Imagine

The Imagine…program is our Enrichment, Enhancement and Extension Program, which brings together a variety of enrichment opportunities for students outside the classroom and across the school.

Our differentiated programs provide support and challenges for students with a wide variety of abilities and interests within the classroom. In addition to the opportunities outlined below, students undertake enrichment and extension within their classrooms with their class teachers and additional teachers who support students.


An international, school-based maths competition, the Australian Mathematics Competition has had more than 15 million entries since 1978 and students participating from more than 30 countries.

The competition is suitable for students from lower primary to upper secondary. Entrants in Years 3–6 are asked to solve 30 problems in 60 minutes, while those in Years 7–12 have 75 minutes to solve more complex problems. The problems get more challenging as the competition progresses, so students of all abilities are challenged and inspired.

As part of our commitment to developing thinking and problem solving skills in Mathematics, we enter teams of primary students in the Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads.

GATEWAYS is an organisation that conducts a variety of workshops for primary students with interests and abilities in a variety of areas. Our teachers nominate students for specialised GATEWAYS programs throughout the school year. There are also programs that are parent-nominated and holiday programs.

Students may enter the Science Talent Search as an individual or as a group of two. They can choose to do one of a variety of entries including games, scientific posters, creative writing, experimental research and working models to explore a scientific concept. Each year has a theme and investigations are done at home with teacher guidance.

The Big Science Competition tests critical thinking and problem-solving skills, not just factual recall. Questions are set in real-life, contemporary contexts, making them relatable and interesting.

Aurecon is a global consulting, engineering, management and specialist technical services firm and runs an annual school bridge building competition involving Years 8 and 9 students in Australia, to raise awareness of the engineering profession among students.

The debating and public speaking program offers students the opportunity to formally present their argument on a variety of issues. It helps promote confidence, improves public presentation, encourages logical and critical thinking and social awareness.

Debating Competition

The Southern Independent Schools Debating Competition is aimed at students in Years 7 – 10.

Public Speaking Championship

Students participate in the Southern Independent Schools Public Championship, aimed at students in Years 7 – 10.

Write A Book In A Day Competition

The Write A Book In A Day Competition promotes literacy and extends highly-able students. Working as a team, students are encouraged to demonstrate their love of literature and use their skills in critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity. Their challenge is to complete a 4,000 to 6,000 word novella in one day.

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s Plain English Speaking Award is a public-speaking competition for students aged 15-18 years. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to build self-confidence and extend their skills in oral communication, speech writing and research. Students are required to present a 6-minute prepared speech on a topic of their choice and a 3-minute impromptu speech with 5 minutes to prepare on a topic given to them by the adjudicators.

The Da Vinci Decathlon is an academic interschool gala day run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon, designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of secondary school students across 10 disciplines – Engineering, Mathematics, Ideation Code Breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Philosophy, Creative Producers, Cartography and General Knowledge. The tasks are exciting and challenging with a particular emphasis placed on higher order thinking skills.

Tournament of Minds is a problem solving program, where teams of primary and secondary students are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one of the following disciplines – Applied Technology, Language Literature, Maths Engineering and Social Sciences. Tournament of Minds is an opportunity for students with a passion for learning and problem solving to demonstrate their skills and talents in an exciting, vibrant and public way.

The Australian Geography Competition is a competition for Australian secondary school students, assessing their geographical knowledge and skills. The competition aims to encourage student interest in geography and to reward student excellence. Over 73,000 from 792 schools participate in this national competition.

The National History Challenge is a research-based competition for students, giving students a chance to be an historian, research world history, examining Australia’s past, investigating their community or exploring their own roots.

The John Button School Prize awards $2,500 for the best essay on a subject concerning Australia’s future by a Victorian student in Years 10 – 12. It also awards $2,000 to the student’s school and both student and school receive a commemorative plaque.

Essays submitted for the prize will discuss Australian politics or policy. They might address such topics as Australia’s population, climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, water, asylum seekers, education, health, the state of the arts – big ideas for Australia’s future.

The Deakin Oration is an annual presentation at Parliament House honouring Australia’s second Prime Minister and Victorian MP, Alfred Deakin and giving a contemporary context to the issues he was interested in during his parliamentary career. It is an opportunity to hear from a prominent Victorian about topical issues.

The United Nations (UN) Association of Australia, Victoria runs Model UNs in schools, universities and workplaces to actively train people in advocacy, debating and global thinking.

Each Model UN debates a topic related to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and develops a “new” United Nations resolution.

The Australian Stock Exchange Sharemarket Game gives junior and secondary students the opportunity to learn more about the sharemarket and how it works. In the game, students can buy and sell shares in 200 nominated companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The game simulates real sharemarket conditions and develops students’ knowledge of the sharemarket, experience what it is like to buy and sell shares, test their investment strategies and win some great prizes.

  • Writers-in-Residence, including Cate Kennedy and Joel McKerrow
  • Artists-in-Residence, including Nathan Ferlazzo
  • Philosophy jams
  • Mentoring partnerships
  • Melbourne University Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program
  • Monash University Year 8 ChallENGe Program
  • Girl Power in STEM program – a joint initiative by the Melbourne School of Engineering and the Melbourne School of Information