In Year 9, adolescents are experiencing great physical, social, emotional and intellectual developmental changes. It is during this critical period of their life that adolescents want to define themselves and search for a new identity – different from their pre-teen identity and parents.

As students naturally begin to explore new pathways and identify individual talents and interests our Year 9 program shifts focus to enable students to experiment, take positive risks with their education and personal development and engage in new areas of study and co-curriculum.

Our Year 9 global programs develop girls of character and empowers them to grasp their independence and become globally responsive young women.

Our elective program provides an opportunity for students to pursue subjects for which they have developed a passion or interest in. We nurture and encourage our girls’ growing independence and choice, whilst maintaining curriculum offerings that provide a core basis of study for our students’ to keep their academic options open.

The qualities of informed decision-making, personal negotiation and productive work practices come into play. As students transition to Year 9, elective offerings and global exchanges encourage students to experiment, explore, challenge and try out new curriculum areas. By Year 10, the academic programs connect more closely with the VCE subjects by narrowing the curriculum offerings but allocating more time to provide depth of study enabling students to sharpen their focus and to provide an improved platform for the heightened needs of VCE academic programs.

Year 9 Critical Conversations Program 

Our signature Year 9 program harnesses the interests and passions of our young women to enable a confident transition to their senior years of learning. A key element of our Year 9 offerings is our Critical Conversations  Program. This Program cultivates St Catherine’s Thinking Agenda across Year 9. 

Inspired by the Harkness approach our Critical Conversations Program is an alternative methodology of teaching and learning in which students lead critical conversations. The central purpose of the approach is to develop student capacity to use questioning and dialogue to direct their own learning. 

Throughout the year our Head of Year 9 provides ongoing guidance, pastoral care and coordination of the Year 9 cohort, as well as ongoing communication with parents.

Learning programs are delivered through the following core learning areas:

Core subjects

  • English
  • Humanities
  • Mathematics
  • Physical Education/Health & Personal Development
  • Science

Elective offerings are found in the following learning areas:

  • The Arts (Art and Design, Drama, Music and Media)
  • English (Literature)
  • Digital Learning (Digital World)
  • Health & PE (Sport Leadership and Sport Psychology)
  • Humanities (Accounting, Commerce, Geography, History, Philosophy, Politics)
  • Languages other than English (French, Japanese, Mandarin)
  • Science (Psychology)
  • Please note: Electives change each year and are dependent upon student choices

Pastoral Care

  • Risk-Taking Behaviours (alcohol and drug awareness, safe partying)
  • Sexuality
  • Nutrition
  • Physical Fitness
  • Media Awareness