Our+Manifesto

Here at Apocrypha Secondary College we aim to transform our students into life long learners and critical thinkers through enquiry based learning techniques that are tailored to maximise their learning potential through each stage of their development. To make this happen, our school provides a learning environment where students are inspired and guided to think and reflect, make discoveries, consolidate ideas, and be continually challenged to think critically.
 * Manifesto for Learning **

We believe that learning is more than just the acquisition of facts and figures rather; it is a state of change that involves moving from one understanding of the world to another. It is a process whereby the current store of an individual’s skills, knowledge, repertoire of thought processes, and conceptions of the world are transformed and expanded. This process happens as students’ sense and internalise new information and then combine it with pre-existing knowledge in order to create meaning. For this to occur most effectively, new information must be made relevant so that it can be meaningfully added to and integrated with existing ideas. Hence, all learning is carefully planned from one lesson into the next so that students’ knowledge, skills and understanding are progressively built up and they can effectively apply their intellectual, emotional and physical strengths to their chosen fields.

Additionally, we address each student’s own interests and motivations and recognize that appropriate and consistently implemented social and intellectual environments are conducive to significant and long lasting learning. A cooperative learning atmosphere and a supportive classroom culture making better use of individual and collective resources are important ingredients in aiding the learning process. We create this environment by asking stimulating questions, provoking meaningful discussions, fostering optimism and confidence, and acknowledging and catering for the differences in leaning styles so that students are motivated by recognition of their own abilities and progress. This approach allows for creative interaction between learners, and this includes the teacher, as well as encouraging active participation and higher order thinking.

In order to make introduced information accessible and interesting, we present material in a way that can be related to young peoples’ everyday lives and encourage them to cement their learning by giving plentiful opportunities to practice skills and manipulate their newly gained ideas in specific and relevant contexts. We will keep up to date with the latest available technologies and use them as tools for aiding the educational process. We urge our students to reflect on what and how they learn and we actively provide them with techniques and ideas that will enable them to learn how to learn effectively. By continually monitoring the progress of our students in ways that don’t discourage participation we can identify knowledge gaps, assess individual learning strategies and skills and really foster the intellectual and emotional maturation of our student.

The staff at Apocrypha Secondary College are firmly committed to the principles outlined in this Manifesto and believe that at our school our students will not only learn in the best environment possible but that they will also learn to become active, passionate, thoughtful and considerate members of the public.