The journey through Sacred Heart is not a single, uniform experience. It is a story – and like all good stories, it changes as the character grows.
We call our year-level framework Our Story, My Story. Each year level is named after a place significant to the Mercy tradition. A living heritage that connects our College directly to Catherine McAuley and Xavier Maguire and their Mercy companions, who brought that tradition to Geelong when they founded Sacred Heart College. These names are not decorative. They are an invitation for students to locate themselves within something larger than their individual experience, while still owning their own chapter of it.
Our curriculum is structured into two distinct developmental stages. Each stage ensures that every student builds the foundational skills and resilience necessary to thrive. By moving through these stages, Sacred Heart students graduate not only with academic achievements but with the character and confidence to lead meaningful lives beyond our gates.
Years 7 to 9 encourage students to explore a diverse range of subjects to secure the foundational skills and knowledge required to be effective learners. Students progress through levels one to three of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP), exploring the full range of disciplines whilst discovering their unique passions and talents.
Stormanstown
Beginning. Belonging. Becoming.
Year 7 is an invitation. Students arrive from a wide range of primary schools, backgrounds and experiences. The aim of Stormanstown is to build a genuine community from that diversity.
The curriculum in Year 7 is deliberately broad. Through the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP 1), students engage with all major learning areas through an inquiry-based approach that asks them to make cross-disciplinary connections, develop foundational academic skills and learn how to learn at the secondary level. Teachers in Stormanstown are attuned to the significant transition students are navigating, and pastoral care is woven through every aspect of the year.
Year 7 is a year to trust the process. This is where students will find their feet. They will be challenged in ways they haven’t expected, yet they will be supported every step of the way.
Coolock
Confidence. Curiosity. Connection.
By Year 8 students have found their footing. Coolock is the year where confidence grows – where the tentative questions of Year 7 give way to genuine intellectual curiosity.
Students continue to work across all learning areas with increasing depth and complexity. The MYP inquiry framework is becoming more demanding and students are being asked to take greater ownership of their thinking and work. Collaborative projects, peer discussion and transdisciplinary units – tasks that draw simultaneously on knowledge and skills from more than one subject area – become more central to the experience.
This is often the year you will notice students begin to find their voice – in class, in conversation and in the way they engage with ideas.
Baggot Street
Exploration. Depth. Discovery.
Baggot Street is a year of foundational purpose. In Year 9 students begin to explore areas of personal strength and emerging interest, while continuing to engage with a broad and demanding curriculum across all learning areas.
This is not a year for narrowing. It is a year for discovering what engages you most deeply, for developing intellectual habits that will serve you across every pathway and for building the self-knowledge that will inform the choices ahead. Transdisciplinary units in Year 9 ask students to bring ideas and skills from across their learning together – reinforcing that the boundaries between subjects are more permeable than they often appear.
The Maguire Years embody a spirit of purpose, courage and a forward-thinking mindset. Years 10 to 12 are years of growing purpose, courageous choice and genuine preparation for the world beyond school.
Ocean Chief
Transition. Choice. Readiness.
Ocean Chief marks a genuine turning point. In Year 10 students begin to exercise meaningful agency over their learning. Students select subjects that align with their developing strengths, interests and emerging sense of direction.
The MYP4 culminates in rich transdisciplinary learning experiences that draw together the full breadth of the skills and knowledge students have developed since Year 7. These units are among the most demanding and rewarding experiences of the MYP – genuine demonstrations of what students can do when they bring everything they know to a complex, real-world challenge.
This is also the year when the pathway to VCE or VCE Vocational Major begins to take shape. Students work closely with their teachers, learning advisors and families to understand the implications of different subject combinations and to build the academic foundations they will need for Years 11 and 12.
Year 10 is an important year for families to stay engaged in conversations about subject selection and future pathways. Our learning advisors are available to support those discussions throughout the year.
Sunville
Commitment. Capability. Independence.
Sunville is the year students step fully into their chosen pathway. Whether they have selected VCE or VCE Vocational Major, Year 11 asks students to make a sustained commitment to their studies. Students develop the work habits, time management and self-knowledge required by high-quality senior study.
Teachers in Sunville are experienced senior educators who combine high expectations with genuine care. Students are expected to take real ownership of their learning, while knowing that their teachers are invested in their success. The balance between independence and support is one we navigate carefully and deliberately.
Year 11 can feel like a significant shift. The independence we ask of students is real, but it is scaffolded and we communicate proactively when we have concerns.
The Abbey
Legacy. Leadership. Launch.
The Abbey is the culmination of six years of learning, growth and becoming. Year 12 students at Sacred Heart are not simply sitting examinations – they are completing a story they have been writing since Year 7.
Whether completing VCE or VCE VM, every Year 12 student is supported to finish strongly and leave with the credentials, the skills and the self-knowledge to take the next step with confidence – to university, TAFE, an apprenticeship, employment or any combination of these. The finish line looks different for every student. What does not differ is our commitment to helping them reach it.
At Sacred Heart we know each student is unique, with distinct strengths, interests and pathways to excellence. We understand that knowledge is foundational, relationships and conditions matter, that growth supports and strengthens one another and that excellence takes many forms, celebrated across academic, creative, practical and personal domains.
This is the promise of Sacred Heart – a learning environment where every young person can grow into their full potential, grounded in knowledge, reaching towards possibility and nurtured by care.
Sacred Heart College is more than just a place to learn, but also a place where you make connections with people that you never forget. I now know I’ll carry this skill of showing empathy, respect and kindness throughout my life.
– Macy Duckett | 2025 Graduate
We recognise that students arrive at Sacred Heart with a wide range of learning profiles, backgrounds and needs. Our approach is not one-size-fits-all – it is designed to be flexible.
If your student has a learning profile that requires additional support or if they are ready to be challenged well beyond year-level expectations, please bring that to your enrolment conversation. The earlier we know, the better we can plan.
Students who need additional academic support can access:
Students who are ready to be stretched further can access:
Assessments are something that happens for students, not to them. We use a range of assessment approaches across all year levels, designed to give students multiple and varied opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do.
We believe families are partners in the educational experience. Throughout the year, families can expect written reports, subject-by-subject feedback and access to our online learning management system, where teachers publish learning intentions, resources and assessment information. In addition, families can attend parent communication evenings, where they meet directly with subject teachers.
