St Joseph's School,

 Payneham

Middle School

Year 6 & 7

                The aim in setting up a Middle School is to facilitate the transition from Primary
                School to Secondary School and to cater, more appropriately, for the learning
                and social needs of emerging adolescents.

                The academic programme is both challenging and inclusive, while the
                opportunities for developing leadership skills, independent learning skills, self
                discipline and self confidence are excellent.

                Details of the Middle School can be found under the following headings - The
                Aims, Programmes and Special offerings.

                We welcome any enquiries you may wish to explore further.

                Regards,

                Laurie Sammut
                Principal

              The rise of popularity of the Middle Years Approach is due to three fundamental
              ideas which underpin its philosophy and flexibility:    Holistic education
              Communication and Intercultural understanding

              Holistic education is the education of the whole person. It reflects a student centred
              approach to learning. It is achieved through interdisciplinary projects and
              cross-curricular planning by the teachers. The importance of communication is also
              in the emphasis on learning a language other than English while mastering one’s
              first language.

              The Middle Year Programme is still a new one which is still evolving. It is not a
              curriculum; it provides a framework to facilitate interdisciplinary teaching and
              learning into understanding and effective communication.

              It is designed to meet the needs of students.

              The objectives are to:

            There are five areas which students of this age level have 
          particular needs:

               PHYSICAL NEEDS

               St Joseph’s Middle School aims to cater to these needs specifically.

         WHY HAVE A MIDDLE SCHOOL?

                To better cater for the unique development phase in young adolescents.

                 Adolescence is a time of transition when our students need to be guided into personal
                 decision-making and so be increasingly empowered to accept greater responsibility for
                 their own learning and actions.

                 Adolescence is a time when our students are beginning to change both physically and
                 emotionally. Significant research in this field indicates that we need to offer students in
                 these years an integrated framework.

                 To better cater for the individual needs and differences of our students so that they are
                 able to acquire a sense of achievement, develop self confidence and are motivated in their
                 learning.

                 To better utilize teacher expertise in particular areas to allow a curriculum that is sequential,
                 purposeful, balanced and fully integrated and specifically tailored to meet the needs of young
                 adolescents.

                 To encourage and assist our students in acquiring and developing their time- management and
                 organizational skills so they are well prepared for the transition into Secondary School.

                 To provide opportunities for furthering their social development with special focus upon improving
                 communication skills and enhancing their relationship with others.

                  Our Middle School classes are organized in the following way:

                  Each class has a home teacher who is responsible for general class duties each
                  morning and afternoon, in addition to

                  Religious Education, English, Mathematics and pastoral care considerations.

                  Each week for certain periods, the classes remain with their home teacher to focus
                  on class-oriented / less academic activities, such as “Buddies” (working with a Junior
                  Primary class), class meetings and social skills. These activities provide the students
                  with the opportunity to better develop their ability to work co-operatively with others
                  and to take responsibility for organizing their own learning.

                  Each class has contact every week with a specialist teacher in the areas of Italian,
                  Music / Drama and Library.

                As a part of the Middle School approach, students are encouraged to present more of their
                work through projects and assignments, which have varying deadlines. Students will be
                encouraged to take greater responsibility for their own learning while having ready access
                to teacher guidance and the school’s resources.

       AIMS OF MIDDLE SCHOOLING

     BENEFITS

• for the needs of young adolescents

• for individual needs and differences

acquire a sense of achievement and develop independence

see relevance and are motivated in their learning

develop self-confidence

acquire time management and organizational skills

have opportunities for different groupings –gender, interest, age, etc

Have opportunities to develop decision-making skills.

for concentrated negotiation and consultation

for closer monitoring of students

There is a strengthening of school community due to the students increased awareness of responsibility.

There are a variety of teachers catering for individual differences.

Opportunities for Pastoral Care.

There is consistent behaviour management of a style suited to young adolescents.

There is a furthering of student development.

There is development of mutually respectful relationships with adults and peers.

Teacher expertise is better utilized.

There is Transition support to High School.

                  Being aware of your child’s changing needs and requirements as they begin the transition into
                adolescence.

                Monitoring your child’s adjustment to the Middle School Structure particularly in relation to:

                Regularly monitoring your child’s use of their diary, paying special attention to observing whether time
                is used effectively and if tasks are being completed.

               Communication between parents and teachers is essential to your child’s development. If you have
               any concerns or queries, please feel free to make a time to talk with any of the Middle School
               teachers about these issues through the year.

                    The aim of the School Resource Centre program is to assist students to become informed
                    decision– makers and life-long learners.

                    To achieve this goal, teachers and the Teacher / Librarian, cooperate to plan and implement units
                    of study as teaching partners.

                    Students learn skills necessary in the information process (i.e. Defining, Locating, Selecting,
                    Organizing, Presenting and Assessing.)

                    Students in the Middle School regularly use computers, CD-ROMS, Internet, printers, scanners,
                    the digital camera, etc as a means to facilitating more effective teaching and learning.

