At a time when young people will experience some of their most rapid personal growth and move towards academic maturity, St Andrew’s Middle School provides a purposeful education program designed to engage students from Year 7 – 9 in a supportive learning culture and prepare them for a smooth transition into Senior College and beyond.
We are committed to providing an effective, flexible and dynamic education in the heart of Sydney’s CBD that reflects both our modern surrounds and the differing learning patterns of students. Our philosophy of learning is centred on custom developed education that is tailored to the unique developmental needs of young adolescents.
All of our Middle School classes are coeducational. However, in Year 9, we run single-sex tutor groups covering gender-specific issues relating to adolescence.
Preparation for the Senior Years extends past the core curriculum – the Middle School is concerned with growth and supports this through year-based tutor groups, year coordinators and an academic coordinator, all of whom are involved with building and extending the skills of every student.
Our Middle School has a purposely welcoming culture, recognising these years as crucial in the development of socialisation skills. The Christian underpinnings of St Andrew’s are reflected in a culture of care between students and staff. Through extensive co-curricular programs and community service activities, Middle school students are encouraged to fully engage in their passions beyond the classroom, and to also try new activities that extend beyond their comfort zone.
The new Middle School library offers a unique and relaxed space for students, where they can create, socialise, read and study. It is open from before school until after school, giving students plenty of opportunities to access the library space. SACS library also regularly runs lunchtimes clubs and fun competitions for students. Library staff can assist students with reading recommendations and research skills. Students can borrow up to six books at a time from a constantly updated collection of titles.
SACS Library is online and can be found at http://library.sacs.nsw.edu.au/
Our Middle School staff understand the importance of continuity in education, so we aim to develop skills in our students that will enable them to transfer with ease into Senior College (Years 10-12).
The IB MYP is an internationally accredited framework for learning which is specifically designed for students aged 11 to 16 and caters for their particular learning needs and styles during this stage of life. Students continue to follow the content of NSW syllabuses within the MYP educational framework. It is inclusive in nature, providing academic rigour for all students, including gifted and talented and those needing support.
As the culmination of the students’ final year of the MYP, they undertake an independent ‘Personal Project’, which is a significant piece of work of the student’s own initiative and creativity. The project requires research and the creation of a product with supporting documentation. Examples of this have been the creation of a garden, a website detailing ways to save power or the writing of a novel. This incredibly rewarding project gives students an opportunity to research an area of passion which may not have been covered in school subjects.
Whether they select to study the Higher School Certificate and International Baccalaureate Diploma in their senior years, students will be required to possess a broad, rich skillset. Our Middle School teaching strategies integrate higher order thinking skills of synthesis, analysis and reason across core subjects and the broad range of electives.
Increasingly our classrooms are becoming the sites for global connections, whether it be Year 9 Visual Art classes collaborating with a school in Beijing or Year 8 English students publishing newspaper articles to global online student networks.
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