BRISBANE WATER SECONDARY COLLEGE

Brisbane Water
Secondary College
is a two-campus college situated on the Woy Woy peninsula of the Central Coast. The college aims to create, at
each campus, an age-appropriate environment, in which students’ talents and
skills can be developed to the fullest. The Middle School Campus at Umina
(Years 7 to 9) is a team-oriented environment, which smooths transition of
students from primary school to high school, ensures the development of sound
basics and learning, leadership, and team skills, and prepares students well
for the certificate years at the Senior Campus. The Senior Campus at Woy Woy
(Years 10 to 12) aims to provide a more adult, flexible learning environment
with maximum curriculum choice, age-appropriate teaching, and thorough mentor
support.

Facilities: Both campuses have undergone major capital
works upgrades to provide specialist facilities for students. These include
performance spaces, special education facilities, a careers centre, senior
canteen, and outdoor hard courts. Both campuses are fully cabled for technology
and the senior campus has a state-of-the-art technology/business centre for
teaching of VET courses. The Middle school campus has a 4.85-hectare farm for
teaching agriculture from Years 7 to 12.

Electives Years 7 to 10: Students are assured of being
able to study the elective pattern of their choice due to a broad range of
electives offered. Courses include Aboriginal Studies, Commerce, French,
Japanese, Information Software and Technology, Agriculture, Design and Technology,
Electronics, Food Technology, Metal and Wood Technology, Textiles Technology,
Ceramics, Dance, Drama, Graphic Design, Music, Visual Arts, Photography,
Bushcraft and Recreation Studies.

Electives Years 11 and 12: Includes more than 45 NSW
Board of Studies courses, including all vocational education frameworks, a wide
range of TAFE courses, and access to three university courses, which can be
studied as part of the HSC and gain credit for future university study.

Sport: The college enters teams in most CHS knockout
sports. Recent successes have been in rugby, rugby league, touch football,
soccer, lawn bowls, baseball and swimming.

Extracurricular activities: The college provides a broad
range of campus and whole college extracurricular activities for students.
Performance is a strong focus of the college through choir, rock band, major
musical production, dance and debating. The college has recorded a CD each year
for inclusion in the past three national Kool Skools Awards and has won major
awards each time. The cattle club exhibits beef cattle with great success at
agricultural shows including Dubbo, Brisbane and the Sydney Royal.

Welfare and personal development: The Middle school
campus has a house-based welfare system linked to teaching teams, ensuring that
students quickly come to know each other and their teachers. The Senior Campus
has a strong student mentor program, which assists students to cope with the
demands of senior study.

Special features: The College is the sole provider of
government education on the Peninsula and
receives strong support from its partner primary schools and community. In
2004, the college launched academies in sport (rugby league, soccer and
swimming) and performing arts (rock music, dance and vocal) where students will
receive high level specialist coaching and training as part of their HSC
studies and will graduate from the College with accreditation in a range of
related fields.