Middle School

Middle School opens
After a number of years of planning the Valley Christian Community School has extended into secondary education. It will do this in two stages. Firstly it has established a Middle School incorporating years five to eight and then a Senior School which will incorporate years nine to twelve. The school plans to introduce each consecutive year level one year at a time. Year nine will commence next year.

What's a Middle School all about?
Starting year seven at a Secondary College is a daunting experience for many students. After the security and predictability of a single teacher classroom, they suddenly must adapt to a confusing mix of classrooms, teachers and timetables.

Some children seem to handle this transition better than others but, even so, research shows that learning can actually go backwards during the adjustment period, which is usually about 12 months.   Middle School represents an attempt to recognize and meet the specific educational needs of the adolescent learner.

By offering Years 5 to 8 in the one school, it provides a smooth and gradual transition from a traditional Primary learning style to a Secondary learning style. Face to face contact with a main class teacher in a main classroom is high in Years 5 and 6 but tapers off to about 30% by Year 8.

The differences between a 5 year-old and a 16 year-old are obvious. Middle School acknowledges that children go through more than just two stages in their development through these

years. Schools incorporating a Middle School have used a number of different methods to achieve the transition between Primary and Secondary, and it is still too early to say which approach is the most effective, but the concept of Middle Schooling is becoming more and more popular throughout Australia.

At The Valley Christian Community School, we believe that a Middle School provides the safest and best educational environment for students in Years 5 to 8. The Middle School is being established in 1999 as a first step toward a full Secondary program.

The Philosophy of Middle School Education
The Middle School curriculum is firmly based on the unique needs of the adolescent age group (10 - 13 years) including the physical, psychological, intellectual, social, emotional and moral aspects of learning.

It is student centered rather than subject centered.
It provides a learning environment in which each student is respected and accepted in his or her own right. It allows for more flexibility at a time of time when children are developing at vastly different rates.

It offers a greater variety of learning activities, grouping and regrouping of students for instruction, and common planning time for all teachers.