Academic Excellence
At Iona, we embrace excellence by offering students opportunities to extend their learning and challenge themselves.
We recognise the need to nurture the pursuit of excellence and qualities of curiosity, perseverance, resilience and self-advocacy in students. Our comprehensive Academic Excellence Program allows for just that.
Our Academic Excellence Program identifies and provides for highly able, gifted or talented students who would benefit from specific extension and enrichment activities, within the classroom Curriculum, whilst also offering a variety of exciting and challenging Co-curricular opportunities.
Within the Curriculum, lessons are differentiated to cater for the range of abilities within the classroom, according to individual needs. These adjustments can include faster pace, greater breadth of topics, and more depth of learning material, across both our Junior and Senior School Curriculums. Key Learning Areas also offer advanced and extension classes in Years 8, 9 and 10.
The College recognises that further Curriculum adjustment may be required when students demonstrate that their capabilities are beyond the level of advanced classes. We also have an Acceleration Policy in place to ensure the procedures to accelerate are consistent and based on rigorous planning and preparation.
Differentiation within the classroom is enhanced by Co-curricular opportunities that appeal to a broad spectrum of talents and interests. These activities provide collaborative learning opportunities for like-minded peers, and the development of essential 21st century skills such as critical and creative thinking, flexibility, leadership, initiative and communication.
Academic Excellence Co-curricular activities offered at the Junior and/or Senior School level include, but are not limited to:
Future Problem Solving
An international program that challenges students to apply their minds to the significant global issues facing the world, equipping them with the vision to design and promote positive futures.
Luminosity
Extension in ethical and philosophical discourses and a steppingstone to competitions such as the Ethics Olympiad and Philosothon.
Ethics Olympiad
Students compete for excellence in ethical and moral thinking. Students are tasked to study ethical cases through a number of rounds of dialectic, working collaboratively with their peers.
Philosothon
Run by Australian Philosophy in Schools and hosted by UWA, the Philosothon invites Western Australian students to participate in rigorous Communities of Inquiry.
da Vinci Decathlon
An academic interschool gala day run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon with events of an academic nature.
Debating
Students can compete at debates, improving their problem-solving, critical thinking, public speaking and teamwork skills.
Mock Law Trials
The Mock Trial Competition is run by the Law Society of Western Australia where students compete in teams representing their school. Teams are given case material from which to devise an argument and the case is presented at the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
IPSHA Speakers’ Challenge
An opportunity for our Junior School students to develop public speaking skills in aiming to persuade, inform or entertain an audience.
Creative Edge Challenge
An innovative educational competition providing students with motivating challenges which promote independent learning and 21st Century skills.
Cluedunnit Kids
Created by The Law Society of Western Australia, this competition strives to teach students about the consequences of breaking the law in a non-threatening environment.
Year 3 and Year 4 Challenge
Students come out of class and participate in this program modelled on developing critical and creative thinking skills.
Year 5 and Year 6 Academic Extension
The more rigorous programs such as Future Problem Solving occur during timetabled periods, as does Ethics Olympiad and Cluedunnit and da Vinci Decathlon. Creative Edge is offered as a Co-curricular and also, during Term 3, as a focussed extension class for a smaller group of students.
Math Extension (Junior School)
This a timetabled period for mathematically gifted students, which is provided for Year 4 to Year 6. Each year group's top mathematics students are withdrawn for vertical extension in mathematics. These students also participate in Mathematics competitions.
Further extension opportunities, challenges and competitions also exist within various Learning Areas such as Languages, Mathematics, HaSS, Performing Arts and more.
