The education principles that underpin the Middle School Program at St Francis Xavier College aim to provide students with an easier transition to high school. The curriculum is planned to use an interdisciplinary approach by integrating the core subjects: English, Social Science (History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business) and Religious Education into Humanities and Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Technology into STEM where students participate in coding using spheros, project based learning and differentiated problem solving. Teachers work collaboratively to plan units of work applying an inquiry based approach to learning. This helps to create a rich and cohesive leaning environment which enables students to understand the connections between subjects and their relevance in the world.
The Middle School core subjects are taught by two teachers instead of the traditional six. This builds strong pastoral relationships between the teacher and students, minimises repetition and maximises teaching time thus giving teachers more knowledge of each student’s abilities and learning needs.
Students are also involved in a range of elective units including Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Applied Technology, Digital Technology and Food and Textiles Technology. They will also participate in PDHPE as part of their core learning.
Middle School teachers are dedicated to promoting a positive learning experience. Teachers employ a range of teaching strategies in the classroom with an emphasis on ‘co-operative learning’ and are constantly developing and updating their skills. Middle School presents a learning environment that is progressive, engaging and rigorously evaluated. This approach to learning promotes authentic relationships between staff, students and families.
SOSE: History/Geography (Year 7)
SOSE: History/Civics and citizenship/Business and Economics (Year 8)
|Health and Physical Education||Language
|ELECTIVE Rotations (1 Semester of each)|
|YEAR 7||YEAR 8|
|Design and Technologies||Manufacturing Technologies|
|Digital Technology||Food Technology|
|Visual Arts||Visual Arts|