School Partnerships

Schools:

• Aiyura National School of Excellence, Eastern Highlands

Aiyura National School of Excellence is one of the original national high schools in Papua New Guinea and has approximately 528 students in Years 11 and Year 12. It takes up to 40 per cent of the student population from outside the Eastern Highlands Province. The school provides these students with a pathway to university or other tertiary institutions. Aiyura National High School offers Accounting, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry; Computer Studies, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature and Physics. The school has introduced innovative STEM programs, including a Google Classrooms program and IT classes.

School sector: Government
School type: Senior Secondary (Years 11 — 12)
Student population: 2000
School website: www.aiyuranhs.ac.pg 

• St Paul’s School, Queensland

St Paul’s is an Anglican co-educational Prep to Year 12 school in Brisbane with a strong reputation for innovative strategies to engage young people in rich, meaningful learning. The school’s strategic focus surrounds the question: what is an education worth having? In a rapidly changing world where the future is uncertain, particularly in the technology and employment landscapes, our answer to this ‘big’ question is: one that builds agile, resilient students that instils on them an entrepreneurial mindset and innovative spirit, and grows a heart for servant leadership.

School sector: Independent

School type: Primary and secondary school (Years Prep — 12)

Student population: 1206

School website: www.stpauls.qld.edu.au 

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Develop a shared online platform for resources sharing, as well as a domain and website for Aiyura NSE to then connect to a learning management system and an Instagram page for students to connect between the two schools. 

Update: The Aiyura NSE website is now live, providing a range of information about the school, its activities, projects and staff as well as recent updates and extensive photo galleries. See: www.aiyuranhs.ac.pg/ 

St Paul’s School also sent over 70 laptops to be used by Aiyura NHS teachers and students during lessons and add to the school's recently opened Science and IT Lab.

Featured in Toksave #3.

• Aiyura NHS

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Aiyura NSE

• St Paul's School

Project WaSH-W:

• Aiyura NSE 

• St Paul's School

Schools:

• Anditale High School, Enga

Anditale High School is a government school located in the northern region of the highlands. It has 233 students in Years 9 and 10, with only a small percentage of students coming to the school from other provinces in the country. Despite its size and remoteness, Anditale High School was ranked in the top 20 schools in PNG for Year 10. In Years 9 to 10, the school offers studies in Agriculture, Business Studies, English, Mathematics, Personal Development, Science and Social Science.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 10)

Student population: 233 

• Bacchus March Grammar, Victoria

Bacchus Marsh Grammar is a Prep to Year 12 school serving students living in the western suburbs of Melbourne and surrounding rural areas. The school offers a wide range of Year 12 options for senior students and works with all students to develop their academic and social capabilities in an holistic fashion.

School sector: Independent

School type: Primary and secondary school (Years Prep — 12)

Student population: 2264

School website: www.bmg.vic.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Set up a website and Google Drive to enable exchange of learning materials between the two schools and promote the partnership within each school, supplemented by sending storage devices by mail for larger files and a potential long-term project to set up a Wi-Fi tower near Anditale High School.

Update: The two teams have via WhatsApp and Google Meet to discuss their science curriculum resources exchange.

Students have developed leadership skills and take the lead in organising school activities.

• Anditale High School

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Anditale High School

• Bacchus March Grammar

Schools:

• Gumine Secondary School, Simbu

Gumine Secondary School is a government school located in the Gumine District of Simbu Province, providing education to students from Years 9 to 12. It has approximately 900 students, with a very small percentage coming from areas outside of Simbu Province. The school aims to provide students with access to computer labs and laptops, to integrate e-books into the library and to foster e-learning through the use ofsmart phone technology. In 2018, Gumine Secondary School was ranked in the top 20 for Year 10 results in PNG. Across Years 9 to 11, the school offers Agriculture, Accounting, Applied Natural Resource Management, Business Studies, Design and Technology, English, Economics, History, Mathematics, Personal Development, Science and Social Science.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 900

• Bundaberg State High School, Queensland

Bundaberg State High School is a government comprehensive secondary school and one of the oldest state high schools in Queensland. Bundaberg SHS’s vision is to ‘provide the foundation for productive citizenship through quality teaching and learning.’ It also provides students with a range of options and opportunities to transition successfully from school into further education, training and work.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 1406

School website: www.bundabergshs.eq.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Improve sanitation and hygiene at Gumine Secondary School and strengthen intercultural understanding and relationships between students and teachers from both schools, through fundraising for a water tank and plumbing equipment, development of educational resources and lessons to improve hygiene awareness, as well as sharing of resources and demonstrations around PNG traditional arts and practices supported by regular communications and reflections on pedagogy and classroom practices, a.k.a. Tanks Very Much project.

