about the consortium

About the Consortium

Apollo Parkways Primary School, Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Essendon North Primary School, and Glen Waverley Secondary College were established as Navigator Schools in October 1995. Since 1995, these schools have been leaders in the the effective integration of Learning Technologies and Teaching and Learning strategies to improve teaching and learning and school administrative practices.

The Navigator Schools aspire to support the development of students as autonomous learners whose preferred learning styles are facilitated and extended by teachers who have a wide range of teaching strategies to draw on.

The Navigator Schools are committed to sharing their experience and continuing journey of whole school change and innovative pedagogy with the broader educational community. Since January 1997, the schools have provided an extensive range of professional development to over 40,000 participants.

The schools exchange experiences on the state, national and international stage.

Leadership support to schools is provided by:

• Access to successful, transformative leadership models

• Access to practicing experts on the importance and implementation of whole school change and the embedding of accountability frameworks

• Access to a working model of a powerful and effective network of primary and secondary schools

• Practical strategies and advice regarding implementing DEET priorities to all schools, based on successful practice, including: Early Years, Middle Years, Later Years, Literacy, Numeracy, Social Competencies, Student Engagement and Retention, and Bridging the Digital Divide.

Teaching and learning support is provided by:

• Exemplary customised ongoing consultancy and professional development services to schools

• Teachers and students who regularly welcome visitors to their classroom

• Links with higher education institutions and a rich resource of qualitative and quantitative data for research and development

• Strong links to national and international best practice, which provides a constant source of new and exciting learning ideas

• Support for visiting teachers in working schools that contextualise theory in a practical, transferable environment.
  
  The testing, design, and development of resources is shared with visitors giving:

• A window into the future in the use, design and development of high quality online resources

• Effective, working models of private sector partnerships

• Models of curriculum design and delivery based on current research into powerful learning.

Technical and network support to schools and systems is provided by:

• Innovative technical and infrastructure solutions that work in a school environment and can be maintained by school resources

• Pushing the edge in network design, reliability and use in a school setting

• Leading practice in the development and classroom applications of Intranets and Extranets

• Leading practice in the provision of digital home, school and community links.