Welcome to 'Island School."
Some schools have a hard time getting their square pegs to fit into the round holes that have been determined elsewhere for all children to squeeze through. Island School takes quite a different approach to education and focusses on creating square holes for all square pegs who might wish to give school another go. For several decades now the proliferation of Home Schooling, Flexi-schooling, Alternative schools and most sadly No -schooling have shown our nation’s education system has failed a huge number of its clients, our nation’s children, our nation’s future. Amongst many other indicators it is obvious that society as a whole is suffering like we have rarely seen and all the traffic lights which have been blinking orange to show us things were not OK are now turning red.
Island School uses shop fronts and the whole of the community resources, including its citizens, as its base operating platform and its motto, “Service before self” is embedded in its charter. It is non-political, non-religious and free for everyone who might choose an education model fit to face the challenges of the Info/Technological Revolution in which we all now live; the antiquated model of the past Industrial Revolution being no longer able to manage today’s societal stresses and strains.
If you would like to learn more as to how to be involved, maybe to enrol or to teach or to help fund or to mentor or to be a board member or advisor, the following is a brief overview of the project, commencing soon on an island you know well and in a shopping centre you might sometimes frequent.
Island School has a Board of Governor Investors to oversee the financial viability of the school and to manage the legal aspects of compliance and insurance. Its structure is a Charitable Foundation. It is a ‘not for profit’ body, non political and non religious.
The day to day management is in the hands of the Education Co-ordinator who is answerable to the Board, the community, the staff, the parents, pupils and students and who is charged with the overall responsibility of ensuring the enterprise is faithful to its charter and operates at all times within the law of the land.
Island School’s charter is to fulfill the educational needs of all pupils and students to the satisfaction of all of its clients and to be open to scrutiny from all levels of its community.
The motto of the enterprise is “Service before Self” and this is achieved through its open door policy to the total community. “I don’t know what to teach you until I know what you already know” is the ethos on which all learning is based. All instruction is based on the principles of the Multiage Classroom structure described herein. “To have fun learning and be with my friends” is implicit in the ethos of Island School.
The curriculum is expressed in four pages of broad intent on which the learning syllabuses, episodes and experiences are based. Whilst Literacy and Numeracy are essential components of the curriculum so too are all aspects of The Arts and special emphasis is placed on the fourth R, Relationship, with Bullying and Behaviour Management not issues of concern. The supporting syllabuses are based on the nineteen modules of the “Set for Life” or Puberty Curriculum, the 1986 Queensland Maths curriculum and the Victorian “Pathways” literacy syllabus. The curriculum is future oriented to ensure pupils and students are fully prepared for the Info/Technological Revolution in which they are all playing their role. The resources of copycatchildren.org’s teaching strategies form an integral aspect of day to day hands on experiential learning. Teaching staff includes trained teachers and trainee teachers with a passion for teaching and learning, as well as community members whose living skills expertise forms an essential aspect of day to day learning. Mentors are an essential component of student support and development.
Whilst managing technology is an important aspect of the learning suite hands-on-writing in personalised ring-back binders is the modus operandi of every day’s activities. No iPhones of Homework are part of the learning suite. The whole island environment is the “classroom” of Island School with a rented shop front in which income generating activities are essential.
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Setting Our Students and Ourselves up for 2040.
It is estimated that we have experienced 0.1% of the technological changes we will see by 2040. This means we will all essentially be newbies as we begin to understand the enormity of the changes facing our world.
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