Taroona High School to expand into years 11 and 12 at new UTAS campus
A Tassie high school will offer years 11 and 12 from next year and in a twist, the new college campus will be located at UTAS.
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TAROONA High School will offer year 11 and 12 education from 2022 and in a twist, the senior school campus will be located on site at the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay site.
Taroona is the last Tasmanian high school to extend its offerings to include the final years, with the campus to be located in the former IMAS building at UTAS and lessons to begin in February for term 1.
It is not only the location of the college that has rewritten the rule book – the curriculum will have extensive opportunities in the key areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
“The STEM focus has two learning pods; one around renewable energies and one around marine and Antarctic science,” Taroona principal Matt Bennell said.
“Then there is the vocational learning in remote aviation (drones).
“(College STEM education) hasn’t been done this way before.”
UTAS Vice Chancellor Rufus Black reiterated the value of STEM studies in paving the path for the future.
“So many of these future jobs require those types of skills and they can be acquired in a variety of innovative ways, even for people who thought STEM is not for them,” he said.
Once the college is up and running the next step that will be explored is to link the STEM studies to achieving marks towards students’ TCE and ATAR scores, Mr Bennell said.
Budding chemistry star Charlie Boardman, 15, is looking forward to the integrated approach offered by the STEM subjects where instead of being studied separately as per traditional methods they are innovatively merged.
“I am not so strong in English but am really interested in Science so it will be really helpful,” he said.
The giant leap between the high school years and the big wide world of university will be seamless in transition for the lucky Taroona students, breaching a major cultural divide.
This was a particularly enticing concept for 16 year old Chelsea March who said she couldn’t wait for “that feeling of being in a university instead of the traditional college experience”.
The opportunity to be learning in classrooms located at a university, close by to young adults, provided a critical link between school and beyond for aspiring engineer Nicholas Carmichael, 16.
“There is much more of a focus on real world problems which enriches learning,” he said.
The new college location also encourages Taroona students to complete their further education at UTAS in Hobart instead of moving interstate, at a time when international students have been cut off from UTAS amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Students Charlie, Chelsea and Nicholas, along with fellow classmate Jemima Baghurst, 16, said this would be the likely next step for all of them.
“We will definitely know where everything is by then which will help,” Nicholas said.
Department of Education secretary Tim Bullard said high school retention rates would also be boosted by the move, and an integrated curriculum would be offered for years 9-12 to encourage this continuation of study.
“We really want each and every student to be completing year 12 which is important for them to become happy, healthy and productive,” he said.
“There were a cohort of students who previously missed out (on the high school to college transition).”
Loggers’ year-long discrimination case dismissed
A 16-month long discrimination case filed by logging supporters against the Bob Brown Foundation has been dismissed. What the anti-discrimination commissioner had to say.
Industry support for $65m Kangaroo Bay Hotel project
While in the midst of legal battles for the project, Kangaroo Bay Hotel developer Chambroad has received some industry support for the $65m plan: Who’s behind it: