The Year 6 and 7 programs have been
developed and structured in such a way as to provide a seamless transition for
learners from Year 6 to Year 9. This
Middle School Program will promote and continue the development of pedagogies
already established in the Early and Junior Years. Programs will develop multi-literacies
through inquiry-based learning and will engage students in the complete
pedagogical process, from planning through to assessment and subsequent
evaluation.
The Year 6 program has been designed
as a transition year from Junior into Middle, whereby the students will
experience some of the ‘Middle School’ practices, such as the introduction of
lockers, LOTE, change of uniform, Pastoral Care classes, etc. In Year 6, the
students will continue to work on year level programs developed by class
teachers using the Australian Curriculum and Queensland Studies Authority
Essential Learnings Framework.
Curriculum planning for the Learning Areas of English, Mathematics,
Science and History are based on the Australian Curriculum. There are also a
number of subjects taught by ‘Specialist teachers’ in the areas of Health and
Physical Education, Music and LOTE (French). Currently, these are based on the
Queensland Studies Authority’s Essential Learnings Framework but will move to
the Australian Curriculum once these areas are released from ACARA.
The Year 7 program is moving more
towards a more traditional ‘Secondary’ approach, whereby the student have their
lessons timetabled at a specific time. Whilst the students have been given a
timetabled lesson allocation, Xavier Catholic College has tried to keep the
‘Middle Schooling’ approach evident by having CORE teachers who teach majority
of the Year 7 classes. Below is a table indicating the number of lessons taught
in a fortnightly timetable. The lessons have been broken up into CORE and
Specialist teacher:
In addition to this, students undertake Sport options for
2 lessons per cycle and have 1 lesson with their Pastoral Care class.
Total – 30 lessons per week.
|
Core (lessons per week, all year)
|
Rotational (4 lessons per week, per
trimester)
|
|
English (4)
Mathematics (4)
Science (3)
Religious Education (3)
French (2)
History (4)
Health & Physical Education (3)
|
Art
Design Technology
Drama
Food Technology
Digital Technologies
Music
|
Students in Years 8 and 9 will study a
common curriculum, structured as follows:
|
Core (lessons per week, all year)
|
Rotational (4 lessons per week, per
trimester)
|
|
English (4)
Mathematics (4)
Science (3)
Religious Education (3)
French (2)
History (4)
Health & Physical Education (2)
|
Art
Design Technology
Drama
Food Technology
Media Studies
Music
|
In addition to this, students
undertake Sport options for 2 lessons per week.
Total – 30 lessons per week.