future SACE and its impact on the middle School

This could be great. The structures in future SACE include:

• personal learning plans - we could begin this in Year 8 particularly at the end of the first term when we meet with students and parents to discuss how they are going. Very strongly linked to the reports done in Term 1. Review at least once a term after each report. Plans written down and submitted on-line for access by students and parents, as well as teachers and coordinators.
  
• extended learning initiatives - currently done in Year 12 but we could do a cut-down version in Year 9. Basically students study a subject area of their own choice based on personal interests. Presented to the wider community (somehow) towards the end of Year 9 - maybe at a presentation night?
  
• Numeracy and Literacy requirements (not sure what they are) which must be met sometime in Year 8 or 9. Need to decide what basic numeracy and literacy skills are needed by the time they finish Year 9. These skills would be taught across the curriculum so much so that people would need to indicate in their teaching outlines explicitly where they will teach these skills.
  
• Capabilities - if we use the Gleeson 10 as a guide, these could be developed in these two years.
• Must achieve at least a "B" in five core (Science, Maths, SOSE, English, Italian) subjects or a "C" in choice subjects. If not, they repeat the subject in the following year. Alternatively, each KLA could identify key units of work that students must receive a “B” in whilst they are doing Year 8 and 9.

The Gleeson 10 might include:

• Life-long, independent, skilled learners.
• Creative, critical, self-evaluating thinkers.
• Empathetic and collaborative workers.
• Self-aware citizens of the world.
• Confident problem solvers.
• Responsible and resilient individuals
• Effective communicators
  
• Socially and environmentally responsible individuals.
• Spiritually-aware, faith-filled members of the church and community.
• A producer of quality work.

If we use these as a guide to the sort of "capabilities" we want our students to have by the time they reach Year 9, then that changes what we teach and how we teach.
This would radically overhaul what we do in the middle school and really get them prepared for senior school.
It could be that each KLA decides to focus on one particular aspect in each of Year 8 and 9. For example, maths could look at “confident problem solvers”, English – “effective communicators”, RE – “spiritually aware, faith-filled members of the church and community” etc.
This would radically overhaul what we do in the middle school and really get them prepared for senior school. I realise this is only “pie in the sky” stuff and would need to have full agreement from the teachers involved but not only does it achieve a lot of what we want to see in the Middle School (I think) but it also prepares our students for the future SACE.