HSIE and Languages

Overview

At Henry Kendall High School, our HSIE Faculty is dedicated to providing students with expert guidance and a wide variety of enriching opportunities. From Year 7 to 12, students engage in extended learning experiences that deepen their knowledge and foster active participation.

We proudly support participation in prestigious programs such as the NSW Premier's ANZAC Memorial Scholarship and the Kokoda Youth Challenge, with Henry Kendall High School students honoured as recipients over multiple years.

Senior Legal Studies students gain valuable, hands-on experience through the NSW Law Society’s Mock Trial Competition, offering an authentic glimpse into the legal system. Our Geography students benefit from dynamic outdoor learning, including adventurous excursions like climbing Mount Kosciuszko.

Throughout their time at Henry Kendall High School, students enhance their understanding with visits to museums, touring exhibitions, and curated educational experiences that bring course concepts to life. Meaningful Geography fieldwork further enriches their learning journey.

These diverse opportunities inspire our students to connect deeply with the world around them and transform their classroom learning into real-world experiences.

Junior Geography

Students learn skills to undertake geographical inquiry and fieldwork to build and extend knowledge and understanding about people, places and environments. They propose explanations for significant patterns, trends, relationships and anomalies in geographical phenomena. Students learn to apply geographical concepts including place, space, environment, interconnection, scale, sustainability and change to identify questions and guide their investigations.

The study of Geography also provides opportunities for students to learn to use a range of geographical tools including maps, fieldwork, data and graphs, spatial technologies and additional geographical representations.

Students have the opportunity to learn about geographical processes that influence the features of places and environments across a range of scales. They investigate how places are valued differently and analyse interconnections between people, places and environments and propose explanations for distributions, patterns and spatial variations over time and across scales. Students explore methods used by Aboriginal Peoples to sustain and manage Country and how this enhances the wellbeing of Aboriginal Communities. Students draw connections between these methods and the broader concept of Custodianship of Country.

Students learn about geographical phenomena, the liveability of places, and management strategies in Years 7 to 8 and investigate changing environments, global differences in human wellbeing, and strategies to address challenges now and in the future in Years 9 to 10.

Henry Kendall High School provides fieldwork opportunities across all years of the junior school. This is an important way for our students to learn valuable skills and engaged with our local community.

Junior History

Students develop knowledge and understanding about the actions and lived experiences of people over time. They learn to apply the skills of historical inquiry by making connections, constructing coherent accounts and explanations of the past and deepening their knowledge and understanding of History. Students learn to analyse sources as evidence and to sequence major historical periods to show an understanding of historical concepts including continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, significance and contestability. They develop historical skills in comprehension, analysis and use of sources, perspectives and interpretations, research and communication to construct logical historical arguments supported by relevant evidence and communicating effectively about the past for different audiences and different purposes.

In Years 7 to 8, students learn about the ancient past, the medieval world and the era of colonisation in overarching chronological historical context studies. Students have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of these periods via the depth study options.

In Years 9 to 10, students learn about the making of the modern world and the modern world in overarching chronological historical context studies. Students can deepen their understanding of these periods via the depth study options and the core depth studies of Making A Nation, Australians at War and Human Rights and Freedoms.

Case studies and site studies are used to extend students' knowledge and understanding.

Junior Language French

Our Junior French Program involves developing communication skills, understanding its culture, and applying knowledge of language systems. Students interact, understand texts, and create their own texts, with a focus on building intercultural capabilities and proficiency. Our junior program is structured to be progressive and allows students to build on their success.

Students:

• learn to interact, understand and create texts in French
• reflect on and understand their own and others’ languages, cultures and identity
• develop an interest in and enjoyment of language learning.

 Ancient History

Our Year 11 course focuses on building foundational skills through modules like Investigating ancient history, Features of ancient societies, and historical investigation. Students are introduced to the field of archaeology, a crucial element in the study of the ancient past.

Our Year 12 course involves a compulsory core study, Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum, which examines the archaeological evidence and issues of reconstruction and conservation. Students then select other topics from areas such as:

• Ancient societies
• Personalities in their times
• Historical period

Business Studies

Business Studies is a course that explores the theoretical and practical aspects of business, from the planning of small businesses in Year 11 to the management of operations, marketing, finance and human resources in large businesses in Year 12. Our program aims to develop skills by having students analyse contemporary issues through case studies and consider the ethical responsibilities of businesses. The course also focuses on how to think critically about a business's role and performance, using mathematical concepts and applying knowledge to business problems. Students study well-known businesses, engage with local business leaders and managers, ensuring our course has a real-world focus and relevance.

