Catalyst • Junior Secondary Curriculum • Handbook 2019
Junior Secondary – what is it?
The junior secondary program at Guildford
Grammar School aligns with the early adolescent
learning phase of development.
We believe that students in the middle school years
have a great deal of intrinsic curiosity. They yearn to
be challenged and are ready to have the educational
flexibility to pursue their individual talents and
interests.
At this time, students begin to develop strong social
networks and start to show independence, both
personally and in their learning. By establishing a
junior secondary teaching and learning program, the
School can cater for the unique academic, social and
developmental needs of students of this age.
In response to this need, we have developed the
concept of junior secondary; a program of learning
that is appropriately challenging and flexible for
students in Years 7, 8 and 9, but one that capitalises
on the specialisation that only a secondary school
system can provide. Rather than being taught by
a general, middle-school teacher, when your child
chooses Media Film Production in Year 7, they will be
taught by the same teacher who teaches the subject
in Year 12. What’s more, the class will be the Media
Lab, not the room in which he or she learns English.
The Guildford Grammar School junior secondary
teaching program has been structured around the
secondary school model of specialist teachers and
a strong student-centred approach to teaching and
learning. Offering students significant choice in what
they study as part of their academic program is also a
key element to our Year 7-9 program.
In approaching learning through the junior
secondary model, students experience the very best
opportunities to explore problems and challenges in
an academically rich environment.
The emphasis on secondary schooling, rather than
middle schooling, is an important distinction for
our school. As a concept, middle schooling is often
promoted as a bridge between primary and secondary
education. As an experience, it is most often found to
simply be an extension of primary school.
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