Middle School
WHERE LEARNING IS THE
HEARTBEAT OF OUR CULTURE.
Years 7 and 8 are a time for your daughter to expand her horizons and embrace new and exciting challenges. The Strathcona Middle School is the perfect supportive and inspiring backdrop for our students to begin to discover and grow into their future selves.
We offer a broad range of challenging and rich learning opportunities across our academic, pastoral care and co-curricular programs. Our students develop positive attitudes, resilience and a strong sense of self, laying the foundations for future success.
Based in our dedicated Contemporary Learning Centre, the Year 7 and 8 students have their own unique and agile learning spaces deliberately designed to be fluid and flexible. Multimodal spaces, are student-centred areas, that empower our students, along with our transdisciplinary program, to be effective lifelong learners who engage in deep learning, being more likely to persist on complex, non-routine, unfamiliar problems in an authentic environment. It is this learning that best reflects the skills, competencies and character traits that we want our Strathcona graduates to have, and that will best meet the needs of a range of pathways and the world of work. The requirements for success in the 21st Century are broader than reading, writing and arithmetic. In a report by the World Economic Forum called The Future of Jobs, the most highly ranked skills for employability in 2020 included Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Creativity, People Management and Coordinating with Others*
Our light and open areas have a range of workstations with adjustable and moveable standing or sitting desks, writeable surfaces, curved couches, beanbags, cushions, breakout spaces, smaller quiet nooks and sound-proofed pods. The popular Socrates Space, otherwise known as the Conversation Circle encourages collaboration and discussion. The most significant difference is that learners move around, both inside and outside the classroom and into the adaptable spaces, exploring many different types of settings and experiences, sometimes within the same day, making many connections across and beyond their year level. The pedagogy and activities being embraced are also intimately linked to individualised learning programs and digital technologies. Given that all Years 7 and 8 students have their Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) laptop this too enables multiple points of focus and diverse teaching and learning strategies to suit all students.
#coLAB is an important part of this vision. This week-long intensive program allows students to reach beyond the constraints of the curriculum and produce rich problems that can have an impact beyond the classroom, to build deeper knowledge and skills that are vital in the new world of work. In #coLAB, students work collaboratively through the Design Thinking process to develop solutions to open-ended, real world problems.
The transition to Middle School involves increased specialisation in select subject areas with expert guidance from specialist teachers. However, rarely in life are skills and knowledge neatly packaged into single fields, so our curriculum ensures students learn many skills that are transferable to other areas of learning and life.
These skills include:
- Research
- Critical and creative thinking
- Digital capabilities
- Intercultural capabilities
Our Middle School teachers work to ensure students develop a positive self-image while discovering their unique learning profiles and who they are as individuals.
Because students learn best when programs cater for their individual needs and talents, our Middle School curriculum offers a diverse range of subjects, encouraging students to try new things and explore. Each subject encourages students to think critically and creatively, develop global awareness and work cooperatively, establishing the skills needed for lifelong learning.
In Years 7 and 8, core curriculum subjects taught by specialists include:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Health and Physical Education
- Art – Year 7
- Ceramics
- Foundation Skills in Drawing
- Painting
- Art – Year 8
- Drawing
- Printmaking
- Textiles
- Drama
- Music
- Christian Education
- Food Technology
- Humanities (History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship)
Also students choose two from:
- French
- Chinese/Chinese (Proficient)
- English as an Additional Language
- Digital Futures (Year 8 only)
The Pastoral Care program concentrates on charting academic progress and helping each student:
- Find her social place
- Establish well-balanced personal relationships
- Affirm her personal identity
- Build assurance
Under the guidance of their Form Tutor, students are encouraged to try out new activities in the extensive co-curricular offerings. This personal attention is part of the wider pastoral care network at Strathcona.
Open Mornings
Attend our next Open Morning to meet our Principal, key staff, and current students on a typical day. Please click here to register.
Small Group Tour
(Senior School)
Learn more about how we support our Year 7 students in the first, pivotal year of Senior School.
Book a
Personal Tour
Register here to arrange a personalised tour of Strathcona. Typically, these take place during school hours and term time.
Meet our Year 7 Coordinator
Mrs Rhiannon Ward is an energetic and charismatic educator with a wealth of experience in Year 7. She looks forward to welcoming your daughter and family to Strathcona and supporting your daughter as she settles into the increased academic load and routines of Senior School.
