Our Middle School is home to Years 4 to 8. Overlooking Queens Park, it is a thriving learning centre for more than 500 students. Middle School features open learning spaces, year level precincts, a science centre, a drama studio and a café style canteen, as well as a full-sized gym and ovals, courts and fields. The Enviro Garden is the heart of our Middle School inspiring sustainability and community.
Middle School learning is about extending the development of curiosity, imagination, creativity and problem solving, while developing a deeper understanding in learning, of self, and of self in relation to others.
From Year 4 to Year 8, Middle School students are encouraged to become more independent in their learning and responsible in their decision-making. They set goals in all aspects of their learning, and their personal development is supported strongly by specialist Middle School staff, as the students investigate, reflect, make decisions and cooperate with others.
Middle School students learn to lead, both within their own environment, and also in conjunction with the adjacent Junior School. The depth of their learning prepares them well for the years to follow.
The Enviro year holds a special place in the educational experience offered by The Geelong College. The rich context of the immediate environment, including the Barwon River and a diverse and productive garden, provides endless opportunities to engage in meaningful learning in all areas of the curriculum. Tactile outdoor experience develops empathy and builds respect for the magnificent natural diversity of life on earth.
The philosophy of Year 5 ‘Designing the Future’ is built around establishing efficient individual and collaborative learning strategies. Students are encouraged to show initiative, become resourceful and develop persistence in working through project-based investigations.
In Year 6, students learn in an open environment equipped with a range of current technologies to support and share their learning. Students develop skills to make and understand media and to consider how people, events and issues are represented. They create, produce and present their own works using digital technologies of their choice to communicate a message to their audiences.
In Year 7, students are encouraged to take more responsibility for themselves during a time of personal change. This is explored as both a group and an individual, with the time and support to ask questions, develop understanding, and to embrace their identity and their place in the world.
The Year 8 program is a motivating, challenging and self-driven learning journey. Building on the identity focus of Year 7, Year 8 students are challenged to investigate areas and issues of interest across a range of topics, subjects, electives and experiences. Students have the chance to study the aerodynamics of F1 racing vehicles, explore systems in game design, jewellery making, food production, to dig deeper into non-traditional aspects of mathematics and sport science, and a host of other exciting offerings.