Year 9 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 planned 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 | Science |
| Health and Physical Education | Society & Environment |
| Languages other than English | Technology & Enterprise |
| Mathematics | The Arts |
The Middle School Timetable
The timetable is based on blocks of time flexibly used in 100 minute or 50 minute groupings. Each day there are three blocks of 100 minutes, or six blocks of 50 minutes.
Normal starting time is 8.50am and normal finishing time is 2.55pm
English
The English Learning Area is designed to encourage students to become lifelong learners, achieve their potential in their personal and working lives and play an active part in civic and economic life.
In the English Learning Area, students learn about the English language; how it works and how to use it effectively. They develop an understanding of the ways in which language operates as a social process and how to use language in a variety of forms and situations. They learn to speak, listen, view, read and write effectively.
Health & Physical Education
Health & Physical Education provides students with an understanding of health issues and the skills needed for confident participation in sport and recreational activities. This enables students to make responsible decisions about health and physical activity and to promote their own and others’ health and well-being.
Activities will include: aquatics, racquet sports, dance, gymnastics, aerobics and ball sports including basketball, hockey, netball, volleyball, football, soccer, touch rugby, mod-cross and others.
LOTE
In the Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Learning Area, students learn to communicate effectively in another language. They gain an understanding of other societies, the ability to interact with people and cultures other than their own and practical skills which they can use in future social, cultural and vocational areas. Students in Year 9 will continue with either French or Japanese that they studied in Year 8.
More practice in reading and writing is provided to consolidate students’ grasp of LOTE structures and vocabulary.
Mathematics
In the Mathematics Learning Area, students learn to use ideas about number, space, measurement and chance, and mathematical ways of representing patterns and relationships, to describe, interpret and reason about their social and physical world. Mathematics plays a key role in the development of students’ numeracy and assist learning across the curriculum.
Science
In the Science Learning Area, students learn to investigate, understand communicate about the physical, biological and technological world and value the processes that support life on our planet. Science helps students to become critical thinkers by encouraging them to use evidence to evaluate the use of science in society and the application of science in daily
life.
Society & Environment
The Society & Environment Learning Area develops students’ understanding of how individuals and groups live together and interact with their environment. Students develop a respect for cultural heritage and a commitment to social justice, the democratic process and ecological sustainability. The Year 9 course will be in semesters. Through the two semesters, Active Citizenship and investigation, Communication & Participation, will be important elements while context will be given through three strands; Resources, Time Continuity and Change, and Natural and Social Systems.
Technology & Enterprise
In the Technology and Enterprise Learning Area, students, apply knowledge, skills, experience and resources to the development of technological solutions that are designed to meet the changing needs of individuals, societies and environments. Students become innovative, adaptable and reflective as they select and use appropriate materials, information, systems and processes to create solutions that consider the short and long term impact on societies and environments.
The contexts range from Home Economics, Design & Technology, Business Education to Computing.
The Arts
The Arts Learning Area includes the disciplines of Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Arts. Students will experience a taster course in Years 8 and 9. This means that they will rotate to each of the different disciplines in The Arts. This provides an excellent foundation of skills and understandings. Links between the different Arts disciplines will become clear to students as they experience each course, and find themselves applying previous learning.
Students develop ability and confidence in performance and movement skills, voice and projection, individual and group work, planning, composition, use of technology, exhibition and reflection research and analysis.