Photo: Supplied.
BY LACHLAN THATCHER, PRINCIPAL, CAPALABA STATE COLLEGE
Families across the Redlands Coast deeply value their children’s learning. Parents want assurance that their child is supported when challenged and still stretched when learning comes easily.
Healthy school communities openly discuss learning extensions: how they’re identified, addressed, and expectations maintained for every student. These are not questions reserved for a particular type of child or a particular school. They are reasonable questions for any parent, at any school, to ask.
How does the school identify students who need greater challenge?
Strong schools proactively use observation, assessments, and professional judgement to spot when students master content quickly or work beyond expectations.
What does the school do when a student already meets the standard?
Ask how thinking is extended, through deeper tasks, enrichment, or complex problem-solving, not just extra work or lunch time activities.
How does the school ensure high expectations daily?
Extension is more than programs. Clarify how questioning, feedback, and tasks foster reasoning, creativity, and persistence in everyday classrooms.
What options are available for students ready for deeper or faster-paced learning?
Inquire about enrichment, subject acceleration, curriculum compaction, and how decisions weigh academic, social, and emotional needs.
How does the school balance support with challenge for all students?
High-quality schools do not choose between supporting students and challenging them; they do both. Parents can ask how schools ensure students who need extra support receive it, while also maintaining ambitious expectations for growth at every level.
How are families included in discussions about student progress and challenges?
At Capalaba State College, we welcome these conversations. Learning challenge is a right, not a reward, and high expectations should be visible, deliberate, and responsive to individual learners. Our approach recognises that students may need different levels of support or challenge at different times, and that movement between them is part of healthy growth.
Raising standards means ensuring every student is challenged, learning, and supported to realise their potential.
Thoughtful questions about learning challenges help raise expectations for students, schools, and our community.
