Years 7-9 Middle School

At Caritas College, Year 7 students are incorporated into our Year 7-9 Middle School.

The Middle Years of schooling should provide opportunities for all young adolescents to learn and grow in ways that acknowledge and respect this special phase in their development. 

Effective middle schooling practices acknowledge students' needs, and effective middle schooling curriculum is:

• learner-centred - emphasises self-directed and co-constructed learning
• collaborative teaching - teams of teachers who know and understand their students well, employ powerful pedagogical strategies to challenge and extend students within a supportive environment
• learning focussed - progress and achievement are recorded continuously in relation to explicit statements of what each student is expected to know and be able to do
• flexibly constructed - responsive to the needs of the group, and reflect creative use of time, space and other resources
• community oriented - strong partnerships with families and the wider community are developed
• adequately resourced - emphasis on strong teacher-student relationships through extended contact with a small number of teachers
• strategically linked - the Middle Years of schooling, although a discrete phase within R-12 learning continuum, is connected to the early and later years.

Safe School Environment

Students are supported by a home class teacher who has primary oversight of the learning and wellbeing needs of students in the home class.  The pastoral care program focusses on a range of wellbeing topics.  Specialist teachers are very cognisant of WHS considerations and incorporate this into the teacher and learning programs where students access specialist facilities (e.g. Tech Studies workshop, Science laboratories, Home Ec kitchen, etc).

Australian Curriculum/Specialist Teachers and Facilities

One catalyst for the proposal at Caritas College arose out of the introduction of the Australian Curriculum.  There is a case for suggesting that the curriculum requirements at Year 7 level in this curriculum framework is best delivered to students by specialist teachers and using specialist facilities.  This is generally not accessible in traditional R-7 educational settings.

Middle Schooling Practices

Caritas College is in a prime position to be able to cater for the learning needs of Year 7s as middle years learners, with access to a small number of teachers, including a stronger relationship enabled with the home class teacher, as well as learning utilising the specialist facilities.

Strong Grounding for Transition into Year 8

Another benefit of this model will be gained through enabling strong transition into Year 8 where students have a wider range of specialist teachers, and gradually progressing through the secondary years with increased independence for learning.

Student Readiness

We also firmly believe that Year 7 students are ready for this model of schooling, and in many ways have 'grown out of' the primary model of education which works effectively for younger students.

Potential Challenges

Whilst the variety of teachers with subject specialisation will benefit students' learning as outlined above, some students may take some time to develop strong learning relationships with a greater number of teachers.  It is envisaged that the role of the home class teacher will be pivotal in this transition period.