Why Year 10 at Woodleigh?

How do we decide where our kids should go to school?

For most of us, it’s not a straightforward decision. We remember our own experiences – what worked, what definitely didn’t – and, in the end, we do our best to make the right choice. Once made, why would we change anything if we don’t have to?

Then our kids approach their VCE. At fifteen or sixteen, they’re complex beasts (a generous way to frame it). Young people stepping into their lives – somewhat self-aware, more capable of critical and creative thought and many of them ready – itching, even – for more say in their learning, their choices and their future. 

Just as tertiary education is a step up from secondary school, Year 10 at Woodleigh represents a step up from the middle years to a different level of expectation and responsibility. It is a transition year, deliberately so, an engineered shift to senior learning; academically rigorous but equally focused on the social and emotional development of all students. The engineering includes a structural shift, with students moving into the purpose-built Futures Studio, high on the hill, specifically designed for the requirements of this window.

Most of us grew up with a relatively linear view of the purpose of education: School, marks, university, career – a predictable cause-and-effect model that had clearly defined measures of ‘success’. Today, the purpose of education is not well understood. Our children’s available pathways are not the same and honing in on a single score to summarise who they are as they launch into their lives is an unreasonably limiting universal measure.

The question is then, what is the purpose of education? What kind of learning best prepares our kids for their reality? At Woodleigh, the Year 10 program is designed to build academic capability and social and emotional capacity – all built on a solid foundation of self-awareness and agency. Our curriculum asks more of them. It demands deeper thinking, delivers greater experiences and prioritises adventure, complex problem-solving and greater ownership of time and learning. It is a significant time for developing self-awareness, as students begin making decisions that affect their lives beyond school. Students can apply what they know flexibly and effectively - not only for a future time, but in their real lives, now.

Our aim is not for students to just survive their senior years, but to take hold of them, to really care and engage deeply, make the most of their opportunities and, importantly, to have a really good time doing it.

The Year 10 Regenerative Futures Program (RFP) builds a literal and figurative bridge between the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and VCE, and between being a teenager and a young adult ready to make the most of life beyond school.

So, what do they actually do during this time? The RFP unfolds across the year in three units:

Term 1: Identity and learning habits – including Hattah, a rite-of-passage experience that builds emotional strength, connection and a deeper sense of personal capability.

Term 2: Future-focused thinking – exploring the future of work, emerging technologies and new ways of engaging with the world.

Terms 3 & 4: Long-form inquiry – culminating in the Futures Exhibition, where students take genuine ownership of their learning and publicly present their work for critique.