French Beginners

The French Beginners Stage 6 course is  a 2-year course designed for students who wish to begin their study of French  at senior secondary level with little or no prior knowledge or experience of the French language, or whose experience is limited or equivalent to study for 100 hours or less in Stage 4 or Stage 5.

Our course provides opportunities for students to immerse themselves in the French language, as they engage in a range of innovative learning activities that are designed to develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

Geography

The HSC Geography course is a two-unit subject that examines how human and physical processes shape our world, covering topics like global sustainability, urban and rural systems, population change and ecosystems. It develops critical thinking skills through geographical inquiry, fieldwork, and the use of tools like GIS. The course involves studying geographical phenomena, explaining processes, assessing challenges and responses, and applying geographical skills to analyze and synthesize information.

Our Year 11 course includes a Geographical Investigation where students select a topic, conduct research, and analyse data.

Our Year 12 course builds on preliminary knowledge by exploring complex contemporary global issues. Students learn about human-environment interactions, processes that form and transform landscapes and environments, and the impact of global and local forces. The course emphasises concepts such as place, space, environment, interconnection, scale and sustainability. Fieldwork is a central and essential component of the course, providing hands-on experience with geographical concepts and inquiry methods.

History Extension

History Extension provides students with opportunities to examine the way history is constructed and the role of historians. Students investigate the nature of history and changing approaches to its construction through sampling the works of various writers, historians and others involved in the practice of history. Students apply their understanding to undertake an individual investigative project, focusing on an area of changing historical interpretation.

Our course is offered as part of the HSC pattern of study and includes:

Constructing History

• Key questions

  • Who are historians?
  • What are the purposes of history?
  • How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time?
  • Why have approaches to history changed over time?

• Case studies

  • Students develop their understanding of significant historiographical ideas and methodologies by exploring one case study, with reference to three identified areas of debate and the key questions.

History Project

Students will undertake an individual investigative project, focusing on an area of changing historical interpretation.

Legal Studies

• The course develops students' knowledge and understanding of the nature and functions of law and law-making, the development of Australian and international legal systems, the Australian constitution and law reform. It examines an individual's rights and responsibilities, how disputes are resolved and examines a contemporary issue concerning the individual and technology. Students have the opportunity to investigate issues that illustrate how the law operates in practice. This is achieved by investigating, analysing and synthesising legal information and investigating legal issues from a variety of perspectives.
• Our HSC course investigates the key areas of law, justice and human rights through a variety of focus studies, which consider how changes in societies influence law reform. Students have studied Family Law as well as World Order.

Modern History

Our Modern History course focuses on the study of major events, people and forces from the last two hundred years. The course develops skills in historical inquiry, analysis, and communication, with students investigating historical contexts and using evidence to build arguments. Key themes include power and authority, nationalism, and peace and conflict.

Key areas of study have included the assassination of JFK, Cuba, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Power and Authority, National Studies and Peace and Conflict.

Society and Culture

Society and Culture develops social and cultural literacy and a clear understanding of the interactions of persons, society, culture, environment and time, and how these shape human behaviour. The course draws on cross-disciplinary concepts and social research methods, and students undertake research in an area of particular interest to them. The research findings are presented for external assessment in the Personal Interest Project (PIP).

Students in Year 11 study:

·         The Social and Cultural World: The interactions between persons and groups within societies

• Personal and Social Identity: Socialisation and the development of personal and social identity in a variety of social and cultural settings
• Intercultural Communication: How people in different social, cultural and environmental settings behave, communicate and perceive the world around them

Students in Year 12 will focus on:

• Social and Cultural Continuity and Change: The nature of social and cultural continuity and change as well as application of research methods and social theory to a selected country study
• The Personal Interest Project (PIP): An individual research project

Depth Studies

• Popular Culture: The interconnection between popular culture, society and the individual
• Belief Systems and Ideologies: The relationship of belief systems and ideologies to culture and identity

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