Week In The Life Of A Student at Central Middle School

Being a middle school student means keeping active, engaged and involved in all aspects of school life. The following is a description of what students experience across a typical week at Central Middle School:

Advisory

Each student is assigned to an Advisory classroom, and this group of students spends their day together while they rotate through various classes and activities. Each Advisory Class has an Advisory Teacher who acts as the main contact and coordinator for that class. This promotes a caring connection with an adult in the school who will oversee all aspects of each child’s education. Advisory Teachers take attendance, share daily information with students and parents, check student agendas, lead health, social responsibility and guidance activities with their Advisory group, and advocate for their students at team meetings. Each school day starts with 25 minutes of Advisory time where the Advisory Teacher and the class “take care of business”, and address different aspects of the “learning for living” part of middle school life. Each Advisory Class also belongs to a team with a few other classes. The 3 or 4 Advisory teachers within a team work together to share instructional responsibilities, as well as arrange fun, team-building activities to promote greater social responsibility and connectedness among their group of students.

Instruction

After Advisory, each class goes through a series of 5 different blocks of instruction per day, with breaks in between. These blocks can differ in length and are flexible so that teachers can arrange activities suitable to their present unit of instruction. The following is an outline of the different types of learning activities each student will encounter across the week:

Core subjects: There are 6 main core subjects that make up the middle school curriculum:

1. 1. English Language Arts
   2. French Language Arts or French as a Second Language (depending on whether students are enrolled in the English or French Immersion Track)
   3. Mathematics
   4. Social Studies
   5. Science
   6. Physical Education

Though each is listed separately, middle school philosophy promotes the blending and integrating of subjects in order to enhance learning and make activities more meaningful for students.

Exploratory: A main focus in middle school is exposing students to a wide range of subjects, interests, concepts and activities so that as they progress through high school and beyond, they have had time to explore and experience as many aspects of learning as possible. While high school offers “electives”, we believe Middle Schoolers are too young to have to choose, so each class will spend 3 hours a week for a block of time in: Home Economics (both cooking and sewing), Technology Ed. (woodworking and metalworking), Music, Visual Arts, and Outdoor Education. Depending on the Advisory Team structures, classes will either have longer rotation blocks through these three Exploratories, or have shorter rotations in order to also enjoy Exploratory as well.

Enrichment: At Central, we offer a variety of enrichment activities. Enrichment is organized by staff and runs for two blocks a week each Wednesday. All students choose one enrichment activity for each term that includes but is not limited to: Dance, chess, photography, musical, skateboarding, cycling, indigenous art, coding and robotics, magic the gathering, etc.

Music – Central is known for having an incredible and comprehensive middle school music program. Many students participate in our bands, our strings groups, or our choirs. Some of the instruction happens outside the regular timetable, an some of it occurs during the school day. It is not uncommon for our students to participate in multiple music ensembles!

Daily Physical Activity: As mandated by the Ministry of Education, every day our students take either a PE class, or engage in some sort of physical activity. These sessions can take place either in our gymnasium, our outdoor sports court, our sports fields, our adventure playground, or on walks or runs in the community.

Library: Our school recognizes the importance of having an access to diverse texts. Each advisory classroom has a block of time each week for learning with our amazing teacher librarian, learning about new arrivals, and explore what the library has to offer.

Student Support Services: Central is a fully inclusive school, and we offer a wide variety of supports for our students. Our Support Team offers the following services and opportunities:

1. Learning Assistance;
2. Special Education Case Management (individualizing programs for students with special needs);
3. English and a Second Language (ELL) Support;
4. Guidance and Counseling Services;
5. Aboriginal Education Support;
6. Assessment and Programming Support from School District Specialists ;
7. Integrated Case Management with Community Agencies.

Social Opportunities

Middle Schoolers are all about making social connections and Central offers multiple opportunities for social recreation across the week:

Nutrition Break and Lunch Break: Each day, students have a 15-minute Nutrition Break where they can have a quick snack, and connect with friends in our open alternate spaces like the cafeteria, library and gym, or outside on the field and playground. At 11:54 each day, students head for another 30-minute break and then return back to their Advisory homeroom class to eat lunch. Though we are a “closed campus”, meaning students are not to leave the school grounds for safety purposes (after all, they are not High Schoolers yet!), they are free to hang out with friends, play a variety of sports on our fields, or on our outdoor sports court, or use the adventure playground.

Athletics and Clubs: Our school offers a full complement of sports teams and clubs. Fitting with the middle school philosophy, they are open to all students and we do not conduct try-outs or make cuts. If you turn up, you participate – it’s as simple as that! Many practices or meetings happen before school, during lunch, or after school, and games and events are communicated through flyers, emails, and the website. If we don’t have a club of your interest, please visit our school office. We will do our best to find a staff sponsor and make it happen!

Special Events and School Spirit Activities: Central is one fun place to learn! We work hard to balance work and play and plan multiple opportunities for whole-school events. Some examples include: term assemblies, concerts, variety shows, sport showcases, staff vs. student sporting matches, medieval market, early entrepreneur fairs, salish sea boat trips, circus performances, student led musical, art exhibitions and installations, food drives, pancake breakfasts, theme days, beach days,… and the list goes on!