Vision for Middle Years
- To encourage a love of learning in each student.
- To create a supportive and positive environment characterised by genuine love and respect for the dignity of each individual member of the community in the tradition of Jesus and the Church.
- To help each student reach their God-given potential through engaging and innovative learning experiences.
- To develop a curriculum that is developmental and addresses the specific needs of middle school learners.
- Bridge the ‘gap’ between primary and secondary school for both teachers and students.
- Relationships and curriculum in the Middle Years to be developed within the Spiritual, Intellectual, Pedagogical, Social & Emotional domains of schooling.
Benefits of a Middle School
- Less stressful transition from Primary to High School
- Continued teacher-pupil relationships
- Provides continual structures that are familiar
- Promotes pastoral care
- Encourages the teaching of students not subjects
- Heightens accountability for teachers as well as students
- Adolescent needs can be catered for during puberty
- Provides a well-balanced social education
- Supports more individual needs being met
- Allows teachers to work collaboratively
- Facilitates professional dialogue across year levels.
Collaborative planning and integrated curriculum are principles underpinning planning and pedagogy. An integrated curriculum is one in which units of work are developed by drawing on content and processes from more than one Learning Area. Integrated units of work are used to develop students’ literacy and numeracy skills, expose them to a wide range of understandings, develop their thinking skills and assist them to become lifelong learners.
(1) Barratt, R. "Shaping Middle Schooling in Australia: a report of the National Middle Schooling Project (Deakin West, ACT, Australian Curriculum Studies Association)." (1998).