When a student enrols at Arethusa College, their experience of education has often not been a positive one. Our students have previously disengaged from their educational journey for a broad variety of reasons. However, they all have one thing in common; the system failed them. When the student was struggling at their previous school, the mainstream education system demanded that the student change and comply to serve its’ needs for elite academic results, for conformity or that they demonstrate an average intellectual makeup that responds well to standard teaching approaches.
Instead at Arethusa we ask;
- Why is this student struggling?
- How do we flex, adapt and re-dream for this student?
- How do we best meet their needs?
- How might they find success?
Three years ago, Arethusa College set out on a journey to not only reinvent itself as an organisation but to reinvent the way we served our students, to focus on achieving their best outcomes. We would do this by creating vibrant, flexible and creative educational communities that put the needs of the student first, looking after their personal wellbeing and their educational and vocational outcomes.
In short, we committed to do school differently for the sake of our students, because we ultimately believe that they are amazing young men and women who deserve the best; who, given the right environment and the right opportunities, are capable of great things.
The questions we asked around how best to meet the needs of the student and how to set them up for success, sent us on a journey of thinking outside the box, outside of conventional practice. We committed to and invested in the road less travelled.
We assert that students are our core business and that without them we do not exist. It is our role to serve them and their best outcomes. However, for us at Arethusa our reason to exist is so much more than that.
We love our students, unconditionally. We see our students for who they are and who they can be. We hear our students, and we give their voice respect, value and a platform. We use their voice to assist in shaping the journey they will pursue.
We Believe in our students; we don’t define them by their past experience but rather their future potential and possibilities. We Expect great things of our students; as a result we raise the bar, we invest and journey with them and we Celebrate our students; because they are absolutely worthy of being celebrated, as they step out of their comfort zones and towards the goals they set for themselves.
We are Arethusa and we exist to serve our students, to clear their path, to know them and their strengths and invest in them in such a way that it unlocks their potential and their success. This is our journey, the one we commit to pursuing every day and the one we commit to refine and if required, reinvent for the sake of each and every young person that enters our community.
To have a vision of who we are becoming and where we are headed is a powerful resource. However, without the dedication, determination, unending care and creativity of our amazing Arethusa Staff, who live and breathe that dream every day, we would not be who we are or where we are today. For that, on behalf of all our current and future students I am, and will be forever, grateful.
Michael Cross – Managing Director
Arethusa prides itself on being innovative, flexible and agile in our approach to teaching and learning. We aim to respond in service of our students in a way that stubbornly reflects their value and the immeasureable potential they carry; where we prioritise their needs above what is easy, traditional or expected.
By placing students firmly at the centre of everything we do, we ask new questions around curriculum, pedagogy, staffing, and resourcing. We draw upon research and the expertise of others while also investing into developing new paths that hold to our mission and values.
At Arethusa College, we embrace the notion of Believe, Expect, Celebrate. We offer students from years 7-12, alternative educational and vocational pathways to assist them to experience positive educational outcomes. We engage and empower young people, preparing them for life now and for the future.
Students at Arethusa College will find it is more than just a school. They will find a community that supports each young person to dream, investigate, explore and reach their potential. Arethusa College respects and encourages differences. We believe strongly in the potential of all young people and commit to developing leadership by the students, for the students.
Student and staff wellbeing are cornerstones to all that we do at Arethusa. In unlocking our student’s potential, we give our community the great gift of young people working with their talents for the benefit of all.