Students and teachers have commenced their exploration of the many and diverse topics that form the Humanities, which are by definition, subjects where students learn about the human world around them and their place in it, legacies and lessons of the past and challenges for the future.

Starting their time in the Senior School, our Year 7s are engaged in learning about ancient Egypt, while at the other end, the Year 12 students are already well into discussing issues, writing responses and engaging with the key knowledge that make up the VCE Humanities offerings, including: Accounting and Business Management, through to Economics and History, but also Legal Studies and Global Politics.

In addition to the Faculty’s 2019 teachers who worked successfully with classes to achieve outstanding results in Years 7-10 and VCE subjects, the Humanities Faculty has been fortunate to gain further expert and experienced teachers for 2020.  Ms Liz Coolican-Dewhurst is teaching across Years 7, 9 and 10 subjects and Mr Mark Fernandez, is teaching VCE Business Management and Year 9 Financial Literacy. Additionally, Ms Mackenzie Neale is teaching Year 8 Geography, while also teaching French to other year levels.  All three new teachers have been warmly welcomed by their respective classes and colleagues.

The Year 8 Geography classes have been studying the nature of coastal landscapes and experienced what is, perhaps, becoming an annual weather tradition of visiting St Kilda Beach for a summer’s afternoon of fieldwork and being met with howling winds, rain and hail.  Our Year 8 students worked in almost 50km/h winds to complete field sketches and take photographs of features for their upcoming report on coastal landscape change and management.

Year 9 students in Geography are exploring the problems associated with food security in the 21^st Century and the challenges of feeding a possible global population of 9.5 billion people in 2050.  Whereas, Year 10 Geography students are considering the important question of whether India will become a super power in the future and the implications of that for Australia.

In History at Year 10, students are exploring the interwar periods of the early 20^th Century in the core History subject.  Year 10 is the year level that also provides students with a broader range of elective choices to expand their knowledge and understanding of specific Humanities disciplines that become the basis of VCE subjects, including Accounting, Globalisation (Economics and Politics), Philosophy.

Having seen many of the teachers in action with students in these first weeks of Term One, there is a clear atmosphere of enthusiasm in the classrooms as students learn new skills and knowledge. Additionally, there continues to be a core focus in the Humanities on facilitating students in developing their critical perspectives about what they are learning, but also how to apply that knowledge in a fast changing world.