Learning & Teaching


Santa Maria College is a community where learning occurs within a dynamic environment that is supportive of girls' education. Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviours, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values and wisdom. It is the goal of education and the product of experience. Learning is a process rather than a product; it is not something done to students, but something that students themselves do.

This model of contemporary learning promotes the following principles:

The capacity for and love of lifelong learning

  • Adopting an inquiry approach to holistic learning that deepens understanding and builds on existing knowledge through local and global contexts
  • Building resilience in our students
  • Developing skills in thinking and other key approaches to learning
  • Designing personalised learning opportunities where all students can experience success
  • The use of various approaches to learning and contemporary tools that support the creation, use and transference of knowledge
  • Reflection and evaluation to promote a critical awareness of one’s own learning
  • Planning for purposeful teaching
  • The articulation of high expectations that, when implemented, lead to optimal student outcomes
  • Targeted professional learning to develop the core attributes and capacities of effective teachers

    • A holistic view of education and an integrated curriculum, which will challenge the creativity, initiative and ability of each student

    Our curriculum is attentive to the needs of the individual in the 21st century, encouraging all students to work to the best of their ability. Authentic, relevant and dynamic learning opportunities are provided, formed around intercultural awareness, holistic learning and effective means of communication. Students discover that learning takes place at school and at home in partnership with their teachers and families, and by taking personal responsibility. Santa Maria College seeks to develop partnerships with the wider community to enable the sharing of resources and facilitate community-based learning and growth.

    Respect individual differences so that “the strong have something to strive for and the weak nothing to run from.” (RB 64:9)

    Our College values the worth and potential of each individual and sees the mission of a Catholic community as working towards the promotion of the whole person.

    The integration of life and faith and wise stewardship

    Santa Maria College nurtures the ongoing development of a faith and learning community in the Benedictine tradition in which all members work towards becoming lifelong learners sustained by Christ’s teaching. As a nation, Australia values the central role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society – a society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse, and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures as a key part of the nation’s history, present and future.” National Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians

    Our programs aim to develop learners who are:

  • Inquirers
  • Thinkers
  • Communicators
  • Principled
  • Open-minded
  • Caring
  • Balanced
  • Reflective
  • Knowledgeable risk-takers

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