The ‘Personal Learning Program’ (PLP) is the set of learning units that a student will undertake each year while they are at Brauer College.
In Year 7, all students undertake a common course of study.
From Year 8 to Year 12, the Personal Learning Program allows students to select units for each semester (half year) from the following Key Learning Areas:
The Personal Learning Program gives students the opportunity to:
Students’ progress is monitored by their Pastoral Care Leaders, teachers, and their Year Level Managers.
Our Years 8 to 12 PLP offers a balanced and comprehensive curriculum based on our school philosophy and policies, the Australian Curriculum in Victoria (AusVELS), the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) and the Australian Curriculum guidelines.
Students are guided to select units that will give them a sound general education - meeting the minimum requirements will ensure this. They should also select units that will develop the knowledge and skills they need to continue their study into VCE or VCE-VM and beyond.
The reason you can choose a PLP that’s right for you is because Brauer College has organised its curriculum VERTICALLY in a ONE-WEEK TIMETABLE. This means that all subjects you choose to study are given 5 periods per week and can be ‘blocked on’ together. So, even if you are a Year 8 student, it is still possible for you to study a Level 9 subject, and a Year 10 student can easily be timetabled into a VCE subject.
Your Pastoral Care Leader, Year Level Manager, your favourite teachers and, of course, your parents, are always there to counsel you. With their help, you will choose the PLP that is right for you. Meeting the minimum requirements will keep your options open.
Brauer College believes that students (with the support of their parents, carers and teachers) are old enough to think about and plan which subjects they should study in the following year to provide themselves with a good education and prepare them for further study or work.
Students should talk to their support people, select a PLP from the available units, and then record that selection in their PLP Passport. They should make sure their Passport is handed in to their Pastoral Care Leader at the end of the process.
As the main supporter of your child, your help is critical. You should talk with your child about their education and their future. You should help them choose a PLP that is right for them. If you need help with this, then please contact your child’s Pastoral Care Leader, their Year Level Manager or our Careers teacher, Mr Jackson.
The PLP is designed to encourage capable students to undertake more challenging studies in those areas in which they excel. With teacher and Pastoral Care Leader endorsement, students can choose units at a higher level. This includes undertaking select VCE units prior to Year 11.
SEALP is the ‘Select Entry Advanced Learning Program’. SEALP students complete Years 7 to 10 in three years, giving them an extended range of options for their senior years of schooling. This may include choosing to complete additional VCE units, undertake the Higher Education Studies Program or enter tertiary education after only five years of secondary schooling.
At Brauer, SEALP students remain in the same Pastoral Care group throughout their secondary experience from Year 7 to Year 12. SEALP students will complete Years 7 to 10 in three years; remaining together in their core disciplines with the flexibility to access accelerated electives in their areas of interest.
The PLP also caters for students who need more time to develop their skills in certain subjects. They may choose or be recommended by teachers to choose particular units at a level that suits their capabilities.
No! Your Pastoral Care Leader closely monitors each student’s progress in their PLP as well as their welfare at school. This teacher will, in most cases, be with them right through their secondary education and will meet with their group every day. Year level Managers will also monitor students in their year level.
Students, with the support of parents / carers and teachers, can negotiate a change to the rules if they can demonstrate that it will enable a student to meet their learning needs.
These are the learning and assessment tasks that make up a semester-long teaching program for students in a Key Learning Area (KLA). Sometimes, they are referred to as ‘subjects’.
Each KLA lists the units they offer and gives some brief information about each later in the Unit Descriptions.
All unit descriptions will show any extra costs - if any - that need to be paid for a student to participate in the learning activities of that unit. This usually only applies if the unit involves activities away from the school grounds or where materials are used which are not covered by DEECD funding.