- All middle schools are still developing and refining the programs and approaches that will be implemented in 2008.
- A factor common to all the middle schools is the increased time and resources being allocated to the pastoral care role, with the aim of increasing student engagement and connectedness to school.
- A brief outline of the approaches being used to support gifted students in Darwin schools is outlined below.
Darwin Middle School
Darwin Middle School plans to introduce extension classes as part of its set timetable. Students may choose one focus area per term where they excel or have keen interest to develop deeper understandings about the topic. All subject teachers are expected to develop extension units that cater to the range of student interests and needs. This approach ensures that all teachers are involved in supporting students, rather than just a few key teachers. The students' choice of extension classes will involve negotiation between parents, teachers and students.
Maths classes will be streamed according to the performance levels of students.
Within integrated studies, the number of teachers allocated, the physical space and the computing facilities will enable learning to occur in different ways for varied student abilities.
There will be a wide choice of creative arts and languages available, as well as dedicated science facilities. These options should support a range of student interests and abilities. Where students require learning options in addition to what is offered by Darwin Middle School, negotiation can occur with Darwin Senior Secondary School.
Sanderson Middle School
Sanderson Middle School assesses all students at the beginning of the year to determine their entry knowledge and skills. This assists with recommending appropriate courses of study.
Sanderson offers a vertical timetable across all subjects. This approach caters for the diversity of needs including gifted students, by offering courses for a range of ability levels. The courses are 10 weeks in duration, enabling a wide range of choice and flexibility from term to term.
There are a number of integrated courses being developed within the vertical timetable framework, where teachers collaborate to combine teaching expertise from two subject areas. It is expected that the number of integrated courses will increase with time. There are also a number of courses where there is continuity in that they can be taken sequentially to develop deeper learning in a particular subject area. Both approaches are suitable to meet the needs of gifted students.
There is an established program where primary feeder schools can access courses for high ability students. Flexible options in conjunction with other educational institutions can also be negotiated for middle school students who are performing at levels above the currently offered courses. There are also a number of special programs that cater to specific needs, including a boys program, a girls group and leadership programs.
Sanderson Middle School communicates its middle years approach through the school handbook, which is readily available to the school community. The handbook contains detailed information about courses and its availability has been actively promoted through the media and feeder schools.
Dripstone Middle School
Dripstone Middle School developed its gifted policy in 2007 and involved the senior teachers in its implementation. The policy clearly outlines a range of flexible approaches that the school implements to support gifted students. These include:
Individual education plans or learning profiles are developed for students identified as gifted.
Students are placed in Level 1 classes where high levels of ability are catered for.
- workshops based upon student interests;
- choice of activities based upon interests;
- a number of extra-curricular programs, activities and competitions;
- links with other educational institutions that can provide additional programs eg CDU;
- dual enrolments with other educational institutions;
- accelerated learning options
Dripstone has included information about catering for gifted students as part of their school handbook, which is distributed to all parents and prospective students.
Nightcliff Middle School
Nightcliff Middle School has implemented integrated programs for the past few years, with teachers from different subject areas collaboratively plan the units of work. The programs are based upon the development of higher order thinking skills and use of multiple intelligences products. The integrated units of work have provided flexibility and choice in the types of learning tasks that students undertake. Students of high ability are able to choose learning tasks that are more demanding and complex.
Nightcliff Middle School has planned to undertake the steps to become an accredited International Baccalaureate school, which will enable it to implement the Middle Years Program. The school has also investigated the feasibility of the feeder primary schools being involved with this approach.
This multi-faceted approach emphasises an open-ended problem solving approach, as well as the development of thinking skills and real world connections. The International Baccalaureate programs are currently used in many Australian schools and support the approaches recommended for gifted students.
