photography as a means of self-expression. Photographic principles and properties are explored in order to appreciate the potential and limitations of the photographic medium. This subject is developed to challenge and provide practical skills in the use of equipment and conceptual and aesthetic skills in image making.
Photography also explores different social and historical roles and conventions of the photographic medium. Students learn technical competence with cameras and darkroom procedures, visual awareness and the practice of photography as an expressive art form.
Fashion Design
Fashion Design offers students the opportunity to develop creative product design skills through original fashion concepts.
Students develop the core skills required of a fashion designer and consolidate their grounding in design and visual communication skills. Through the study of fashion history and culture such as art, design, technology, concepts of taste, multiculturalism, identity and gender, consumerism, ethics and sustainability students gain a broad understanding of the role and function of fashion throughout time.
Architecture
Architecture offers students the opportunity to design exterior and interior spaces and to consolidate skills and knowledge using the design process, project-based research, critical analysis and inquiry. Students work authentically in a studio environment to drive and develop spatial design concepts and create professional presentations.
Drama
Year 10 Drama students are encouraged to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of Drama through the study and performance of both scripted and devised performance work.
Music
In Year 10 Music, students perform, compose, analyse and broaden their knowledge of the elements of music. They explore how to observe, evaluate and justify when responding to music, learning how to critically examine music from a variety of styles. Students develop their compositional skills by examining existing works and applying observed techniques to their own creations.
Economics and the World
This subject explores how consumers behave through their study of behavioural economics. Students analyse the changes in our economy though demand and supply and how consumers and business interact in a market economy. They learn the impact of global poverty and identify and analyse how we as communities, individuals and nations are required to have a more sustainable impact on the world with our use of resources. They assess how we interact with our international neighbours through trade and the influence that trade has on less developed nations. We look at a balance between economic growth and saving the planet.
Business Accounting
Students will learn to record and report accounting transactions for a small business. They will develop an understanding of how a small business accounts for both profit and cash flows as well as the decision making process on how a business can be financed.
Australian Politics
The course provides students with an opportunity to engage with the fundamentals of Australia’s political system, together with key political issues facing Australians.
International Politics
This course aims to provide students with an opportunity to engage with the key international political issues of our times. They explore the myriad of ways lives have been affected by the increased interconnectedness and consider the extent to which global actors cooperate and share visions and goals as part of the global community.
Philosophy
Year 10
The elective provides an introduction to the field of philosophy whereby students are taught that their assumptions and modes of thinking are not accidental, but have developed over centuries of inquiry.
Multimedia Communication
In this unit, students have the opportunity to make and respond to different modes of media or a range of media formats as a form of communication in an informed, critical and creative way.
Exercise Sport Science
Year 10
This subject explores the human body systems that are most relied upon during physical activity. Students will examine the cardiovascular, respiratory and muscular systems and how they function during exercise and at rest.
Applied Computing
Year 10
Students gain an understanding of computing hardware and software by deconstructing and rebuilding a computer, 3D printing, coding, building a working piece of electronic equipment, and exploring advanced robotics and augmented realities.