Open High School

2020 update

This now seems to be called NSW School of Languages.

Original entry

The Open High School is an provider of distance education located in Randwick, Sydney, Australia.

It supports distance interactive e-learning and operates in a distance education mode with students completing the bulk of their learning in their home schools.

Open High School is part of the New South Wales Department of Education and Training's rural and distance education network and offers courses in 13 languages to students in Years 9 - 12 who attend a Government or non-Government school which does not offer one of the 13 languages offered at OHS.

The school's e-learning modes includes radio and audio cassettes, CD ROMs, DVDs, telephone lessons and fax, audio and video conferences, computers/internet and web assisted communication and blackboards - internet-based exercises delivered via the school's online Learning Management System, Moodle, face-to-face individual and group lessons.

At Open High School, all students are part of a class even though their fellow students are from different schools spread across the state. Offered courses for the following Board of Studies Stage 5 languages in Years 9 and 10 include: Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Modern Greek, Russian, Spanish.

The Open High School web site is at http://www.theopenhs-d.schools.nsw.edu.au.

More Details

Open High School currently teaches 13 languages in over 70 courses, to nearly 2000 students from over 500 government and non-government schools. Open High School employs over 100 ful-time, part-time and casual teaching staff.

Open High School has a history of outstanding HSC results. In 2011, Open High School initiated a project to consolidate the lifelong aspect of its holistic education.

Open High School provides learning opportunities for students with different options accross geographical barriers throughout the territory of North West. It is part of a network of 19 distance education schools and centres throughout the state delivering education, via a variety of media, to country, metropolitan, interstate and overseas students who meet enrolment guidelines. Open High School is the only LOTE (Languages Other Than English) specialist school in the network.

A teacher interacts with students via written comments, CDs, phone lessons and conversations, fax, email, face-to-face lessons, school visits and study days. Students also have the opportunity to interact with the online learning system, known as Moodle. The school encourages students to attend face-to-face days which are usually held at Open High School once a term for students in Years 11 and 12 and once a semester for students in Years 9 and 10. These are valuable learning experiences where students meet their teachers and the other members of their class.

Open High School offers Preliminary and High School Certificate (HSC) courses for the following Board of Studies Stage 6 languages in Years 11 and 12: Beginners (Preliminary and HSC), Continuers (Preliminary and HSC), Continuers and Extension (HSC only), Extension (HSC only), Background Speakers (Preliminary and HSC); and these are for all the 13 different languages.

All applications for enrolment at Open High School must be made through the student's own school Principal and must meet certain enrolment criteria established by the Department of Education and Training, which are published in Distance Education Guidelines 2011.

References

• The school's website, Open High School, http://www.theopenhs-d.schools.nsw.edu.au, August 2011

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