Rosetta High

Graham Speight is the principal of Rosetta High which has an enrollment of 610 student in grades 7-10.

It is the first high school in Australia to use "the big picture". It is designed for students in 9th and 10th grade. "It caters for all ability levels and is aimed at providing a different kind of learning for the secondary age." Students select questions to research. They list skills they will need to answer the questions and include work projects and excursions. Three "r's" are stressed in this program: relationship, relevancy, and rigor. Since this program has been initiated suspensions and absences are down. The center of this program is to find what interests the students.

Another learning strategy used is called the lesson cycle. For those of you who like me were teaching in the 1980's, it is similar to Madeline Hunter's lesson cycle. Posters in classrooms indicate the various learning stages: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating..

Like all Australian schools, tenth grade is a crucial grade. This is when students choose either to attend a technical school, become an apprentice, or going on to the 11th and 12th grade to prepare for the university tests.

We enjoyed touring the school and learning about "the big picture" and their literacy cycle. Student were well behaved and teachers friendly and informative.