Update: It was a momentous occasion when two large water tanks were delivered to Gumine Secondary School and installed in November 2020. Great teamwork and collaboration enabled this project to be completed with the Gumine team working on local logistics (capacity, supplier, location, cost, etc.) and the Bundaberg team raising awareness about and funds for the project. The two teams have held a couple of virtual meetings via Google Meet during the year to discuss this and other projects.

Featured in Toksave #1.

Thanks to the team in Bundaberg for making our project fruitful. It was a big challenge this year but we managed to make work and now the tanks are already in school students will start to use them next year.

• Gumine Secondary School

Our team was able to communicate with our partnership school Gumine through multiple meetings early in the year, then email correspondence to work collaboratively on the Tokstori bilong COVID-19 as well as use the success of last year’s Tank project to inform the future Penpal Project WaSH-W. We were also able to communicate via a WhatsApp group and video call. 

• Bundabergh SHS

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Gumine Secondary School 

• Bundaberg State High School

Project WaSH-W:

• Gumine Secondary School 

• Bundaberg State High School

Schools:

• Kerevat National School of Excellence, East New Britain

Kerevat National School of Excellence is the only national high school in the island region of Papua New Guinea, and takes in boarders for the Year 11 and Year 12 programs. It has a student population of approximately 500. A large proportion of students (69.5 per cent) are drawn from areas outside of East New Britain province. The school provides these students with a pathway to university or other tertiary institutions. Kerevat offers Year 11 and 12 students Accounting, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Studies, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature, Personal Development, Physics and Visual Arts. Kerevat NHS aims to improve teaching in ICT and to strengthen Science teaching through appropriate learning materials and equipment. It has also introduced ‘performative teaching and learning’ programs to support student learning.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 500

• Benalla P-12 College, Victoria

Benalla College was established in 2013 to merge four Victorian state government schools in the North-East Victorian regional town of Benalla. The College operates across four campuses to maximize the three key stages of learning: there are two Foundation to Year 4 campuses, a Years 5 to 9 campus and a Years 10 to 12 campus. 

School sector: Government

School type: Primary and secondary school (Years Prep — 12)

Student population: 907

School website: www.benallap-12college.vic.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Improve students’ oral communication skills by designing and implementing High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) and a whole-school instructional model, encouraging students to participate in public speaking activities, sharing feedback and resources, with a longer term project to set up shared Zoom rooms to team teach (post Coral Sea Cable implementation).

Update: The two teams have held virtual meetings via WhatsApp and Google Meet to assess connectivity and the possibility of holding future online sessions.

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Kerevat National School of Excellence

• Benalla P-12 College

Project WaSH-W:

• Kerevat National School of Excellence

This project [Tokstori bilong COVID-19] asked us to reflect on a very challenging time, while we were still going through this challenge down in Victoria. The most rewarding part of this project was viewing all the other entries; seeing how everyone else was dealing with the same challenges was more evidence that we really are all in this together. Witnessing the impact of this pandemic from a range of places in Australia and Papua New Guinea definitely put things into perspective.

• Benalla P-12

Schools:

• Mount Hagen Secondary School, Western Highlands

Mount Hagen Secondary School is a day school, located in the heart of Mt Hagen city. It has a student population of around 2,212 students in Years 9 to 12. In Years 9 and 10, the school offers Agriculture, Business Studies, Design and Technology, English, Mathematics, Personal Development, Science and Social Science. In 2018, Mt Hagen Secondary School was one of the 20 top performing schools in PNG for Years 10 and 12. The school also offers Year 11 and 12 students Accounting, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Studies, Design and Technology, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature, Legal Studies and Physics. The school has a farm, where students raise chickens and grow vegetables and Mount Hagen Secondary School also embeds Western Highlands culture and tradition throughout its curriculum and extra curricula activities.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 2212

School website: www.hagensecondary.org

• Mountain Creek State High School, Queensland

Mountain Creek State High School is the largest secondary school on the Sunshine Coast where it offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma to Australian and international students from Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, China and Nepal. Mountain Creek has an excellent reputation for outstanding achievements in academic, cultural, leadership, community and sporting programs and seeks to instill in its students a strong sense of international mindedness.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 2100.

