General News
13 July, 2023
Smooth transition for united students
TERANG College and Hampden Specialist School P-4 ushered in a new era this week as all students joined the one campus on Strong Street.
TERANG College and Hampden Specialist School P-4 ushered in a new era this week as all students joined the one campus on Strong Street.
A more than $12 million modernisation of the school campus has seen students gather at the one site, with the junior campus on High Street closing at the end of last term.
Terang College principal Kath Tanner said the schools younger students were already feeling at home at the new site.
“The transition has gone really smoothly,” she said.
“I think having transition days through last term has worked really well, where we had about 20 hours of transition so the students seem much more comfortable than what they otherwise would have.
“They got used to their new school campus and their new building, and overall where to go, which we knew would be an important component for kids to feel safe at school.
“It’s been great so far.”
Development of the new buildings is still a few weeks away from completion, with the finishing touches being added and furniture currently being moved in.
“We haven’t been able to put tables and chairs and put the kids in there yet, but students from Prep to grade two are in their new building,” she said.
“The teachers have done a great job; we had a great final day on term two where every staff member chipped in to help move furniture in to make sure everything would be ready.
“Our younger students skipped in to their new classrooms; there were definitely some nerves but they were excited and happy.
“You can still see them trying to figure out where the right places to play during recess is, but the classroom transition has been great.”
At the heart of the modernisation of the Terang College campus has been a desire to maximise the educational possibilities for students.
“Our primary focus is to be a high-performing school, and having everyone on the one campus certainly helps with that in terms of having formal and informal conversations about student learning and student wellbeing,” Mrs Tanner said.
“When everyone is on the one campus that’s so much easier to do.
“What we’re doing is essentially creating an educational hub for Terang with one precinct which has early childhood, Hampden Specialist P-4 and Terang College.”
Mrs Tanner said the design of the unified campus had not been coincidental.
“It’s going to look like it’s all linked; architects designed it so there is a flow and a connection between all the learning spaces,” she said.
“What we’re creating is a viable campus which is a one-stop shop in government education for Terang residents.”
Along with the change to the campus, so too have changes occurred as the college seeks to refine a multifaceted approach to education.
Mrs Tanner said the school has placed an emphasis on the explicit direct instruction approach.
Explicit instruction follows a step-by-step process to develop knowledge in a guided capacity, like following a recipe.
Explicit instruction follows a repetition approach in which reinforcement of knowledge helps to develop the capacity to retrieve the learned information, like developing footy skills at practice each week.
Though it sounds complicated, Mrs Tanner said the evidenced-based approach respects that everyone learns differently and gives teachers an opportunity to adapt to student needs rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
“We’re doing lots of work as a school in terms of building teacher capacity to improve outcomes for students,” she said.
“We’re really hoping that shifts outcomes for students in rural areas because they sometimes don’t get exposed to that kind of instruction.
“We combine that, within the context of where we live, with a really strong applied learning (hands on) focus as well; our aquaculture centre is under development and we’re using our wetlands precinct to learn through that too.
“We’re trying to connect everything so there is lots of opportunities for students depending on what their expertise is, and what their interests are.”