Alice Miller School

Alice Miller is a secondary school that opened in 2016 with 80 students. It began with Years 7 to 11, and continued to Year 12 in 2017. It commenced 2018 with 171 students, and by 2019 is expected to be at its capacity of 200 students. Alice Miller is a sibling-school to Candlebark School near Romsey. Alice Miller School and Candlebark promote:

• Firsthand experiences as the best basis for learning
• Creativity and inner strength as vital foundation stones for adulthood
• A willingness to engage with the world in a brave and open way, as a prerequisite for a fulfilled life.

Candlebark graduates have been conspicuously successful academically and socially at other schools and universities, are frequently chosen for leadership roles, and are often recognised for their maturity, tolerance and inclusive attitudes. We are delighted to see these strengths already developing in Alice Miller students. The first and most important rule at Alice Miller and Candlebark is “no excluding”, which concisely expresses the importance the school attaches to generosity, tolerance and courtesy.

Alice Miller seeks to build on Candlebark’s success by adopting the same approach to education, but also by dedicating itself passionately to the development of students’ artistic abilities. The school recognises the growing importance and legitimacy of the arts in our society, and is strongly aligned with the views of educators like Sir Ken Robinson on the value of creativity in individual lives. It acknowledges the capacity of artistic expression to contribute to a sense of wellness, fulfilment and joy – and to massively enhance career prospects in the 21st century.

Alice Miller is committed with equal strength to its academic program. From the first announcements of the school’s establishment, applications from teachers around the world began to arrive. High-powered, creative, dedicated teachers with a dynamic approach to the best interests of their students are fundamental to Alice Miller’s educational philosophy.

…it’s important to seek out a school that has a head (in other words, a commitment to intellectual growth as well as academic success), a heart (a genuinely caring school with excellent relations between staff and students), a soul (a real vision of where the school wants to go and what it’s doing to get there) and legs (an active and proactive school that is energised and has a strong momentum and sense of purpose…

It is a commonplace to say that schools in the 21st century need to be flexible, versatile, and geared to the needs of young people in a rapidly changing world. However, the fact that these words and phrases are used with monotonous regularity does not detract from the truths that they express.

The structure of most Australian schools, fundamentally unchanged since the 19th century, is increasingly inappropriate. Today’s children and teenagers live in a world where, as American Duke University Professor Cathy Davidson writes in her book Now You See It (2011): “By one estimate, 65% of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that haven’t even been invented yet.” In 2012 Forbes Magazine reported that “The average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years… but the expected tenure of the workforce’s youngest employees is about half that. Ninety-one percent of Millennials (born between 1977-1997) expect to stay in a job for less than three years… That means they would have 15 – 20 jobs over the course of their working lives!”

Today’s children and teenagers are accustomed to highly varied and motivating leisure time activities, a high degree of autonomy, and many options being available to them. Even children from families which are considered low income by Australian standards are wealthy compared to previous generations, and compared to children in the majority of other countries. Travel is second nature to many members of this generation of young Australians: they see the world as a global village. Traditional non-school activities, including regular attendance at places of worship, membership of groups such as scouts, and participation in sporting clubs, are decreasing in popularity.

There are good and bad aspects to these changes in our society, but it is not helpful to students if schools ignore these profound and continuing developments.  The rigid authoritarian structure of schools, which extends to, inter alia, curriculum, timetables, behaviour management and subject choices, is at odds with the kind of world today’s young graduates will enter. The structure and practices of Alice Miller and Candlebark Schools are designed to match the world of the 21st century.

Alice Miller School operates largely through an elective-based, multi-age curriculum model. In Year 7 and 8, the compulsory subjects are English, Maths, Humanities, Art, Music, and PE. In addition to these subjects, Year 7 and 8 students may choose three subjects that they will study for a semester, before changing mid-year. Subjects on offer include Art, Drama, Dance, Music, Guitar Club, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Outdoor and Environmental Studies, History, PE, Motion Media, and a range of language-based electives: Writers’ Studio, The People’s English, Publishing, French, and Text To Performance.

In Years 9 and 10, the only mandatory subjects are English and Maths. All others are electives, involving choices from VCE and other subjects which include French, Art, Drama, Music, PE, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Forensic Science, Outdoor Education, Sustainability, Dance, “Nerd Club” (ICT), Chinese, Philosophy and Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Motion Media, Guitar Club, History, Communications, Writers’ Studio, The People’s English, and Publishing.

We encourage keen and able students in Years 9 and 10 to tackle at least one VCE subject during this time. In exceptional circumstances, Year 8 students may also take on a VCE subject. The last period of the day is dedicated to ‘Sessions’, which include a range of options such as supervised study, cross country, martial arts, chess, art, writing workshops, choir, band, production rehearsals, ‘Fake News’ analysis, The Imagineers’ Club, and (outside of fire season), Explosions Club.