School website: www.mountaincreekshs.eq.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Organise a community clean up in both schools’ local creeks, including an awareness raising and education campaign around the partnership and water pollution, to be run over an eight-week period in Term 1 of 2020, with the overall aim to make it an annual event done in conjunction between the two schools. Develop the prototype of PNG’s first high school entrepreneurial start-up activity known as the Moka STEM Project.

Update: Both schools have been exploring water sanitation in order to raise awareness about the importance of clean waterways in their respective communities.  Students conducted a series of experiments and commentary was collected from their peers answering questions such as what water means to them and how its quality can affect communities. Mountain Creek SHS then used its Facebook page to run an awareness raising campaign in the lead up to and during World Environment Day (5 June). 

Featured in Toksave #4.

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Mountain Creek State High School

Project WaSH-W:

• Mount Hagen Secondary School

• Mountain Creek State High School

Key learning experiences included being able to collaborate in a virtual environment. WASH – W gave us a chance to think in a critical and creative way especially when we looked at mapping our ideas to be high impact / low output. We were impressed of our school communities' input in this project. Many of our friends gave up their time to help us with the WASH-W project. 

• Mountain Creek SHS

Schools:

• Passam National School of Excellence, East Sepik

Passam National School of Excellence is one of six national high schools in Papua New Guinea. It is a rural school, offering education to over 700 students, 50 percent of whom come from regions outside East Sepik Province. Passam NHS offers Year 11 and 12 students Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Studies, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature and Physics. Passam NHS has initiated programs in ICT and digital technologies. It is moving towards becoming a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and paperless school as it focuses on pedagogies for twenty first century learning. In addition, the school offers vocational education opportunities, providing students with experiences in animal farming and production.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 700

• Haileybury College, Victoria

Haileybury is one of the largest schools in Australia with over 4,000 students across its four Melbourne campuses in the CBD, Keysborough, Brighton and Berwick, as well schools in Darwin (NT), and extensive international operations across China and South-East Asia. Haileybury offers an education model which recognises the diverse educational needs of boys and girls, operating ‘parallel education’ in Years 5 to 12 with boys and girls taught in single-gender environments. Haileybury offers small class sizes, individual teaching approaches, strong academic results, a highly international focus and broad extracurricular programs.

School sector: Independent

School type: Primary and secondary school (Years Prep — 12)

Student population: 5000+ across all operations

School website: www.haileybury.com.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Create a file sharing platform and exchange, allowing PNG teachers to enhance opportunities for PNG students to engage in their own learning and supporting student autonomy, including practical videos, scaffolding documents and feedback forms, starting with Year 11/12 Science subjects.

Update: The two teams have held virtual meetings via Google Meet to discuss their file sharing platform. Haileybury College teachers have successfully shared resources with Passam NHS teachers via Google Drive with the latest additions to support Passam's Grade 11 Physics curriculum. A Haileybury College student has also been collecting books from her school and local community to send to Passam students.

We have enjoyed all opportunities that we have had throughout the year to build on our partnership with Passam. In these session we are able to empathise with their current situation and work alongside them.We use these sessions to gain feedback on the resources being sent through and the effectiveness in the classroom.

• Haileybury College

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Passam National School of Excellence

Project WaSH-W:

• Passam National School of Excellence

Schools:

• Port Moresby National School of Excellence, National Capital District

Port Moresby National School of Excellence is one of six national high schools in Papua New Guinea. Established in 1996, the school is located in Gerehu, a large residential suburb to the north of Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea. POMNATHS has more than 600 students with 50 staff, including academic and support staff. In 2017, 277 Year 12 students participated in the school’s 22nd Graduation Ceremony which included the presentation of dux awards for social science and science streams. Scholarships supported by the International Training Institute (ITI) are offered by the school. It has also introduced online student selection.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 600+

• O’Loughlin Catholic College, Northern Territory 

O’Loughlin College provides co-educational Catholic secondary education to students in Years 7 to 12 in Darwin. O’Loughlin promotes a rights-based approach to education and inquiry-based learning with a focus on STEM related curriculum and extra-curricula activities.

