Middle School

Age Appropriate Learning

Beaconhills embraces a four sub-school structure that recognises and endorses the understanding that students in the middle years of their schooling are a distinct group. Students from Years 5 to 8 have very specific and legitimate needs which should be addressed if they, as young people, are to function effectively, successfully and positively in our global based knowledge society.

Our Middle School staff excel at providing unique opportunities for students to be engaged in authentic learning.

Middle School students focus on conceptual development and knowledge building through the offer of a broad curriculum. Using an enquiry based model, students are offered a chance to link ideas and content in an integrated approach. Our teaching and learning programmes, based on the Victorian Essential Learning Standards, are developed so that units of work are meaningful to students and challenge them at higher cognitive levels.

In Middle School, Mathematics and Science are taught by the same teacher, as are English and Humanities. The timetable is structured so that “significant” teachers spend much longer periods of time with groups of students. Through regular meetings teachers share not only the planning of curriculum, but also some very valuable insights, understandings and the individual needs of students they teach.

Students in the Middle School study either French or Japanese. This study incorporates an understanding and appreciation of Asian and European culture into the curriculum.

In addition to their Performing Arts lessons each week, all Year 5 students actively participate in the compulsory Brass Programme, learning a range of instruments in small groups. In Year 7 all students participate in a compulsory Instrumental Band Programme.

Personal Best

Middle Schooling at Beaconhills focuses very clearly on the individual differences that exist in each student. Curriculum organisation and delivery is flexible and responsive to the evolving needs of students in Years 5 to 8.

Collaborative learning is encouraged through Literacy Circles and Maths Task Centres, which incorporate small group learning with an emphasis on developing individual pathways. Mathletics is an online programme which allows students in Years 7 and 8 to work at their own pace and/or in worldwide competitions within a digital environment. A wide range of challenging activities is on offer to all students in the Middle School. These may include Writer’s Club, Science Talent Search, Learning Strategies Workshops, Young Australia Best Book Awards Committee, Da Vinci Decathlon, National Geographic Competition, Law Institute of Victoria Essay Writing Competition, National Young Leaders Conference, Future Problem Solving, Tournaments of the Mind, The Maths Olympiad, Premier’s Reading Challenge, Chess, Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Committee and other story writing and poetry writing competitions as they become available from external sources.

Community

The care and nurturing of each Middle School student is underpinned by a very strong and authentic House system at Beaconhills. A culture such as this enables us to promote each student’s sense of identity, belonging and self-esteem. All students are under the direct guidance of a Tutor and a Head of House in the Middle School. Tutor groups, consisting of eighteen to twenty students from a range of year levels, meet at the beginning of each day. These vertically integrated House groups are led by a staff member. In addition to these daily morning meetings there are weekly House meetings and formal Headmaster’s Assemblies.

One of the highlights of the Middle School Camp Programme is a week long visit to Canberra in Year 6. In other year levels, students attend camps with an Outdoor Education focus for four days.