Junior Secondary refers to the education of students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Here at PBC we strive for the best for our students in all areas.
Statement of Intent
To be a world class school which nurtures the talents of every young adolescent student, ensuring a seamless and supportive transition from primary school into senior school.
Philosophy
Success in the Junior Secondary comes from engagement in learning and building relationships.
Junior Secondary at PBC is built around a caring, supportive environment enabling students a smooth transition into senior school. Students feel a sense of belonging and in such an environment strong teacher-student relationships are created. Shared decision-making and active participation along with a rigorous curriculum help to cultivate lifelong learners.
Curriculum
Students in Year 7, 8 study, what we refer to as, Core subjects - English, Humanities, Maths and Science – all year for both years. Ideally students in Year 7 will only have two teachers for their Core subjects to support transition from primary school. As your student moves into Year 8, there are changes to how classes are organised. Students will no longer remain in a single set class for the four core subjects, and in most cases, they will have different groupings for English and Maths. These changes are part of our school’s Synergy Learning model, used in Years 8 and 9 to better support student growth.
What is Synergy Learning?
Students are grouped based on their unique academic needs to help them improve faster. Students learn in an environment that sets high expectations, offering both support and challenges at every level. This model helps students and teachers work together in a supportive way that builds student confidence and success.
Underpinning Research
The adolescent brain changes rapidly like in the first three years of life. Experiences and environment play a huge role in shaping learning and development. Students will work in their zone of next growth, based on an educational theory. The theory is based on skills that are beyond the students’ current abilities are more achievable with the right help and guidance.
How does it work?
As students' skills grow or need further development, they can move between classes at the beginning of new units. Teachers collaboratively review student progress and consider the skills required for the upcoming unit and can recommend changes to support this and changes are thoroughly considered. Parents are encouraged to support their child in developing resilience and readiness for any moves.
Elective subjects
These subjects include offerings from The Arts, Technology, Health and Physical Education (HPE) and Spanish are studied for one semester in each year. All students in Year 7 and 8 will experience all elective subjects over the two years, with the exception of students enrolled in Sports and Creative Arts excellence who will not study Spanish in their program. Excellence programs are considered electives and incorporate Australian curriculum as follows; Sports Excellence incorporates the HPE curriculum and Creative Arts incorporates the Arts curriculum.
A typical program for Year 7 and 8:
Semester One Semester Two
English English
Maths Maths
Science Science
Humanities Humanities
The Arts Spanish
HPE Technology
By the time students reach the end of Year 8 they can select for Year 9 four subjects from the elective offerings to explore their personal interests and to help them decide if they would like to study these in further depth as a senior. Each elective is studied for one semester. Please review the
Year 9 Subject Selection Guide to see the large range of subjects offered at PBC.
A typical program for Year 9:
Semester One Semester Two
English English
Maths Maths
Science Science
Humanities HPE
Elective 1 Elective 3
Elective 2 Elective 4
Every student at PBC also has a Roll class lesson every week and this class starts the day together every day, at PBC this is known as CARE. Our Care program is based on PERMAH and the Social and Emotional Capabilities from the Australian Curriculum.
PERMAH is a wellbeing model in positive psychology representing Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, and Health. The Personal and Social capability learning continuum is organised into 4 elements, Self-awareness, Self-management, Social awareness and Social management.
All lessons run for 70 minutes and each subject has three 70 minute lessons per week. You can view the structure of our timetable
here.
Some students require further support and intervention. This can look different for each student, but some of these supports require students to come out of elective classes to receive the additional support and intervention required. This could be for reading, numeracy or wellbeing. If this occurs parents are contacted prior and teachers adjust and accommodate for this. Some students in Year 7 or 8 will not study an elective so that they can be in an intervention program called Reds Readers for a term or two to enhanced their reading skills to better cope with learning and reading demands of high school.
Community Intervention Program
Fight 4 Youth
Parent information letter (PDF, 100kb)
Intervention program agreement form (PDF, 100kb)
All Year 9 students are encouraged to organise Work Experience for Term 2 and Term 4, Week 10. All Work Experience must be arranged using the correct process and forms, so that students are covered by the school's insurance.
Students are also encouraged to consider using their Work Experience as an opportunity to trial for a Certificate III Traineeship. The advantages for students of completing a traineeship in Year 10 include:
Students considering a Traineeship should visit Mrs Sonia Shreeve in the Pathways Centre in Y Block to discuss employers who may be open to Work Experience and a Traineeship opportunity. The Pathways Centre is open every day before school and during Lunch 1.
PBC will then make contact with the employer and start the process of completing formal agreement paperwork.
With over 400 students seeking work experience at the one time, positions will be in demand. Students are encouraged to start this process now.