Stories of Success and Impact | Mandurah, WA
Mandurah Baptist College, WA | 2017 to Present
illuminate has worked with Mandurah Baptist College since 2017 – long enough to see the program become part of how the school approaches learning, and to measure what that sustained investment produces.
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Mandurah Baptist College, WA
illuminate has worked with Mandurah Baptist College since 2017. That length of relationship tells a particular kind of story about what happens when a school and a program stay connected over time.
In the early years, the Challenge was a distinctive event – something students and teachers talked about as different from everything else that happened at school. Over time, that distinction has become something deeper. The way students approach problems, collaborate under pressure and present their thinking has been shaped by the program in ways that carry through into the subjects and years that follow.
The school delivers the program at Year 8 for every single student – a specific, considered choice. Creating a foundation of confidence, collaborative skills and creative thinking at Year 8 gives students something to draw on through the rest of their secondary schooling. The academic outcomes that have followed support that investment: teachers describe students who return from the Challenge week approaching their learning differently, and those changes showing up in results.
They then get involved in regional and national experiences beyond this, allowing those who thrived in the experience to step up against students from across Western Australia and the country – which included with students from Mandurah Baptist College being announced our National Finals Day Winner in 2024.
Beyond this involvement though, teachers who have observed multiple cohorts describe a shift in the culture of learning that they attribute at least partly to what the Challenge built – a shift that is visible to staff, families and to the students themselves.
“The students were able to stretch themselves and learn new skills. It changed their perspective on learning and propelled them to the top of their classes.”
Catherine Eppen-Van Der Aa, Head of Humanities and Languages, Mandurah Baptist College
Key Outcomes
- Ongoing partnership with Mandurah Baptist College since 2017
- Program delivered at Year 8 as a deliberate foundation-building investment
- Measurable academic improvements in students following the program week
- School culture shift observed and described by teachers across multiple cohorts
- Program now embedded in how the school approaches learning