Last week saw two big events in the Middle School calendar
Orientation to Middle School was on Thursday for our Year 6 students and new students coming in next year.
All Year 9 girls retreat/rites of passage camp left for an overnight camp last Thursday and returned Friday.
This week:
Dance Evening Performances – Friday night
Survivor Day – our Year 7s have had a Team building event
Sports Awards Evening – Wednesday night.
As Henry Ford so aptly put it:
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
While a great deal of a child’s educational progress relies on students pulling their own weight academically, it is also impacted by other important factors. Reliable and thorough research has identified a list of structures that dramatically improve how well a child learns. The following are in this list:
- Cooperative vs competitive learning
- Classroom cohesion
- Peer influences
- Outdoor-adventure programs
- Cooperative vs individualistic learning Hattie, J.
These specifically highlight how important it is to work on building cohesive teams and group skills in our classrooms.
Class Lists
Each year we look at our class groupings and endeavour to place students where they will work most effectively as well as be in the best position to have the help or extension that suits their abilities.
We will be working on class lists over the next few weeks. Our 2014 Year 8 and 9 classes will remain similar to the respective Year 7 and 8 classes of this year. Our Year 9 to Year 10 class will have more significant changes as we regroup students into three mixed-gender classes ready for the senior schooling years. Please email Mrs Jacq Vreeling if you have specific requests or concerns.
Our team of teachers will collaborate class groups to maintain the best possible combinations which will address the needs of the students as well as the balance for the classes as a whole.
Two classes will have students who may need Teacher Aide support and one class will not. However, all three classes will have students that are of a higher academic ability.
Calendar Reminders
| Date | What | Who | Details |
| 23 October Wednesday | Year 7 Survivor Day | All Year 7 students | Moffat Beach school hours |
| 29 October | Career Info & Work Experience evening | All Year 9 students and parents | 6.00pm – 7.30pm |
| 30 October | QUT Uni explore Day | All Year 9 students | Sun Coast Uni, school hours |
| 5 November | MS/SS Awards Night | All MS and SS students | Caloundra Event’s Centre |
Jacqualina Vreeling, Head of Middle School