Shaping Student Success through Personalisation and Partnership

25 June 2025

Walford's Bespoke Pathways

At Walford, we understand that every student is unique, with individual aspirations, strengths, and passions. Our Bespoke Pathways approach to curriculum represents a tailored approach to education, designed around the principles of personalised excellence, student voice, student agency, and collaborative partnerships with parents.

Integral to this approach has been the thoughtful partnership with families, recognising that students thrive when supported by both school and home. Walford actively facilitates meaningful dialogue with parents, ensuring alignment of educational goals and empowering families to participate in shaping their child’s educational pathway. This collaborative partnership is foundational to our ethos, reinforcing student confidence and capacity to navigate choices effectively.

The heart of Bespoke Pathways lies in empowering students to co-design their own learning journey, enabling them to tailor their school experience according to personal goals and interests. This approach has emerged from Walford’s recognition of the rapidly evolving world our students will encounter upon graduation—a world requiring flexibility, creativity, and the confidence to adapt. Guided by insights from the OECD's forecast scenarios, Walford has built a curriculum responsive to these future demands, one that honours each student's capacity to make meaningful choices and drive their educational experiences.

Year 9 and 10 students at Walford embark on a period of exploration, engaging deeply with interdisciplinary, real-world elective subjects alongside a robust core curriculum. These pivotal years serve as a runway into the senior secondary years, providing students with a foundation as they map their pathways towards Years 11, 12, and beyond into tertiary education or career pursuits. Teachers at Walford have been instrumental in driving this innovative curriculum forward, embracing a collaborative approach to developing engaging, interdisciplinary electives.

Explore our Year 9 to 12 Subjects:

Flexibility and adaptability to students’ experiences, talents and readiness, is key to the Bespoke Pathways model. Recognising that readiness for subjects and educational experiences transcends traditional year-level boundaries, Walford has deliberately blurred these lines, allowing students to engage with courses according to personal readiness rather than age. This approach not only enriches the educational experience but also accommodates early entry into SACE subjects, vocational education opportunities, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, and even early university study—providing our students unparalleled access to diverse learning environments.

The impact of Walford’s Bespoke Pathways curriculum approach is demonstrated through our students’ consistently excellent academic results and post-secondary successes. The graduating Class of 2024 achieved extraordinary outcomes, demonstrating the exceptional standards of academic rigour upheld at Walford. With 10% of graduates attaining ATARs of 99 or above, and nearly half achieving above 90, Walford students consistently position themselves among the nation's highest achievers. Additionally, student participation in vocational training and early university courses highlights students’ purposeful engagement with learning opportunities tailored to individual aspirations.

Through our Bespoke Pathways approach to curriculum and the secondary schooling journey, Walford is not only preparing students academically; we are cultivating lifelong learners equipped with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to thrive in an unpredictable future. This is the essence of education at Walford: personalising opportunities, amplifying student voices, and building authentic partnerships with families to deliver transformative educational experiences that inspire every student to achieve her best, her way.

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