School sector: Catholic

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 561

School website: www.oloughlin.nt.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Design and deliver interactive science activities to improve the quality of teaching and learning in both schools, including the development of a teacher guidebook and student posters (hard copy and digital) as well as longer-term teacher exchanges.

Update: The two teams finished their 'Hands-on' Science resources, including a teacher guide and posters to display in science labs, both available via Google Drive and in print. POMNATHS received printed versions of the 'Hands-On Science' resources from O'Loughlin College, which students then introduced to teachers. The two teams met via Google Meet to start discussing their next project focusing on Wellbeing, as part of Project WaSH-W. O'Loughlin College has started sharing some wellbeing resources with the team at POMNATHS.

Featured in Toksave #6. 

We communicated with our partner school via email and Google cCassroom and our partnership project was related to Mental Health of students. This is in progress and we are currently sharing resources that we use as a part of our Personal development lessons.

• O’Loughlin College

I learnt a lot from our students' presentations yesterday. It was fun and interesting to watch and listen to the students and amazing to see that they are critical, creative and innovative thinkers.

• POMNATHS 

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Port Moresby National School of Excellence

• O’Loughlin Catholic College

Project WaSH-W:

• Port Moresby National School of Excellence

Schools:

• St Gabriel’s Technical Secondary School, Western Province

St. Gabriel’s Technical Secondary School is a Catholic school for students in Years 9 to 12. It is run by the St. Gabriel Brothers of Monfort Order (India). The school has approximately 634 students, with a small percentage drawn from provinces outside of Western Province. Across Years 9 to 11, the school offers studies in Agriculture, Accounting, Business Studies, English, Economics, Geography, History, Mathematics, Personal Development, Science and Social Science. St. Gabriel’s has had a long association and collaboration partnership with an Australian volunteer organisation, Mercy, which has resulted in tertiary sponsorships and ongoing support for students at the school.

School sector: Catholic

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 634

• St Paul's College, New South Wales

St Paul’s College is a Catholic co-educational school in the North Coast town of Kempsey. The College offers a broad academic and vocational curriculum from Year 7 to Year 12. St Paul’s has a strong STEM focus with embedded STEM programs across curriculum and extra-curriculum activities. St Paul’s also has a long history of intercultural learning and has been involved in the BRIDGE School Partnerships program to develop school partnerships between countries and assist with capability building of partner schools’ teaching and learning practices between school leaders and teachers.

School sector: Catholic

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 576

School website: www.kmpslism.catholic.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Build teacher capacity in student-centred learning, inquiry-based learning and project-based learning through video modelling and training, starting with students’ and parents’ surveys. Run an awareness-raising campaign to increased girls’ enrolment in Science Streams and girls’ uptake of leadership roles, including the creation of a dedicated website, hosting a special school assembly with successful female leaders, organising inter-school debates to promote gender equality and distributing pamphlets.

Update: The two teams have developed a comprehensive partnership website outlining both the students' awareness-raising campaign around gender equity in schools, including profiles of inspiring STEM professional women, and the school leaders/educators' project on student-centred teaching and learning, including teacher modelling videos. You can view the website here.

St Paul's College has set up a student group to work on the Gender Equity project and students from St Gabriel's organised a march against violence against women.

Featured in Toksave #5.

