The Marion Middle School Vision
Since January 2019, our journey here at the Marion Middle School has been to develop and strengthen the partnership with Temple Christian College to provide all students from Sunrise Christian Schools and all families within our local area the pathway to complete High School in an authentic Christian community.What We Understand
We see that the secondary journey across Australia now spans six years from Year 7 to Year 12, encompassing several developmental stages for each student as they progress as learners and grow in maturity. In this context, we understand that the best approach will specifically cater for each developmental stage. There is, therefore, a best approach for Years 7 - 9 students that hones in on who they are and how they learn.
What We Believe
We believe that faith is for all of life. At Temple Christian College this means that the Christian faith is central and works out in all that we do. Faith is indeed the hub of the culture that emphasises community, integrity, resilience, creativity, learning and empathy, the CIRCLE of Temple Christian College values. We believe that all of us are defined not by what we mentally assent to but by who we are becoming and how we therefore live as disciples of Christ.
What We Want to See
We want to see young people who are engaging with life and learning with a sense of hope and purpose, who are grateful for the family and influencers who speak into their lives, and who are building towards responsibility and an others focus. We want to challenge each young person to establish life-giving disciplines which will allow the development of their academic capacity, their relational confidence, their physical and mental skills, and their apprenticeship to Christ.
How This Informs Our Intent
We therefore have a great opportunity at Temple Christian College—Marion Middle School to provide an excellent educational experience for students that intentionally targets the first three years of the six-year secondary journey and prepares students for the senior stage.
In effect, it means an approach that:
- uses effective, age-relevant teaching strategies to foster engagement across the range of curriculum areas, and ensure maximum development in core areas of literacy, numeracy and critical thinking.
- challenges early adolescents in the areas of responsibility and maturity by integrating The Rite Journey concepts, which draw out so many Christian faith distinctives, across Years 7-9.
- features a devotional / relational start to each day, including cross-year level groupings. tailors assemblies to emphasise increased student involvement in content presentation and follow-up small group engagement with the issues.
- includes regular excursions and special events, with all-in middle school events such as the Start of Year and End of Year excursions, a Health and Wellbeing Day and Spiritual Life Week being part of this.
- has a distinctive whole middle school camp experience that has a different destination each year, thus enabling the Y9s to have 2 camps (including the Rite Journey Camp).
uses technology creatively and expansively as a tool, without succumbing to device domination.
- emphasises leadership opportunities, particularly for Year 9s, across the whole Marion site and fosters a Student Leadership Team that enjoys ongoing responsibilities and training, including an annual leadership-focused activity day.
- treats Year 9 as a year of great significance and influence in the secondary journey, culminating in a celebration of its completion with an event that highlights preparedness for the next stage—senior school.
We are excited about the shape of the middle school for 2022 and beyond, and would love the chance to discuss how it might serve your family.
Our Year 7 to 9 Program
At Temple Christian College we believe that it is important for all students to complete their secondary schooling with the sense of genuine fulfilment that comes from achieving their best academically and growing demonstrably in character and maturity. We trust each student transitions from the Temple part of their life journey equipped with the skills and imbued with the confidence to pursue all that God has in store for them.
At each of the three Temple Christian College sites, our desire is to serve our community by delivering a consistent standard of excellence in this educational endeavour.
It is this vision that informs our approach to Middle School at the Marion campus. We understand that the foundations of achieving excellence are built in a school environment where relationships are strong and supportive, the faith of staff is authentic, and where the academic program is created principally around core skills that are fundamental to all learning areas; specifically numeracy, literacy and scientific enquiry.
With this in mind, the Temple Marion Middle School curriculum has a strong emphasis throughout on the areas of Mathematics, English and Science. Other subjects include the humanities, History and Geography, and technical specialties: Digital Technology, Design and Technology, and Home Economics. The Arts aspect of the curriculum features Drama, Music and Visual Art, German is the language taught, and all grade levels have 4 lessons of Physical Education and Health. The devotional and relational aspects which are important in all we do are reinforced in Care Group, Christian Living, in weekly assemblies, and in timetabled extra-curricula offerings in the last lesson of each Monday and Wednesday.
With over 10 years’ experience of providing a thriving Year 7 educational program at our Mile End Campus, Temple Christian College is excited to continue to expand the Year 7 program at our Marion Middle School.
All subjects mentioned in the overview above are compulsory at Year 7.
Excellent teacher-student ratios, exist in all subject areas, including the focus areas of literacy, numeracy and science.
An exciting development since January 2020 has been the implementation of an instrument tuition program as part of each Year 7’s semester study in Music. All Year 7 students have tuition in an instrument: saxophone, trumpet or flute, and build toward playing together in an ensemble.
Digital technology is another area that has been developed significantly to include more 3D design capacity and programming skills, with robots and drones being used in the latter.
