A balanced school education is essential in helping your child to develop as a well-rounded individual with a wide range of interests and knowledge.
Parade offers a rich range of cultural, sporting, outdoor and community activities that provide opportunities for creative expression and physical and social achievements.
The annual musical production is a highlight of the year and we also have a long tradition of young sportspeople proudly wearing the purple, green and blue. Students also directly experience the world outside school with community projects, retreats and overseas trip opportunities to Japan and Italy.
In Year 10 and Year 11 students participate in service learning. At Year 10, students work a minimum of 10 hours in a voluntary capacity within the College or in the community. The Year 11 Touchstones Program is a 3-week Edmund Rice Community Action Program and a long-standing part of the College’s Religious Education curriculum. The College prioritises this program as we believe that the experience of a Community Action placement will help to build a sense of personal identity and encourage tolerance. The program reflects the EREA Touchstone of Inclusive Community as students help to foster relationships and be aware of, and respond with compassion, to those in the wider community who need support.
The Brekky Van team rolls up its sleeves every Tuesday morning during term time to cook breakfast for members of the local West Heidelberg/Olympic Village community.
An ambitious idea borne out of an acute sense of social justice; the Brekky Van is one of Parade’s most popular Community Action initiatives. A small team of volunteer students and staff leave Parade in a mini-van loaded with donated breakfast goodies – bacon, eggs, sausages, bread, tea, coffee and Milo.
A student run social enterprise that operates each morning before school and at recess. Student volunteers are trained as baristas and in customer service. All proceeds from the Bluestone Café go towards the College’s charity for the year.
Eddie’s Backpack Project is an innovative Community Action program which has been running at Parade for 10 years. The program supports MacKillop Foster Care and Foster Care Victoria. Students collect and prepare donations to go into a backpack for children who need it most. The items included are essentials to help the children settle into their new environment and feel more at ease.
The implementation of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program at Parade College is a natural fit. Not only has Parade College a wide range of programs and associations that correlate with the Duke of Ed, we also have large numbers of students whose own talents and achievements, both in participating in the College’s co-curricular programs as well as individual endeavours give them accreditation for achieving outcomes under the Award structure.
Another enabling feature Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program is the stimulus that this program gives to our students to achieve further self-development goals than they perhaps may not have done.
The award framework is structured around three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each of these levels has a mandated time commitment, with the Bronze being a lesser time commitment than Silver, with Gold having the most. The requirements for achieving each of these awards requires a commitment to four main categories. These being:-
Service – to develop and encourage a sense of community spirit and responsibility to others.
Physical Recreation - to encourage participation in physical recreation and improvement in physical fitness and performance.
Skill - To encourage the development of personal interests and practical skills.
Adventurous Journey - To encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery.
Residential Project (for Gold Award only) – A shared purposeful activity away from the participant’s place of residence in the company of others who are not their usual companions.
Parade College students have the opportunity to prepare for and participate in several forums throughout the year with many individual and team victories experienced at all levels.
These include:
Other competitions in which our students participate successfully include; the Ainger Public Speaking Award, the DAV Junior Public Speaking Competition, and the DAV Junior Speakers Program.
Our students develop their confidence by being able to convey their thoughts with clarity and purpose, while displaying their power of communication in a structured and competitive environment. The skills that they acquire stand them in good stead for later life in general.
The Parade College Music Department has a longstanding history of providing students with a large variety of musical experiences, and our music programme is renowned for the wide range of opportunities it offers students, both in private tuition and in various ensembles.
We openly encourage all students to achieve excellence through their participation in the Instrumental Music Program and in a wide range of extra-curricular musical activities. A compulsory semester of Music in Year 7 leads to carefully structured Music elective subjects from Year 8 onwards. Options at VCE level include Music Performance (Solo) and Music (Sound Production). Strongly supported by our experienced educators and musician classroom and instrumental music staff, our students develop self-confidence, self-esteem, teamwork skills, and above all, an enjoyment of lifelong musical appreciation.
Beyond the pride students feel from learning an instrument, the Parade Music Programme fosters engagement, creativity, perseverance and the unique experience of playing alongside fellow students in and out of the school setting, and promotes the College within the wider community through its involvement in local and wider community events throughout the year. The Music Department is committed to student excellence, and many College ensembles have performed at interstate and international levels, whilst also fostering relationships with many local community organisations to provide support to our neighbours. Highlights in the Parade Music calendar include the Generations in Jazz festival, held annually in Mt. Gambier, the ACC Accent on Music Concert performed at Hamer Hall, and Parade’s own annual Battle of the Bands and Christmas Carols ‘Under the Cross’ concerts.
