Welcome to the Adolescent Community

The continuum of education at MIC ensures a smooth transition between cohorts with new concepts always building upon previous learning and knowledge. Year 7 students generally find the transition from Senior Primary to Adolescence an exciting change, and with this excitement comes a little bit of nervousness. Unlike Senior Primary, adolescents move from class to class and with this new developmental stage, young adolescents are asked to take more ownership over their education with continuous support from their Guides as well as family.

Year 7 students will be put into key lesson groups with a mixture of peers from the different advisories. These groups will change each term, allowing them to share key lessons with all of their peers. Here is a link to an example timetable for your review.

As this is a new level of responsibility, Year 7 students are supported by their Guides to follow their timetable, as it requires them to relocate to different classrooms for each lesson.

Yes, there are lockers in the Adolescent Community. Students use their locker to store their belongings during the day so that students only need to take with them what is needed for a particular lesson. The lockers are centrally located and easily accessible during the school day.

Students have the freedom to choose how they undertake a project or piece of work, the subjects are set in Year 7. Students can begin to choose their preferred subjects from Year 11.

There is a balanced approach to academic studies and personal, holistic growth of the individual. There are many opportunities for personal growth built into the curriculum with a strong emphasis on the progression of growth and leadership opportunities.

For example, in Clubs and Teams, younger adolescents in Year 7 and Year 8 participate, while students in Years 9 and 10 design the program and lead the groups.

In the micro-economies, students are an ’employee’ in Year 7 and Year 8,  and they are a ‘manager’ in Year 9 and Year 10.

All subjects are taught in the Adolescent Community, but they are taught in an integrated, hands-on way. In Year 7, students will study english, maths, science, history, geography, civics and citizenship, economics and business, technology, the arts, and health and physical education.

Even though subjects are taught in a hands-on, Montessori way, the curriculum has been cross-referenced to the Australian Curriculum to ensure it ticks every box. For more on this see the Integrated Curriculum video above.

In the 7/8 and 9/10 couplets, assessment is both formative (informal and in real-time) as well as summative (based on work submitted). Students build a portfolio of work over the year and they receive ongoing feedback from Guides so they have the opportunity to improve what they have submitted if they choose to.

Students then ”present” their work parents, guides and peers throughout the year.

Grades are given each semester for each subject based on a 5-point scale as per QCAA guidelines, however a stronger focus is on the continuous feedback students receive from their Guides.

In the Adolescent Community students follow a timetable with set lesson times, which is an adjustment to what students have experienced in Primary.

Although lesson times follow the timetable, there is time each day for independent work as well as time each week for Community Projects, Micro-economies, Clubs and Teams and Community Projects.

While the timetable is set and subjects are also set in Year 7, work undertaken is very much self-led. Key lessons in the morning cover specific topics and learning outcomes, however each student has agency in choosing how they use what they have learned during Practical Work lessons outside in the afternoons.

Generally, work isn’t set for home specifically. Any work that is required to be completed at home is work and assignments that have been set and are due – students can complete this work at school during class time or individual free time, or at home.

Yes, students can use these when they are outside for their break.

A number of factors are taken into consideration when allocating students to Advisory Groups, including existing friendships. However, this can also be an opportunity to make new friends. It’s important to remember that the Adolescent Community is quite different to Senior Primary in that students don’t learn with the same group all day. In the Adolescent Community, students move to different classrooms for different subjects, and the students in each class will be different as well. Even if a close friend in Year 7 or 8 isn’t in your Advisory Group, there will be ample opportunities to learn and socialise with that friend throughout the day.