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• St Gabriel’s Technical Secondary School

Project WaSH-W:

• St Gabriel’s Technical Secondary School

Schools:

• St Mary’s Asitavi Secondary School, AROB

St Mary’s Asitavi is the only girls’ secondary school in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB). The school caters for approximately 456 students from Years 9 to 12, with almost all students from the AROB. In 2016, the school was awarded a large government grant to improve its infrastructure, to accommodate the first intake of Year 11 students. Across Years 9 to 12, the school offers studies in Agriculture, Accounting, Business Studies, Design and Technology, Economics, English, Geography, History, Mathematics, Legal Studies, Physics Tourism, Personal Development, Science and Social Science. St Mary’s Asitavi has innovative approaches to learning and has a long history with Australia and Australians who have worked there. St Mary’s provides important role models for young girls in AROB and seeks to contribute to the development of female leaders. The school has produced female graduates who have gone on to contribute in meaningful ways to PNG, including PNG’s first female pilot, first female engineer and other women who served in diplomatic roles.

School sector: Catholic

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 456

• St Saviour’s College, Queensland 

St Saviour's College is a Catholic Girls' residential school administered by the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office. Adjacent to the CBD, it caters for 410 students from Years 8 to 12, drawn from across Australia and overseas. As a Catholic community, the College provides a well-rounded education with faith development and an emphasis, not only on what needs to be learnt, but also on how each individual learns. St Saviour's provides a rigorous academic and vocational curriculum, challenging students to achieve their potential. Art, music, dance and drama activities, debating and public speaking. choral and instrumental groups are all well-supported. The College is involved in sporting competitions including water polo, touch, volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball, hockey and netball. 

School sector: Catholic
School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)
Student population: 152
School website: https://www.ssctwb.catholic.edu.au/ 

Partnership Projects: 

As the two schools have recently been partnered due to the withdrawal of an Australia school, they are yet to decide on a partnership project. The two teams had an initial virtual meeting via Google Meet and St Saviour's College sent a video message for PNG Independence Day.

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• St Mary’s Asitavi Secondary School

• St Saviour’s College

Schools:

• Sogeri National School of Excellence, Central Province

Sogeri National School of Excellence is located approximately 60 minutes from Port Moresby and has Year 11 and 12 students, about sixty per cent of whom are drawn from other provinces and reside in dormitories for boys and girls. As one of six National High Schools in Papua New Guinea, Sogeri NHS provides senior secondary education (Years 11 and 12) with a pathway to university or other tertiary institutions. The school offers Year 11 and 12 students Accounting, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Studies, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature, Personal Development and Physics. Sogeri NHS has a strong focus on STEM education and recently opened two new science labs and also upgraded its ICT facilities for staff and students, with the provision of computers, software, access to networks, and the creation of a digital library, which allows students to access online resources. Amongst other STEM initiatives, the school is involved in an Environment Awareness Project, through which teachers and students learn about the promotion of sustainable forest management and the prevention of deforestation in the local area.

School sector: Government

School type: Senior secondary school (Years 11 — 12)

Student population: 600

School website: www.sogerinhs.org

• Cherrybrook Technology High School, New South Wales

Cherrybrook Technology High School is one of the most innovative and successful comprehensive high schools in NSW. A co-educational school with a wide range of teaching and learning programs and an extensive number of extra-curricular activities, Cherrybrook creates a dynamic community of learners using a high technology focus in its teaching and learning practices.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 1982

School website: www.cths.nsw.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Develop and distribute 300 welcome packs for the 2020 incoming Year 11 students at Sogeri NHS, with a focus on health and sanitation items, through fundraising and sales of bilums and a joint Skype call during Orientation week.

Update: The Sogeri NSE team created bilums which they then brought to Cherrybrook Technology HS during the school visit in November 2019. The Cherrybrook Tech team, with support from the student executive, used the bilums for fundraising and partnership awareness raising activities, with stalls set up at key locations across the school. The money raised was used to prepare and ship toiletry packs from Sydney to Port Moresby. Sogeri NSE students were grateful to receive the packs, which arrived just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two teams have held a virtual meeting via Google Meet to start discussing their next project.

Feature in Toksave #2.

We were able to catch up and collaborate with Sogeri NHS through the digital platforms.  We have been able to communicate through WhatsApp and the Internet.  We are working towards a combined project for 2021.

• Cherrybrook Technology HS

There is a very high drive, self-motivation, enthusiasm and commitment in the [Cherrybrook THS team] who partnered with us. The students were independent and had high level leadership skills conducting sales, collection of items and packaging themselves with very little supervision.