                    Teaching student skills in the use of machines and software applications is a major focus of
                    instruction. The use of such tools develop children’s ability to reason and problem solve and
                    improve collaborative learning skills. Children’s technological skills and ability to use a variety of
                    multimedia tools are also developed.

                    Our students use computers for a wide range of classroom work. They are engaged in word
                    processing, create graphs using spreadsheets, research using CD-ROMS and internet based
                    information and use computer based drawing and painting facilities.

                    Middle School classes will access more specialized resources such as the digital camera for
                    digitizing pictures, and the scanner for graphics as well as more sophisticated software such as
                    Microsoft Powerpoint for the development of multimedia presentations.

                    Classes will come to use electronic mail with children from other countries. This kind of
                    communication contributes to our students developing a greater sense of the global society in which
                    we live.

                    Our students are highly motivated and strive to learn how technology can be integrated into each
                    facet of learning. They are being well prepared for the life in the twenty-first century.

        OPERATIONS

                  Students gain skills for across the curriculum use in a range of learning technologies

                At St Joseph’s we have a firm belief that Sport and Physical Education  make a positive contribution
                to students’ health by:
                                                                 Improving fitness
                                                                 Fostering normal growth and development
                                                                 Improving students’ self confidence

                At St Joseph’s we provide a Physical Education Programme which promotes children’s natural
                physical vitality and normal growth and development.

                We encourage children to accept responsibility for their own fitness and health.

                The fundamental aim of children’s sports is to provide an opportunity for children to become involved
                in physical activity in a way, which promotes immediate and long-term benefits for the participants.

                These benefits are observed in terms of:      Higher level of fitness
                                                                                  Better health
                                                                                  Pleasurable social involvement
                                                                                  Improved self esteem
                                                                                  Satisfaction derived from skilled performance in
                                                                                  individual and group activities.

                As a school we achieve the above by involving the children in a balanced and varied activity based
                fitness programme leading to a sensation of fitness and feeling of well being. We provide a wide range
                of enjoyable activity and the children have an opportunity to work alone, with a partners or in a group
                while participating in fitness and sporting activities.

SOCIAL / LEARNING SKILLS Rules – class, school, play SAFETY AQUATICS - every two years Skills and safety –SWIMMING LESSONS– alternate years Revising and reinforcing previous games skills learned SPORT DAY skills and activities Minor Games – fun activities / fitness Softball Netball Touch Football culminating with the Touch Carnival European Hand ball Sofcrosse Soccer Cricket Fitness: Ball skills and fitness games

COACHING CLINICS VARIETY EACH YEAR    e.g.          Tennis                   Gymnastics (TRI -SKILLS)

COMPETITIVE SPORT Basketball Cricket Soccer Netball

SAPSASA / SACPSSA CARNIVAL Swimming Touch Cross Country Netball Athletics

LANGUAGES     IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

                    In the Middle school, languages learning continues to develop, reinforce and extend the four main
                    skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

                   Students at these levels are able to read and write with increasing independence and creativity.
                   Their general literacy skills are better developed and they have a growing awareness of language
                   structure. They begin to question and interpret the nature of languages. By learning and practising
                   and using linguistic features of a language, students not only develop a better understanding of how
                   languages work, they also increase their linguistic awareness. This, in turn,
                   further develops their literacy skills in English.

Students in the Middle School years continue to develop attitudes, values and opinions of other languages and lifestyles. They have a broader understanding of the world through their ability to compare and contrast their own and other cultures. Students achieve these through activities which focus on gaining knowledge about the target language and the culture. In the middle school years, students are more capable of researching and accessing this type of information through the use of computer technology.

Languages learning in the Middle School takes place more effectively through thematically based units of work which are related to students’ interests and experiences. Where possible, this thematic approach is integrated with other curriculum areas.

 

CHOIR

St Joseph’s Senior Choir is made up of enthusiastic students who elect to belong to the choir at the beginning of the year.

The choir rehearses during school time and choir members are required to practise songs and words at home.

While the emphasis is on gaining valuable musical knowledge and singing skills, there are many other benefits gained from participating in the choir. These benefit include mental development, social benefits in belonging to a group, which is working towards a particular goal, and of course the area of behaviour and self-discipline.

The main focus is to learn songs and movement for the participation in the Catholic Schools’ Music Festival in September. The choir is also involved in school based activities, such as Sacramental celebrations, grandparents’ morning, assemblies and other performances towards the end of the year.

The school choir gives the students in the Middle School an opportunity to extend their participation and knowledge in the Arts Curriculum.

            As it is their last year at St Joseph’s School the Year Sevens have some things which are “special”

            These are:        S R C Executive

But above all, completing Primary Schooling as leaders of the school, with their peers; boys and girls with whom they began.

IN CONCLUSION We believe, as educators in a Catholic school, that we have an excellent opportunity to help young people develop a value system with the message from the Gospels as our guide. We also believe that parents and teachers working together with open communication and positive encouragement for the students will help them achieve their best. As our Middle School is specially designed to meet the needs of young adolescent students, we believe we are able to offer the best possible learning environment for these young people.