Oran Park Anglican College offers a very intentional education pathway that provides students with much more than a Higher School Certificate, it gives them the OPAC Difference that values courage, curiosity, craftsmanship, collaboration and compassion.
There is a discernible difference in our unique mix of academic rigour, opportunities to grow beyond the curriculum and in knowing each student as an individual. OPAC students graduate as robust and resilient young adults who are confident in their abilities, equipped and empowered for a life after school.
OPAC provides a nurturing environment
where students can explore their talents,
build strong relationships, and discover
their purpose as kind and compassionate individuals.
Mrs Kathryn Watkins
Deputy Head of Junior School – Teaching and Learning
Learning Framework
In 2020, after extensive research into the characteristics displayed by powerful learners, a new teaching and learning framework ‘Powerful Learners’ was implemented.
The framework is an innovative model that moves beyond the conventional approach to learning, and focuses on combining the acquisition of content knowledge with the development of character.
The model uses Guy Claxton’s Learning Powered Approach which draws together research on how students learn and what abilities strengthen our capacity to learn. Within this framework, OPAC has identified 5 core values associated with learning. Powerful learners display capacities associated with Courage, Curiosity, Craftsmanship, Collaboration and Compassion.
The framework encourages students to reflect on how they can become more powerful learners and encourages teachers to focus explicitly on developing these different learning dispositions. We do this together as a community through the way we talk about learning, the way we structure learning activities and the way we think about what good learning looks like.
Technology
The College is constantly innovating and evolving with best practise, and in our modern world, this often centres around the use of technology. Technology is embedded throughout the learning programs in both Junior and Senior School.
Classrooms are well equipped with interactive whiteboards and the learning experience is further enhanced through the provision of iPads and laptops for student use in Preparatory to Year 4. From Year 3, students have access to a learning management system and Office 365 suite to ensure the development of their ICT skills and learning potential is maximised. Students bring their own laptop from Year 5.
Student Support
The transition from Junior to Senior School can be challenging for students. Our integrated Prep to Year 12 campus assists in smoothing this transition using several programs to support the process. These include:
- Years 7 to 12 Student Wellbeing Advisors and Pastoral Care teachers
- School Counsellors and external support networks
- Peer Support Program for students in Years 7 and 8
- Learning Support and in-class student learning assistants for students with learning needs
- After hours homework/study centre
- Year 12 Mentor Program
- Orientation Days and Camps
Diverse Learning
We recognise all students as individuals with different needs and who learn in a variety of ways. For our teachers, educating your child is more than a job — it’s their calling. Our teachers are highly skilled and constantly developing a differentiated curriculum to ensure every learner is known and provided the support and challenge to reach their full potential.
The OPAC Difference means each student is an individual — not a number — and “of greater worth than gold”.
