Balaklava High School eNewsletter

MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS

I am incredibly proud to be the Middle School Assistant Principal of Balaklava High School. We are all looking forward to a successful, productive and fun 2022. It is with great pleasure that we welcome our new Year 7s and Year 8s with face-face learning and our returning Year 9s online and all of the middle school families to the 2022 school year. Our Year 7 and 8 students have settled in well and have managed to easily negotiate their way around their new exciting timetable. During their first couple of days I have had many students come up and talk with me in the yard, sharing stories about primary school and telling me a little bit about themselves. It is great to see our students display great manners and they are keen to build positive relationships with their teachers and peers.

As a future focused school, we at Balaklava High School are passionate about engaging all of our students with relevant, meaningful and exciting learning. This week, our new Middle School structure was implemented and it includes the introduction of two new integrated subjects to allow students to pursue learning in a holistic way. These subjects are Local and Global Perspectives and Food and Fibre.

Local and Global Perspectives: Through an interdisciplinary approach, Local and Global Perspectives enhances the study of English, History, Geography, Business and Economics and Civics and Citizenship all underpinned by a strong focus on literacy. Students will have the unique opportunity to undertake tasks that combine content, skills and perspectives from a range of these areas of study.

Food and Fibre: With the combination of Agriculture and Home Economics, students strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the processes involved in the whole production chain of food and fibre. Students will build strong practical connections between ‘paddock to plate’ as well as understanding the properties of materials through a ‘farm to fabrics’ learning approach with a focus on local industries including poultry, sheep, horticulture, pigs, and dairy.

Our students are inspired and supported to achieve their best so they can thrive in a rapidly changing and interconnected world. To succeed in their future careers, we need to ensure all of our students are equipped with the skills that will be most valued by their future employers. Students in Year 9 and 10 will choose from several different studios, which extend beyond the content delivered in the Australian Curriculum, providing students with a choice and voice in their learning. In our new structure, students are able to choose subjects they would like to study in more depth in Year 9. Incorporating more future focused aspects to learning at Balaklava High School is guaranteed to assist students to excel not only throughout school, but for all of the years to follow.

As a site we are extremely excited to begin our new Middle School Structure in 2022 and know we have a strong foundation to continue to inspire and support our students to thrive. I look forward to getting know more about our students, their families, staff and the Balaklava community within my role this year.

See photos below of our new Year 7s and 8s