Welcome

Welcome to the
Oakleigh Education Plan
Our Learning Precinct

Place-based Education Plans

Education Plans adopt a ‘people and place’ approach to education, enabling decisions about local learners to be based on local circumstances and made in an integrated way.

Education Plans aim to transform education provision in a geographical area, involving a cluster of schools and partners, through tailored interventions. These interventions respond to the complex challenges impacting the achievement and wellbeing of children and young people in that area.

Education Plans | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

Subscribe here to access the first two editions of the Oakleigh Education Plan bi-annual e-newsletter, the OEP Scoop.

What is being delivered?

Teaching and learning components being delivered in this plan include:

• a strengthened Year 5 to Year 8 transition program
• a dedicated Design Thinking/STEM professional learning plan and focus on promoting and integrating Design Thinking and STEM across all three schools
• clear career pathways with support through partnering with leading tertiary institutions and industry professionals
• strengthened Japanese pathways for students with a coherent approach to Japanese teaching and learning across the Learning Precinct
• a focus on teacher collaboration and building understanding and capability including Design Thinking, STEM, transition and Japanese

As part of the Oakleigh Education Plan, the Victorian Government has invested $9.92 million to support the planning and infrastructure for South Oakleigh Secondary College to extend the gymnasium and refurbish the science block.

Oakleigh South Primary School received funding through the building works package and Huntingdale Primary School received funding to upgrade and modernise their school, as well as funding from the permanent modular school building program.

For information and updates surrounding the latest building works, head to the Capital Works page and Oakleigh Education Plan schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au as well as the VSBA Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/VictorianSchoolBuild/

Update

We have had a busy year across Oakleigh Education Plan, as leaders and teachers within our three schools worked closely together to achieve our goals and priorities.

DESIGN THINKING and STEM

In 2023, our three schools have formed a Design Thinking Professional Learning Community which is dedicated to intentional collaboration between teachers to share and progress our professional learning, expertise and capabilities in Design Thinking. This Professional Learning Community is working in collaboration and with the support of Design Thinking experts from Monash Tech School who work in the role of a critical friend and mentor.

A major focus of our work with Monash Tech School and design studio MoveMerge in 2022 enabled us to learn from our teachers about their beliefs, perceptions and aspirations regarding STEM learning and design thinking. Through this work and ongoing engagement with the Design2Innovate professional learning series delivered by Monash Tech School, the focus of the OEP has transitioned to place a greater emphasis on design thinking.

MONASH MAKER FAIRE

Organised by Monash Tech School, Monash University and the City of Monash, the Monash Maker Faire was held on Sunday, 4 December. Over 9000 people across the day visited physical marketplaces, labs and studios at Monash University. Our three schools developed a ‘Mission to Mars’ project where students engaged in design thinking to identify and address several challenges in mounting a mission to Mars. OSPS students tackled the challenge of food and how to grow, harvest and prepare food for living on Mars. HPS students design the facilities to house mission members and provide a habitat and sustainable environment. SOC students designed and developed robots to construct the buildings and facilities designed by their Huntingdale classmates.

The quality and depth of work were outstanding, as was the enthusiasm and depth of knowledge students demonstrated when presented to visitors who filled the Woodside Building throughout the day. Congratulations must go to all our students, teachers, and the Monash Tech School team, who delivered an incredible event.

JAPANESE

Japanese learning continues to be an OEP priority. This year has featured several engagements with the Japanese Consular General. Students have had the opportunity to visit the Japanese Consulate and welcome the Consular-General to Japanese cultural events during the year.

The OEP, through OSPS and SOC, has successfully applied to be part of the Local Native Speakers Language Assistant program in 2023.

the services of a language assistant as part of this program for a second year is a great outcome. In no small part, this success can be attributed to OSPS and SOC jointly funding the appointment of a language assistant in 2023, as the program only provides partial funding.

In 2023, the Japanese focus includes a more specific focus on key elements of teaching practice in Japanese across the three schools. The reciprocal learning walks which commenced in 2022 continue to inform the work and learning for our newly formed Japanese Teachers Community of Practice (CoP). This collaborative CoP supports successful professional learning and sharing of practice as teachers build their understanding of our different classrooms’ challenges, teaching strategies, and learning strategies by observing, reflecting, and discussing.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

As our focus has shifted entirely to implementation, work is underway to identify the most meaningful data. Doing this will enable us to continue to monitor and evaluate our achievement and progress across all aspects of our work, such as building teacher capability in design thinking.

The OEP has continued to build momentum throughout the year. With implementation continuing to be driven by the principals, leadership teams and teachers at each of our schools, we look forward to what will achieve to benefit the learning and engagement of all our students in 2023.

Oakleigh Education Plan Partners

We are very fortunate to have Monash Tech School (MTS) as a key OEP partner, which allows our teachers and students to not only access their world class facilities and programs but also benefit from their specialist STEM expertise including the Design2Innovate professional learning program for teachers. As an example of the strength of this partnership and Monash Tech School’s commitment to the Oakleigh Education Plan, MTS are partnering with design studio MoveMerge to work with us to design, create and implement our key STEM strategic goals as a key element of the Oakleigh Education Plan.

For more about our STEM, Monash Tech School and MoveMerge collaboration, please see the STEM and Monash Tech School pages.