Cornerstone College

Cornerstone College

Cornerstone College has restructured the Middle School to allow for a much more integrated approach. In Year 8, two classes combine and are team-taught by two teachers across the learning areas of English, Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. The team are given time to plan, prepare learning experiences and moderate student work. These subjects are integrated using Themes and Big Questions such as 'Fake News - How can we identify the truth?' or 'Contagion - Will we survive the next major pandemic?'. As well as integrating the learning areas, a more deliberate and intentional approach is taken to teach the General Capabilities using a 6Cs model of Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Control of Learning and Connections. The 6Cs have been broken down and taught to students so they know how to improve in these capabilities. The Middle School has also moved away from using letter grades and instead assess using learning progressions based on the Australian Curriculum achievement standards. The goal is to have learning progressions used across the Middle School of Years 7-9, so that teachers, parents and students can see growth in the student’s learning and know what the next steps are.