Year 8 at Shenton College
Middle SchoolYears 8 & 9 are critical years in secondary education and in the lives of younger adolescents. Middle Schooling strategies at Shenton aim to address the special emotional, social and intellectual needs that are specific to young teenagers.
Shenton College will provide opportunities for young adolescents to learn and grow in ways that acknowledge and respect this particular phase of their development. It is critical that during this time, students have a schooling environment that –
- promotes a feeling of self worth.
- gives them confidence in their ability to cope with the basic challenges of life and
- gives them quality educational experiences.
Curriculum
The curriculum is the total learning experiences of the student that shapes the educational outcomes achieved. Our curriculum structure has a clear focus on outcomes, consistent with the Curriculum Council’s curriculum framework, which articulates overarching learning outcomes together with more specific outcomes in EIGHT LEARNING AREAS.
English
Health & Physical Education
Languages Other Than English (LOTE) – French or Japanese *
Mathematics
Science
Society & Environment
Technology & Enterprise – encompassing Design & Technology, Home Economics and Computing
The Arts – has a rotating ‘taster’ course consisting of Craft, Music and Art.
LOTE
All Year 8 students select one foreign language to study in Years 8 and 9. All students must select one of the following:
- French Beginning (For student swho have not studied French at primary school)
- French Continuing (For students who have studied French at primary school)
- Japanese Beginning (For student swho have not studied Japanese at primary school)
- Japanese Continuing (For students who have studied Japanese at primary school)
The Arts: Music Extension Program
This is a course of musicianship and instrumental studies, which may be taken through to Tertiary Entrance Examination / Western Australian Certificate of Education in Year 12 (subject to sufficient student numbers). The Music Extension Program involves instrumental tuition and participation in performing groups, most of which will be outside normal school time.
Entry to the Special Music Program is based on a Music Aptitude Test (Ms Le Page will be coordinating the auditions and can be contacted on 6380-2188). Parents will be notified of the day and time of this test. Students already involved in the School of Instrumental Music (SIM) lessons will be accepted on the recommendation of the primary school.
Preference for places in this course will be given to continuing instrumental students including those either learning privately or those receiving tuition through the Education Department at their primary school. Students currently learning an instrument privately must continue to do so.
All students studying Music Extension will be expected to participate in at least one performing group, which operates outside of school hours.
The performing groups at Shenton College will be:
- Senior Concert Band
- Junior Concert Band
- Swing Band
- String Orchestra
- Chamber String Orchestra
- Choir
- Guitar Ensemble
- Flute Ensemble
- Recorder Ensemble and
- Percussion Ensemble
Please note that in most cases, students are required to provide their own instruments, although it may be possible to provide a euphonium, trombone, french horn, bassoon, tuba, oboe or double bass on loan for a fee.
TEAM TIME
In keeping with the College’s focus on supporting students’ development
in their early adolescent years and developing learners with lifelong
learning skills, time is provided each day for students to meet with
their mentor teacher who will work closely with them. Students will
meet with the mentor teacher each day during the ten-minute Mentor Time
after lunch. In addition each student will also be involved in one period
per week called Team Time to assist in organisational skills and to
further support them in achieving other educational goals.
Students will be issued with a school diary for recording and planning
their home studies.