ACADEMIC TALENT PROGRAM
Our key goal for Catalyst is to enable our students to harness and develop their special academic talents . Our Academic Talent Program , aptly named STRIVE , offers students with specific talents and strong personal drive , the opportunities to be engaged in coursework that seeks to develop their academic gifts .
Catalyst Core Subject Areas
In the Catalyst core course areas our STRIVE Advanced courses provide our most able students with opportunities to develop their talents and pursue personal excellence in the areas of Mathematics , English , Science and Humanities and Social Sciences . Each unit of work has been tailored specifically to extend and challenge students ’ thinking . Learning activities , resources and assessment tasks are carefully and deliberately selected to extend and develop critical thinking and problem solving skills and expand students ’ general world knowledge .
Consideration has been given to providing opportunities for students to draw on their individual learning styles , and assessments have been structured to allow them to demonstrate their outstanding abilities and extend their repertoire of skills in each STRIVE Advanced course .
Selection to one of the core STRIVE courses is based on criteria including a proven record of high academic performance and Head of Faculty recommendations . Equally , STRIVE students are required to demonstrate a strong desire to develop their academic talents .
Student performance in these STRIVE courses is reviewed each semester .
STRIVE Discovery Course Opportunities
As part of our drive to encourage students to achieve personal excellence , two STRIVE Discovery courses are offered by invitation each year ; one in Year 8 and one in Year 9 . STRIVE Discovery courses provide intellectual challenge and encourage academic rigour within specific curriculum fields and are taught by teachers with passion and expertise in these areas of study .
Student selection for STRIVE Discovery courses is based on criteria including NAPLAN and AGAT test results , Head of Faculty recommendations and student attitude and effort grades .
STRIVE Discovery courses previously offered to students include :
� � � � � �
Nanotechnology Critical and creative writing Educational technology in practice The art of strategic and tactical thinking Epidemiology Making the most of your brain - Neuroscience
Page | 15