• Sogeri NSE

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Cherrybrook Technology High School

Project WaSH-W:

• Sogeri National School of Excellence

• Cherrybrook Technology High School

Schools:

• Vanimo Secondary School, West Sepik

Vanimo Secondary School is a government school offering education to students from Year 9 to Year 12. It is located in Sandaun Province, a popular surfing location, attracting international surfers, including Australians. Vanimo School has a student population of 670, with over 23 per cent of students drawn from provinces outside of West Sepik province. Across Years 9 to 11, the school offers Agriculture, Accounting Business Studies, Economics, Geography, Geology, Design and Technology, English, Legal Studies, Mathematics, Personal Development, Tourism, Science and Social Science. Innovative STEM programs at Vanimo Secondary School include producing crops from seeds to supply to the school and to sell to the community.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 670

• Townsville State High School, Queensland

Townsville State High School uses innovative and creative approaches to the curriculum delivery of educational services and programs and offers a range of academic, sporting and cultural opportunities for students, including Aerospace Studies, Tropics Basketball and our school musical. 20 per cent of Townsville SHS’s enrolments are indigenous students with 1 in 4 students coming from a non-English speaking background.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 790

School website: www.townsvilleshs.eq.edu.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Design and deliver one hands on activity for each Unit in Year 9 Science (2 activities in total) and two hands on activities for Physics within the next 6 months, as well as establish a knowledge and resource sharing platform for students and teachers, as part of the Vaniville Echnida 5000 project.

Update: Following a virtual meeting and discussion around science activities, a Townsville State High School teacher filmed and shared a Year 12 Physics experiment as an example of what practical activities can be conducted in class. The two teams also discussed collaborating on a water filtration system for Vanimo Secondary School.

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Vanimo Secondary School

Schools:

• Warwin National School of Excellence, Morobe

Wawin National School of Excellence is one of the six national high schools in Papua New Guinea that teach students in Years 11 and 12 and create pathways for entry into universities and tertiary institutions. The school is located in Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, but draws almost half of its students from around PNG. The school offers Year 11 and 12 studies in Accounting, Applied Science, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Studies, Economics, General Maths, Geography, History, ICT, Language and Literature, Personal Development and Physics.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 9 — 12)

Student population: 450

• Hurlstone Agricultural High School, New South Wales

Hurlstone Agricultural High School is the oldest agricultural high school in NSW and is the only selective co-educational boarding high school in the state. Hurlstone combines traditional academic studies with the opportunity for students to relate their work to the key primary sector of agriculture through an integrated curriculum model.

School sector: Government

School type: Secondary school (Years 7 — 12)

Student population: 956

School website: www.hurlstone.com.au

Partnership Projects: 

Plan: Build and maintain hydroponic gardens in both schools to increase the mental health and wellbeing of staff and students at both schools, as well as provide nutritious food for staff and students at Wawin boarding school, with a longer-term opportunity of selling excess produce locally to develop students’ entrepreneurship skills. Share resources to increase staff confidence and competence in using varied teaching strategies.

Update: Both schools have started working on their innovative hydroponic gardens project where they learned about hydroponics as a technique to grow crops, and how to maintain and care for their garden. Educators have also shared a range of teaching and learning resources around science and agriculture, and the Wawin NHS team now has access to online professional learning platform TTA, which they will be using for their future Professional Learning needs. 

Featured in Toksave #7.

The garden project at HAHS has built a greater sense of community and wellbeing, especially amongst the boarder students who were keen to develop an outdoor space that was pleasant and inviting. The added bonus has been the inclusion of organic vegetables and fruits that can be hand picked and enjoyed by students as a healthy anytime, snack. They have enjoyed maintaining the garden taking on ownership and are currently adding and replanting for this spring. Strawberries, mini Roma tomatoes and snow peas have been the mist popular along with enjoying the flowering plants that form the table top displays.

• Hurlstone Agricultural HS 

We did learn a lot from Australia and our partner school through different digital platforms.

• Wawin NSE

Submissions to other collaborative projects:

Tokstori bilong COVID-19: 

• Warwin National School of Excellence 

• Hurlstone Agricultural High School

Project WaSH-W:

• Warwin National School of Excellence

• Hurlstone Agricultural High School