Senior
School

Year 7 to Year 12

Our vibrant Christian learning community is supportive, positive, safe and secure.

Danebank girls and young women are at the heart of everything that we do; we’ve created our unique learning environment with their needs in mind. Our staff seek to hear, nurture, care for and celebrate every girl. Relationships, founded on trust and support, are so important here, not just for our girls, but for our whole community. That’s why we actively partner with families and encourage your engagement in your daughter’s learning.
Our multi-faceted curriculum is designed to ensure our girls:

  • Receive well-rounded, meaningful, engaging, relevant and challenging learning experiences.
  • Have the opportunity to explore their talents, interests and passions, and achieve personal excellence.
  • Learn how to learn.
  • Are given an exceptional advantage for life in a rapidly changing modern world. By being equipped with the character, knowledge, skills, dispositions and habits of mind required for future life success.

Offerings

The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the highest educational award in New South Wales. It provides flexible choices and the ability to specialise in an area of interest. While we’re not a selective school, our students score well above averages for the state in competitions and external examinations. We offer approximately 35 subjects.

We offer three Vocational Education subjects: Hospitality, Arts and Entertainment, and Business Services.

Students study the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and Geography, plus a range of other subjects, ensuring they get a “taste” of subjects they might wish to study in-depth in later years. Gifted Year 7 students can engage in accelerated Mathematics in Year 7.

Students continue to study the core subjects (see Year 7) with the addition of History. They also elect to study one language (Japanese or French).

Students continue to study the core subjects as outlined in Year 7 and 8. They also choose electives. Students elect two 100-hour courses for study in Year 9 and then have the option to either choose the same subjects again for Year 10 (making this a 200-hour course) or select another two 100-hour elective courses. Over the two years in Stage 5, students can choose from Drama, Music, Photography and Digital Media, Visual Arts, Commerce, History Elective, International Studies, Physical Activity and Sport Studies, Design and Technology, Food Technology, Industrial Technology, Multimedia, iStem and Textiles Technology. The only exceptions are French and Japanese, the details of which are discussed with students when they choose a language.

Students study English and one unit Studies of Religion. They then choose four to five electives from a list of over 30 on offer.

Our Signature Programs are whole-school initiatives that foster real-world, interdisciplinary links across wellbeing, curricular and co-curricular domains.

Our technology curriculum incorporates high-impact learning experiences to prepare girls for future work with specialist rooms and equipment.

Music, Dance, Arts and Drama are essential to educating the whole child. Danebank offers an extensive and enriching program for our girls to explore, discover passions and pursue their talents in the Performing Arts.

Our motto is Ut Prosim: That I may serve . As a community we embrace service learning opportunities.

Gifted students are helped to maximise their potential through differentiated learning experiences. They are provided an environment that challenges them, and supports them in their learning and through a plethora of enriching opportunities.

Students with special needs are identified early, using the expertise of the School Psychologist and the Learning Enrichment Team. Where needed, additional help is provided by special needs specialists and teachers’ aides.

Wellbeing

Lisa Vos, Director of Wellbeing

Individualised care, support and nurture

Academic care and student wellbeing are essential for learning. All teachers at Danebank integrate and combine learning frameworks to ensure wellbeing, thinking and learning are integrated and inextricably linked.

Our teachers are outstanding, deeply committed educators who are experts in their field. They go the extra mile, by getting to know their students and how they learn, and tailoring their programs accordingly. We provide appropriate levels of stretch and challenge, coupling this with high support, nurture and care.

We adopt a restorative practice approach to building and maintaining respectful relationships. It focuses on understanding harm that is done, accountability for the harm, repair of harm and restoration of relationships and wellbeing. Restorative practices support the creation of a trusting environment by providing all individuals with an opportunity to make positive choices and interact respectfully in the community.


Visible Wellbeing

Danebank is the first all-girls Anglican Visible Wellbeing Partner School in NSW. Designed by Professor Lea Waters (PhD), a world-renowned expert in positive psychology, Visible Wellbeing™ (VWB) combines the science of wellbeing with the science of learning and teaching to make wellbeing visible in all classes and across co-curricular.

VWB isn’t a set program, it’s a set of flexible practices that can be applied across any subject matter, and in all contexts – early learning, primary, secondary, and in the staff room. With the VWB approach, academic learning and wellbeing are truly integrated.

In addition, our bespoke wellbeing programs promote health, positive emotion, engagement, relationships and build resilience. We work to ensure that our girls are connected to our community and develop a strong sense of belonging, identity and purpose.


Student Care Structures

Danebank prides itself on the comprehensive student-care network we’ve established. Year Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of their students’ needs and undertake the special care of their year groups. They liaise with staff and parents to ensure that the needs of their year group are understood and promoted right throughout their high school years. Students are also supported by Connect teachers. Connect teachers meet with students for 30 minutes every day in a variety of contexts. They attend chapels and assemblies with students, deliver a wellbeing period once a week and supervise Year 11 leaders who run activities with younger students.

Where necessary they refer to the expertise of specialists such as:

  • School Chaplain
  • School Psychologists, Counsellors and Wellbeing Coaches
  • Careers Facilitator

Opportunities

Extensive and broad-ranging opportunities exist for girls at Danebank as they explore their passions, interests and talents while developing dispositions, relationships and the character to thrive in the future.

Co-curricular offerings turn the sparks of curiosity into flames of passion within our girls. Please link below to read more about some of these opportunities.


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