community, poatina, steiner school tasmania, capstone college, schools tasmania

Imagine a school with no uniforms, no homework, and a hands-on, skill-based curriculum. Capstone College will open this year, and be the first school of its kind to operate in Tasmania. The college is based at Poatina, and will service grade 9 and 10 students. The students will be those who have fallen out of mainstream schooling, for various reasons. The minds behind Capstone see it as a re-engagement point. While it will still operate within the Australian curriculum, it won’t look like a standard school year. Throughout the year, they’ll cycle through eight five-week blocks that will draw on the wealth of diverse community experience that the Highlands township has to offer. Principal Russell McKane said the program would allow the students to still attain traditional education skills, but also take on practical skills, and see a result for their work. Each unit comes with a tangible outcome. A history unit will focus on gathering information about the origins of the area, and creating a museum in one of the township’s old shopfronts. Another will be a drama course, which will culminate in a performance; there’s a hospitality course that will run in conjunction with the town’s hotel, and see students put on meals for the public; and art units that will produce an exhibition. “We want the students to think ‘We’re not just doing education to tick an educational box, we’re doing something to be proud of’,” Mr McKane said. “We want them to think ‘What we’re doing is worthwhile’.” He expects that the school will service students between the ages of 15 to 20, who will be able to self-nominate (and re-evaluate) which grade they learn at. He has been involved in this alternative style of teaching for 20 years, and founded a similar school in New South Wales. He said that, once it was up and running, the school was achieving a 75 per cent completion rate for its students. Initially, the school will take 15 students across both grades, who will work through a two-year cycle. Mr McKane said there were generally three kinds of young people who made up the student body at schools such as Capstone. One third, he said, were out of school for behavioural reasons. One third disengaged from schooling for mental health problems, and the final third were those who “had their education taken from them”, and were in situations that made school attendance impossible. The school year will begin on February 10 with a student orientation day, however enrollments are available throughout the year. For more information, visit www.capstone.tas.edu.au

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