Our girls make the transition to Middle School when they move into Year 7. With a highly engaging and evidence-based curriculum created to assist the needs of adolescent girls, our aim is to develop confident, independent and resilient young women who know and celebrate who they are.
The years of middle schooling are especially important. Our girls face numerous choices and challenges as they encounter several stages and degrees of personal and social development. During this time, their growing capacity and ability to make complex personal choices will establish the attitudes and values they will take into adulthood.
Our task is to extend their skills and abilities and to challenge them to examine their own thoughts and values. To achieve this, it is vital that girls see themselves as having overcome challenges to be successful in a variety of endeavours.
Teaching and Learning
The Middle School curriculum assists in the development of higher order thinking skills and the ability to interrogate and evaluate information. Girls work collaboratively and cooperatively and are encouraged to strive for their personal best in their study and in the many other activities available to them.
The Middle School years provide girls with the opportunity to experiment with different subjects to find out what they might pursue through their Senior School studies. For this reason, staff teach across the Middle and Senior Schools to ensure our girls are best equipped with strong foundations for senior studies.
Throughout their time in the Middle School our girls undertake lessons in English, Mathematics, Science, History, Health and PE, Chinese and French, Geography, Philosophy and Outdoor Education, in addition to a number of electives.
The Wilderness Creative Industries focuses on providing our students the opportunity to explore their creative potential in music, visual and performing arts, product design and creation, digital media, film and animation. Students are able to imagine and develop highly professional creative products in partnership with industry bodies and publish these to inspire others. Through creative problem solving and exploration of multiple creative forms, each girl will develop her ability to actively express her perceptions, ideas and visions while fostering an appreciation and understanding of different cultural and historical contexts. As members of the creative media generation, who live in an interactive visual world, students are encouraged to embrace the interdependent nature of the Creative Industries, working across disciplines in experimental and innovative ways, to develop projects as a community.
Providing a hands on and solution-based course, our Design, Technology and Engineering program offers our girls the opportunity to extend their love for Robotics, Space, Cyber and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as engineering, enterprise and innovation. Here, we challenge girls to apply their problem-solving skills and ignite their imagination through participation in open ended activities with the freedom to explore their creativity and critical thinking without limits. Girls in Years 7 and 8 are encouraged to explore all their curiosities, before electing to refine particular skills in Year 9.
Focusing on the development of the whole girl, our bespoke program 'Artemis' provides our Middle School students with the opportunity to deeply think about their interpersonal relationships, their relationship with their community and with the world. They explore current social and political issues and further develop their advocacy and action. Here, each girl will find and refine the qualities that are unique to humanity; the qualities that complement, not compete with, the capacities of technology.
We educate beyond the classroom setting through REALISE, our 19 Day immersive learning program for our Year 9 students hosted at the Coorong Crawford campus. In this learning environment, students are supported to become capable, confident and connected young women who are resilient and resourceful in the face of challenges and uncertainty.
This is in addition to the various co-curricular activities and leadership positions that provide each of our girls with the opportunity to increase their confidence, broaden their friendships and develop leadership skills. These activities include the Student Representative Council, music ensembles, committees, clubs and sports.