We continue to source new opportunities and competitions for students and ensembles and actively encourage our instrumental students to partake in external music examinations to gain an internationally recognised qualification for their musical development.
For more information on the Music program offered at Parade click here
Parade has a proud history in supporting the arts and musical theatre, and the annual College musical and drama productions are two integral parts of the College calendar each year. Hosted in Parade’s own state of the art Rivergum Theatre, the productions foster a positive and collaborative environment for students of all year levels. Primarily student-driven, we encourage students to be as involved in the production process as possible from performing on-stage as part of the cast to working behind-the-scenes in numerous backstage roles such as stage managing, stagehands, lighting, projection, audio, costume, hair and make-up, props and ushering.
Both the annual musical and drama production are performed in conjunction with a local Catholic girls school and are a core component of Parade’s co-educational offerings. Parade’s productions are held in high esteem and many of our past productions and performers have been nominated for Music Theatre Guild Awards.
Parade’s most recent productions include:
| Musical production | Drama Production | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | The Addams Family | A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
| 2018 | Hello, Dolly! | The 39 Steps |
| 2017 | Catch Me If You Can | The Servant of Two Masters |
| 2016 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | The Importance of Being Earnest |
| 2015 | All Shook Up | Peter Pan |
| 2014 | Hairspray | The Crucible |
Outdoor Education promotes the development of student relationships with themselves, with others and with the natural world which surrounds them. Australia is famed for its outdoor lifestyle, and we make full use of unique local, nationally iconic and international environments. Students partake in a range of outdoor experiences which are designed to foster independence, interdependence and resilience. Outdoor Education concepts are initially introduced during camps at Years 7 and 8, which are then more thoroughly explored during an extended Year 9 program within the Otway Ranges. A range of curricular and co-curricular opportunities are provided to further enhance student connection with the outdoors, including Outdoor Education electives at Years 9, 10 & 11, the World Challenge program, and the college snowsports team. Locally, our programs utilise; Plenty Gorge, Gresswell Nature Reserve, Darebin Parklands, the Yarra River and Bundoora Park. We also conduct programs beyond Melbourne at; the Grampians, Lake Mountain, Bogong High Plains, Mt Baw Baw, Mt Buffalo, Mt Buller, Wilsons Promontory and Port Phillip Bay. Trekking trails of international significance is a key element of the World Challenge program which in recent years has visited; Nepal, Vietnam, Laos and Mongolia. Outdoor Education programs value passive and active experiences including; bushwalking, mountain bike riding, snow skiing, surfing, rock climbing, paddling and snorkelling. Along with skill development, students are asked to reflect upon their experiences in order to make positive impacts on their lives once back home.
The chance to experience the rich and vibrant culture of Japan is open to student during an annual exchange visit with our sister school in Japan. In the first part of the year, students and their families play host to a Japanese student and in the third term a number of Parade students and staff make the journey to Japan to see for themselves what life is like for their Japanese counterparts.
The College works in conjunction with the school expedition company World Challenge in offering students in year 10 and 11 a month-long multifaceted program in a developing part of the world. This challenging program enables groups of students to travel to amazing destinations where they partake in a range of experiences vastly different to their lives at home. The program challenges our students to adapt in a foreign environment over a four week expedition which includes; extended trekking for roughly two weeks, community engagement projects, and time for a few days of rest and recreational activities. The daily organisation and operation of each team is largely managed by the students as they maintain budgets, book accommodation, plan transport and research key sites to visit.
This program is conducted biennially with the destination regularly changing. Past destinations include; Nepal, Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam, China, Thailand, India and Borneo.
Students who have completed the World Challenge experience have learnt many life skills and enjoyed life changing experiences.
Connecting with the lives of others and finding out more about themselves is the focus of a retreat taken in Year 11 or 12. It’s an engaging and rewarding experience where students can develop a sense of balance in a busy life.
Students undertake a Social Justice Walk in the city with Edmund Rice Camps and then participate in a workshop on homelessness in the afternoon
For information on the Sport program offered at Parade College click here
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