The Middle School

Small learning communities – powerful learning opportunities

Learning Communities

Tintinara Area School has established a clearly identifiable sub-school that is small, caring and specifically addresses the needs of young adolescents by providing:

spacious, attractive, well-resourced learning areas
small teacher/student ratios
small pastoral care groups
leadership opportunities
strong communication
activities reflecting a shared community include debating, student radio, camps, excursions, open day, multimedia, drama productions, buddy classes, enterprise, agricultural studies, sporting activities, community studies.

Teaching and Learning Practices

As members of the SA Middle Schooling Network, Tintinara Area School is committed to developing teaching practices that seem most productive at this middle level of learning by:

negotiating activities and assessment tasks
teaching explicitly the strategies and criteria to achieve success
introducing different learning styles and brain theories to help them in planning and managing their own learning
emphasizing higher order thinking skills by introducing them to thinking models like Blooms Taxonomy
developing strong relationships
designing cooperative learning activities
encouraging student participation in decision making
modeling reflective thinking – creative, critical and caring
promoting physical activity
working with neighbouring schools to extend the learning opportunities and social interactions of our students.

Tintinara Area School is designed to meet the specific intellectual, physical and emotional needs of young adolescents.

This is accomplished through:

a broad curriculum that is challenging and relevant, allowing students to make informed choices about their future direction
teaching and learning methodologies that encourage risk taking, keen engagement and are adapted to cater for a variety of learning styles
the integration of information and communication technologies across all areas of the curriculum through our computer network
close pastoral care through the development of positive relationships between teachers, students and their families
the provision of leadership opportunities through the Student Representative Council (SRC)
the opportunity to engage in a range of extra curricular activities