Da Vinci Program

Welcome to year 9 and to our 40 Bay Street campus, which we have designed around our unique year-9 'The Da Vinci Project' curriculum. The curriculum, which is built around the twin themes of the arts and the environment, encourages students to propose creative responses to the big issues shaping their world. With its mixture of artistic creativity and science, we named it after Leonardo Da Vinci, renaissance genius, artist, scientist and inventor.

The campus has unique creative and environmental features. The Marine Education Centre boasts four large tropical fish tanks that replicate diverse marine environments from around Australia, curated by our resident marine biologist. We want students to appreciate how beautiful and how fragile Australia's marine habitats are. The campus also has a sustainable cafe that encourages students to take responsibility for the preparation and delivery of their food. Its emphasis is on health, nutrition and environmentally sustainable food production, preparation and sale.

We are incredibly proud of the campus, which demonstrates that creative solutions exist to the challenges of inner city growth and the need to protect heritage listed buildings.

A great year awaits and I encourage you to throw yourself into the opportunities it will bring, including the special curriculum, creative activities and exciting adventure camps.

Steve Cook
Foundation Principal

The development of the DaVinci Program is underpinned by several guiding principles:

• a strong focus on the environment, involving the study of environmental philosophy and ethics through an interdisciplinary approach to learning.
• a strong focus on the study of the arts, including visual, performing and liberal arts.
• prioritising student-led projects that give our students a global perspective and challenge them to make a genuine contribution to improving their environment.
• research on deep learning as a basis for curriculum design and delivery, underpinned by creative and meaningful use of technology to transform learning.
• immersing students in the natural environment helps them to obtain a global perspective, whilst developing respect for different peoples and cultures.