AN AWARD WINNING SCHOOL

In 2020, Genazzano FCJ College has again been recognised for its excellence and commitment to girls’ education as a finalist for the Australian Education Awards 2020 in four categories; winner of The Educator’s Innovative Schools Award; and recognition in The Educator's Hot List with Deputy Principal: Learning and Teaching.

Australian Education Awards

The Australian Education Awards bring together hundreds of education leaders, recognising star performers in the K-12 sector across 25 categories. The Awards recognise schools, principals, department heads and teachers for their achievements.

This year, Genazzano was shortlisted for four awards: Best CoCurricular Program (for the third year running), Best Use of Technology, Best Professional Learning Program and School Principal of the Year - Non-government.

Being a finalist in these Awards is testament to the ongoing commitment and dedication of our teachers and support staff who work tirelessly to ensure we deliver world class programs that meet the academic and wellbeing needs of our students.

The extensive Co-curricular Program of over 130 activities is an integral part of the College’s educational experience; promoting creativity, excellence and innovation; along with opportunities for leadership, service to the community and teamwork.

Supported by energetic staff and parents, students are able to pursue their passions and develop lifelong interests and relationships outside of the classroom and their peer groups. Activities include Music, the Arts, Sport, Debating and Public Speaking, Language Immersion, Social Justice and Leadership, as well as interest based clubs that change throughout the year.

This year we had two elected Co-curricular Captains who advocated for the program by suggesting ideas, actively participating and encouraging their peers to get involved. This holistic approach to education empowers students to be risk takers who willingly step outside their comfort zones, make connections and achieve set goals – all qualities of the Genazzano learning community. Providing a rounded education is also demonstrated through the school’s commitment to technology and preparing students with the skills they will need for life and work. By bringing the digital technologies curriculum to the forefront of student learning, the College has created a strong technology culture and excitement in this area.

Students are introduced to programming and coding within the curriculum and provided many opportunities to experience and create with technology via games and virtual reality excursions. Over the past two years, exciting and dynamic DigiTech programs have been introduced including innovative cross-curricular programs with digital technologies learning embedded in core curriculum areas and a partnership with RMIT to teach Python Programming at Year 7. Massive numbers of students engage in the GenTech co-curricular club each week and our students have competed nationally, including placing first at the ‘Everybody Dance Nao’ competition. The College has now implemented two programming electives at Year 9, an integrated coding program in Year 8 Mathematics and our first technology based VCE class – Applied Computing.

For the Best Professional Learning Program Award, Genazzano has been nominated for its Science of Learning: Improving Educational Outcomes professional learning program. Now in its third year, the multi-year program is designed and delivered by internationally renowned neuroscientist, teacher and author, Dr Jared Cooney Horvath; and offers cutting-edge research in the fields of neuroscience, education and psychology, as well as coaching on the translation of key scientific principles and workshop applications.

The professional learning program focuses on student improvement and supporting teachers to build individual and

Is there a realistic and exciting career for girls in technology? Yes! says Curriculum Leader of Technology, Ms Sarah Gale who has spearheaded a plan to drive technology use at Genazzano which is going from strength to strength.

collective expertise through projects, team research, shared learning, and opportunities to speak publicly about their work to teach others. We have also had a number of educators published this year, in different journals relevant to their fields of expertise. The final nomination for School Principal of the Year - Nongovernment, is to recognise the extraordinary leadership of Ms Karen Jebb, Genazzano FCJ College Principal (2016 - 2020), for her gusto and vision, which has been displayed time and time again during her five year tenure as Principal. She has transformed school engagement and established a direction and structure that ensures student learning is first and foremost in all activities. The outstanding VCE results in 2019, with 7% of students in the top 1% of the state and 50% of students receiving an ATAR of 90 or above, is testament to the thriving learning culture and commitment to excellence from educators, student and parents, that Ms Jebb has created.

We are eagerly awaiting to hear the results of the Awards which will be announced on 26 November 2020. Regardless, being shortlisted is a fantastic achievement and one that our Genazzano community should be very proud of. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Innovative Schools Award

In 2019, Genazzano FCJ College was recognised as an innovative school for the work of the Genazzano Institute of Learning & Brain Sciences; a unique and progressive innovation to promote an understanding of brain function and health for improved learning and living.

Since then the Institute has gone from strength to strength, continuing to support students with different programs and clubs; the Science of Learning program for educators; and events, news and forums to support the broader community to better understand the brain and embrace topics like neurodiversity.

This year the Institute has been recognised again for its iLEARN Profiler and upcoming Emergence program. The Profiler is a strength based tool which invites a student view of strengths, challenges, classroom experience, mindset, approach to learning, metacognition, motivation and more. The tool was developed and piloted by the Genazzano Institute of Learning & Brain Sciences this year and received positive feedback from both staff and students.

“I think the survey is useful. I was able to stop and think about how I learn and what I’m good at”. - Genazzano student, 2020.

Emergence combines exceptional learning opportunities with a new microcredential platform and a dynamic digital ePortfolio. Students build rich compendiums of skills mastery, knowledge and experience throughout their learning journeys and the portable database allows them to showcase their accomplisments beyond the school.

2020 Hot List

The Educator's 2020 Hot List features leaders who are creating positive change in the lives of Australian students through a vast range of innovative evidence-based initiatives. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, this List recognises individuals who have led the K-12 education sector over the past year and made invaluable contributions.

We were delighted to have Ms Lorna Beegan, our Deputy Principal of Learning and Teaching recognised in the ‘Hot List’ for championing multiple progressive and innovative student programs at the College. These include:

the ‘GEN-i-US Profile’, an exciting skills and microcredentialed portfolio launched for Year 10 students;

‘Cognizance’ Metacognition and ‘GenCurious’ for Year 9 students to help them delve into learning about the brain and how learning takes place; and

a Year 7 ‘Inside Out: Outside In’ program where students learn about emotions and explore neurodiversity in collaboration with the Genazzano Institute of Learning & Brain Sciences.