Telopea Park School

Infobox Aust school
name = Telopea Park School


motto = "Spectans orietia solis lumina"
"Looking towards the rising sun"
established = 1923
type = Primary school
High school
principal = Michael Maniska
Mr Soulard (Proviseur)
Kerrie Blain (Deputy, High school)
Kate Sutherland (Deputy, Primary school)
city = Canberra
state = ACT
country = Australia flagicon|Australia
campus = Urban
enrolment = 705 (2007, High school only)
colours = Red, white and blue
color box|#FF0000color box|#FFFFFFcolor box|#0000FF

homepage = http://www.telopea.act.edu.au/

Telopea Park School is a public school in Canberra. It is named after the adjacent Telopea Park. It was founded in 1923, making it the oldest school in Canberra still operating. Telopea Park School is one of the few public schools in the ACT to teach students from kindergarten to tenth grade and is the only Bi-national school in Canberra (Following an agreement signed with the French government in 1983). It is also the only high school(as opposed to college) in the ACT to be part of the Middle Years program, having gained I.B. membership in 2006.

Primary

One half of the school building has been allocated to the primary section of Telopea Park School. All of the students in primary at Telopea Park School follow a bilingual education, with a majority of lessons from Kindergarten to Year 2 given in french by French teachers recognised by both the French Education department and the ACT Department of Education.In Years 3-6 French and English is taught as a 50/50 ratio. French staff are generally contracted for 2-3 years. They arrive and depart mid-year in accordance with Northern Hemishere schooling. Students also have classes given in English by Australian staff to complement their French language education.

High school

The high school is not exclusively English speaking, there is a stream dedicated to students continuing their education in French, the EFS (English French Stream) follows the French education system while incorporating three compulsory ACT courses. The other students, who form about two thirds of the student body, follow the ACT high school system and can then complete the IB Middle Years Program. Most students from Telopea Park School go on to Narrabundah College, the EFS in particular as Narrabundah College is the only college in Canberra (and one of only two schools in Australia) to allow students to sit the Baccalauréat Français.

Languages

(High school)Telopea park school, unlike most other ACT schools, has made learning a language other than english (LOTE) compulsory. Students usually study a single language for all four years. However sometimes beginner classes are started for new students to the school in years 9 and 10. ESL students do not have to study one foreign language but have a Language Studies class instead. Students must choose between:
*French (mainstream French, advanced French or EFS French)
*German
*Italian
*Spanish
*Japanese
*Indonesian

The English French Stream

The English French Stream is essentially a portion of students at Telopea High School who follow a different system and curriculum to those of the English Stream, who follow the standard ACT system and curriculum. These students are usually those who follow on from Telopea Park Primary School. The way the EFS students learn is very different to that of the students of the English Stream: EFS studens have more classes, as they have compulsory History and Geography every term, and they learn three languages instead of two.

As the EFS follows a different system to the English Stream, it has a different timetable. The french stream classes have always been contact groups _.1 and _.2 (like 8.1 and 8.2) until 2008, when the new year 7s were mixed in with the English Stream. The Bilingual Stream has its own principal, called the Proviseur.

To underline the equal importance of the French and Australian streams, both national anthems are played at the beginning of the school assembly each Friday. This year, in 2008, it is the 25th anniversary of the agreement between the French and Australian governments to form a binational school. This agreement was signed in 1983.

Notable Alumnae

- Gough Whitlam: former Australian Prime Minister. [http://www.gavmag.com/austpm/pm_whitlam.htm]
- Jackie Chan

External links

* [http://www.telopea.act.edu.au/ Official site]

[http://www.gavmag.com/austpm/pm_whitlam.htm]