03/06/2026
A six-hour drive from Hobart to Smithton.
A room full of educators.
Deep expertise meeting daily practice.
Conversations continuing long after the official session has ended.
As part of the Independent Schools Tasmania MIND Project, we were privileged to welcome Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)'s Rachael Whitney-Smith, Manager of Mathematics Curriculum, to Tasmania this week.
Together with IST consultant Trudy Ward, she began a statewide tour connecting with schools, teachers and leaders across our island.
At Circular Head Christian School, the impact was immediate.
There is something powerful about being in the room.
While webinars, resources and online learning all have their place, nothing quite compares to the energy that is created when educators gather together, challenge ideas, share experiences and make connections between research, theory and classroom practice.
The spark is unmistakable when expert knowledge meets the realities of teaching and learning.
You can see it in the questions being asked, the professional conversations that continue after the session, and the excitement of educators discovering new ways to support student learning.
There is also something profoundly important about bringing national expertise directly into regional and remote communities.
Too often, distance can be a barrier to professional learning.
Opportunities like this ensure that teachers and leaders across Tasmania have direct access to some of Australia's leading curriculum and education experts — not through a screen, but through genuine collaboration and conversation.
Equally important is the opportunity to showcase the outstanding work taking place in Independent schools across Tasmania.
Visits like these allow national leaders to see first-hand the innovation, commitment and student-centred learning happening every day in our schools, regardless of postcode.
Thank you to the team at Circular Head Christian School for your warm welcome and commitment to professional learning, and to Rachael Whitney-Smith for sharing her expertise so generously.
This is what meaningful collaboration looks like.
This is what professional learning at its best looks like.
And this is what impact looks like.
Circular Head Christian School
ACARA
Department for Education, Children and Young People
