Every secondary school is different, but all aim to give your student the opportunity to learn and develop both academically and socially through varying experiences.
The Junior Secondary school at Benowa is strongly supported by state-wide funding, and learning underpinned by national standards in education set out by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA). We also understand that not every child is the same and offer flexible learning programs that are tailored to meet the learning needs of your student.
Stages of learning
Your student will have changing learning needs across the junior secondary years, and as they move through the school. Throughout Year 7 and 8 our intention is to build breadth and depth. Your student will progress beyond the fundamental knowledge, skills and behaviour learnt in primary school and their literacy and numeracy will be more developed.
As your student progresses into Year 9 they are required to develop greater independence of mind and interest and will begin to develop their preferred areas for learning. This starts your student's journey into the Senior Secondary years and beyond school.
Curriculum and assessment
In Junior Secondary, your student will learn traditional subjects such as English, Mathematics, Science, History, Languages, The Arts, as well as physical and social learning subjects such as Health and Physical Education, Civics and Citizenship, Business, Industrial and Technology.
As students progress through secondary school, your student will have the opportunity to make choices based on their skills, interests and abilities to explore future career pathways including tertiary education, training or employment.
Home learning
Homework is an opportunity for you to help and be involved in your student’s learning. In Junior Secondary, homework set reinforces what your student has learnt at school and encourages them to develop, then maintain lifelong study habits.
Types of homework
The type of homework set will vary depending on subjects, and will increase in difficulty and length according to age and ability.
Types of homework your student may receive in may include:
Practice Exercises – provides an opportunity for your student to apply new knowledge, or to review and reinforce recently learned skills. Common examples include completing maths exercises, reading, vocabulary spelling practice, writing and other creative tasks.
Preparatory Homework – allows students to obtain a background knowledge so they are better prepared for future lessons. Examples may include reading English texts for discussion, collecting articles, reading background materials for history or science.
Assignments – often used for assessment purposes assignments encourage your student to pursue knowledge individually. Example in Junior Secondary may include Science investigation exercises, artwork, researching material online.
How can you help?
There are many ways you can help your student with their homework:
Encouraging daily time to complete homework
Creating a space for homework to take place
Discussing key questions to help examine topics from different perspectives
Working with your student to create balance between time spent doing homework and recreational pursuits
Talking with teachers to discuss problems or success with homework and/or classwork