FUTURES LAB & RESIDENCIES
Your future starts with curiosity
Futures Lab & Residencies is a future-focused experience for Year 9 and 10 students, designed to help our young people build confidence, capability and clarity, and step into real workplace residencies.
What is Futures Lab?
Futures Lab is Novoschool’s future-focused learning experience for Stage 5 students, designed to help our young people explore who they are, how the world is changing, and how they might shape their own futures.
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Futures Lab is a space for curiosity, experimentation and reflection. Students are encouraged to test ideas, learn from real people doing real work, and make sense of a world that is complex, fast-moving and full of possibility. Futures Lab gives students time to build self-awareness, confidence and future-ready capabilities so they can engage meaningfully with opportunities as they arise in future.
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Through Futures Lab, students explore things like:
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how work, careers and industries are evolving
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their strengths, values and interests
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how to communicate who they are and what they can contribute
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how everyday choices shape long-term possibilities
What are Residencies?
Residencies are extended, real-world learning experiences where students spend time in workplaces applying their skills, exploring pathways and contributing meaningfully. They are designed to help students test possibilities, build confidence and connect learning with life.
Why?
The world our young people are entering is changing faster than ever before. Careers are no longer linear, industries are being reshaped by technology, and success increasingly depends on adaptability, agency and human skills.
Futures Lab & Residencies is our response to this reality. This experience throughout Stage 5 builds confidence and capability, enabling students to explore various pathways thoughtfully through supported, real-world experiences.
The experience is designed to develop:
Agency and confidence: understanding who you are, what you bring, and how to move forward with purpose
Adaptability and resilience: learning to respond to change, uncertainty and new environments with confidence
Real-world awareness: recognising how learning connects to life, work and contribution beyond school
Initiative and communication: taking action, seeking feedback and clearly communicating ideas and potential
This approach reflects our belief that learning should be relevant, human and future-focused, preparing students for a lifetime of learning, contribution and change.
Learning with Industry & Community
One of the strengths of the experience is its strong connection to real people doing real work. Students learn alongside and from industry professionals, community leaders and organisations who bring insight, authenticity and relevance.
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2026 Program Delivery Partners
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Sue Langley
International positive psychology expert & trainer, helping students understand strengths
and human skills for the future.
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Richard Stark, Beyond Bank
Exploring financial literacy, habits and choice through real-world stories.
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Casey Eggleton, Atlassian
Sharing insights into digital collaboration, teamwork and future skills.
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Emily Sauter, A New Way Forward
Exploring AI and its application in the future of work
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People Fusion
Helping students understand potential, contribution and the future workforce.
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Peter Hollingsworth, The Business Centre
Supporting students to think entrepreneurially and design opportunities.
Term 1: Futures Lab
Students explore, prepare and build the skills, mindset and confidence needed to engage with the real world.
Terms 2-4: Residencies
Students spend one day per week in real workplaces, applying their learning in authentic contexts and gaining experience across industries and community settings.
Digital Portfolios
Students progressively create a digital Profile that captures who they are becoming - showcasing strengths, skills and contribution - and use it to connect with real-world opportunities.
Global Futures
As students grow up in an increasingly interconnected world, our aim is to help them develop the awareness, confidence and agency needed to navigate global change. Students explore how their learning connects to life beyond school, how local actions sit within wider systems, and how they might contribute meaningfully to the world around them.
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Futures Lab lays foundations for students to engage with global issues across their learning, including those explored through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across subjects at Novoschool.
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We aim to support the development of thoughtful, capable young people who are ready to learn, adapt and contribute in a changing world.