Our Middle School plays a vitally important part in fulfilling our College Mission:
“A Prep to pathways learning community delivering wellness and excellence, guided by our College Values”.
The vision for our Kelvin Grove State College Middle School Pathway is that students are supported to: Ignite their spark; Be their best and Become ready for their future, in the context of our College’s Just Cause: “Nurturing globally competent learners, leaders and citizens”.
Integral to the College’s Just Cause, is the development of resilience within our students. As our young people progress through our Middle School Pathway, there are many opportunities for this development to occur. Indeed, the key to a successful middle schooling experience lies in our students becoming re¬silient young adults through learning in a range of contexts. In Middle School, we define resilience as the learned ability to adapt to change, develop character strengths and approach challenges as opportunities for learning. Through building resilience, students build connections and foster positive relationships within the College and contribute to their wider communities.
One of the ways students learn resilience is through actively engaging with curriculum, and taking advantage of the opportunities to choose different subjects to study as they progress through the year levels. As students transition from Middle School into Senior School, they are able to engage with an increasingly diverse range of subjects that will assist them in making decisions about their future pathways beyond our College gates.
To support our Middle School Pathway, our curriculum aims are to:
- Present diverse and differentiated options for students so they are empowered to progress towards their preferred future pathway and engage in their learning;
- Offer a rigorous academic pathway for students who are interested in pursuing tertiary studies beyond school;
- Provide opportunities for students to develop 21st century skills and capabilities; and
- Extend the range of subject offerings from Year 7 into Year 8, then again from Year 8 into Year 9 to further enhance student agency and engagement in their learning pathway.
The Middle School of Kelvin Grove State College conducts a CARE Teacher Program that acknowledges and caters to the needs of young adolescent learners. During this phase of learning, significant physical, cognitive, emotional, social and moral changes occur more rapidly than any other period in their life. The CARE Teacher Program also recognises that there are two transitions that take place during this phase of learning - from Primary Schooling into Junior Secondary, and from Junior Secondary into Senior Schooling and future pathways. The needs of learners evolve as they progress through this journey, as does the focus of the CARE Teacher Program.
Each Middle School class from Years 6 to 9 has a CARE Teacher who has additional responsibilities in an intentional approach to teaching and learning that is responsive to the full range of needs, interests and achievements of middle years' students. These are summarised within the CARE Teacher Program of Connectedness, Achievement, Responsibility and Engagement.
C – Connectedness
- Foster a strong teacher-student relationship with each student and make connections between home and school as the first point of contact for parents.
- Foster positive intra-class connections by facilitating team-building and class-building activities.
- Liaise with other teachers of their class and ICS/IWS teams to enhance student support.
- Communicate student successes and concerns to YLCs/Middle School Leadership Team.
A – Achievement
- Are aware of academic progress across the year and aspirations across courses of study.
- Assist students to make informed choices in subject selections and future pathways.
R – Responsibility
- Assist students to manage the increasing degree of student independence and self-management required as students transition through Middle School.
- Support students to navigate and take ownership of the social and emotional challenges that will present during young adolescence.
E – Engagement
- Utilise a comprehensive range of teaching strategies and organisational initiatives to engage young adolescents in meaningful and challenging learning.
- Encourage students to become immersed in the full range of classroom and extra-curricular activities available at KGSC.
Underpinning all that we do is our central value of Happiness. This is the most important of our College Values and it is central in all we do as a Middle School learning community. We know that when students are happy they are in the best position possible to learn – and when they learn this in turn enhances their happiness. Adolescence is certainly a time of powerful emotions – a time of learning about who we are and what we value. Our specialist Middle School staff and the Programs and structures we have in place demonstrate an informed and nuanced understanding of how critical this phase in life is as we guide our young people on their journey of self-discovery.