To stimulate students' curiosity, creativity and love of learning beyond the curriculum, and to enable them to experience wise leadership, our education team designs rich activities and programs that contribute to the development of students' intellectual, emotional and physical well-being.
1 - Students Leadership Committee (SLC) – Serving on the SLC provides students with a wide range of opportunities to understand, through practical experience, the meaning of wise leadership, which is fundamental to Buddhist education. When becoming captains in one of the offered fields, students thrive to fulfil a specific category of leadership, each which requires specific attributes and a willingness to be challenged.
2 - School Concerts – Every year students perform at our annual school concert held at The Drum theatre in Dandenong. It’s an opportunity for students to experience perseverance to produce high quality of performance in front of a large audience while expressing their creativity and artistic talent.
3 - Biomimicry thinking and doing – Biomimicry thinking is first to understand that, with its 3.8 billion years of adapting to constant changes, Nature is a Master of sustainable knowledge. In every subject area, students develop the skills to thoroughly observe Nature to get sustainable answers for living in the 21st century. From Foundation to Y6, students always have this question in mind: how does nature solve the problem that I try to figure out? For example, students have learnt that meerkats manage conflict by taking turns leading. Students not only learn about nature but also from Nature.
4 - Wonder Wednesdays – They give students the opportunity to develop their inquiry mind while researching on a chosen topic from a range of complexity. Students also learn how to display their projects and introduce them to the whole school community. While answering the questions of the audience, they practise their deep-thinking skills and capacity to synthesize their ideas.
5 - Land based learning – HNBC college puts a great emphasis on learning in a rea-world context. Naturally, that means taking students out into different spaces where they can immerse themselves fully in authentic experiences. There is no better place to do that than in nature, either swimming with dolphins at Sorrento that help them experience their inter-being connection with other species within their natural environment or exploring the fauna and flora at the Wilson Promontory or other natural environment.
6 - Collaborating with Melbourne Zoo – As part of the STEM program, students have the opportunity to experience real collaboration with zookeepers to create enrichment for captive animals such as such as meerkats, lemurs or hippopotamus. As they study the physical and mental needs of a specific animal, they develop their observation skills and empathy to see clearly how they can design and build an enrichment that will ensure the well-being of the animal they are studying.
7 – Rigorous Mathematical Thinking – RMT engages all students to build their mathematical skills through constructing and applying deep conceptual understanding of big ideas. It is process oriented, and it involves high quality thinking. RMT aims to create structural change in students’ understanding of mathematical knowledge. It also introduces students to the rules of mathematics culture.
8 - National Academic Competitions: Students of the upper primary school enter competitions in the fields of Mathematics, Writing and Science.
9 – Reconciliation – To develop their understanding of the meaning of reconciliation, students participate in activities at Springvale Community Hub where a Welcome to Country and Traditional Smoking Ceremony are held by a local Bunurong Elder. Our students practice their deep listening skills and empathy to not only understand intellectually but also emotionally aspects of Aboriginal practices and history.
10 - Students Magazine – It is designed and run by Y5/6 students and where all students at school have the possibility to have their project published, either in the form of narrative, report, poem, photography, speech, video, drawing, etc.
11 - Mini Olympics - Students participate in the Mini Olympics through cross age physical activites within their School House. Each School House represent a country that students study their group in order to get a better multicultural understanding of traditions, ways of life and languages. They create a mascot representing the culture traits of their chosen country, they also create a dance on traditional music that they perform at the Mini Olympic opening ceremony. They also address a short welcoming message in French, the official language of the Olympic Games.