From the Head of Middle School

Thank you for your participation in the Student Led Conferences this term. It has been particularly pleasing to see and listen to our boys through Year 6, 7 & 8 demonstrate a deeper connection with their learning, with an increasing emphasis not on what they have learned from a content perspective but on how they have learned, and how they prepare for what is coming next. In particular, we hope our departing Year 8 boys leave the Middle School with a heightened sense or greater accountability for their role in their education. Our Student Led Conferences are a valuable window into their mind set about this.

Congratulations to the boys who received Academic Excellence recognition at our Assembly last Friday.  Academic Excellence Awards commence in Year 7 and are for boys who achieve a total of 30+ when adding their top five MYP subject grades in their semester report. Academic Excellence Awards continue into Senior School and become part of the process and criteria toward Academic Colours and Honours.

Our JPSSA and PSA Winter Sport fixtures concluded last week and following the mid-term break this weekend we move into Athletics season. The high point of this is our own Inter- House Athletics Carnival on Wednesday 22 August. It is a great day of activity and colour. Students rotate through jump, throw, short and long distance running events. It is a busy day with events running simultaneously all around the ovals. Our Inter-House Athletics is always well supported by parents and grandparents and a programme of the day will be emailed separately to you this week.  Following our Inter-House Carnival boys keen on trialling for the Inter-School Carnival continue with after school training for the remainder of the term.

Today marks the commencement of National Science Week.  It is a big week in the calendar for our Year 6 boys who will present and speak about their Science Fair project. If you are interested in explosions, moulds, melt rates, the correlation between friction and velocity, the dissolvability rates of different coloured M&Ms or any of the myriad of things that 11 year old boys like to investigate, come and visit the Year 6 Science Fair on the ground floor this Thursday morning between 10.25am – 11.25am.

Mr Richard Ledger
Head of Middle School