Middle School jump in feet first!

The Middle School has been a hive of excited energy and collaborative activity with the Year 7s and 8s beginning their new Humanities and STEM classes. Students and teachers are getting to know one another and high expectations have been set for this year’s learning success.

Humanities students have begun visiting the Resource Centre for orientations (Y7), borrowing reading books and beginning of Middle School Book Club (Y8). The chickens have been receiving lots of attention as students visit them as a part of our sustainability initiatives in the Middle School, learning about and caring for the Sustainability Garden. In Year 7, students have begun learning about what it means to think like a historian and they are investigating different ways that we learn about the past. In Year 8, students have been learning about different types of governments and their own responsibilities as citizens. They’ve begun reading ‘The Giver’ and exploring the society in which the novel has been set as a way to apply their understanding of how societies function and wonder about the concept of ‘freedom’.

In STEM, Year 7 have been learning about Lab Safety, Variables, Scientific Method and of course lighting Bunsen Burners. For many Year 7’s, new to SFX, the Science Lab is a new, exciting space and an elevation of learning from their Primary School experiences in Science. The Boiling Water task performed in STEM allows for the Year 7 group to learn about lab safety, using their 5 senses, variables, using observations and prior knowledge and investigating the scientific method through creating and aims, hypothesis, results and discussions. Students have also been learning about the function of the number line. This has been a logical connection to their Hums learning, where chronology and timelines have been a part of the classwork. Year 8 have been developing their understanding of variables and fair tests. This is leading them toward creating their own experiments where they will apply the scientific method and engage with technology to enhance their reports. They’ve also begun by learning about integers, index laws and utilising the order of operations.

We are all set for more exciting practicals and scientific discoveries this year, so watch this space.

‘We loved holding and feeding the chickens. We are so excited to keep exploring!’

— Year 7 Hums