Middle School spans the last years of Primary School (Years 5 and 6) and the first years of High School (Years 7 and 8). At a time in their lives when so much is changing, this structure eases the transition for primary students from the learning environment of one classroom, to the more varied and diverse learning environment of secondary school.

Middle School at Carinya seeks to provide opportunities for students to identify and develop their own gifts, abilities, and interests, and to use and enjoy those gifts in thankfulness to God. As individuals made in the image of God, students are encouraged to learn in "community not competition", to be motivated intrinsically and “seek the reward in the task.” Qualities of character, self-discipline, responsibility and resilience are fostered and emphasised.

TAMWORTH

At Carinya Tamworth, Year 5 is double streamed and Year 6 is triple streamed, aiming for class sizes of 25-30. Each class has a home room and a home room teacher, who teaches the bulk of the curriculum. Classes in the same year level may combine to allow students to be divided into ability groups in Literacy and Numeracy. All lessons for Years 5 and 6 are taught in mixed ability class, with the exception of Mathematics, where classes in the same year level are divided into ability groups. This allows the provision of specifically programmed teaching and activities suited to the abilities of students in each group.

Years 7 and 8 are triple streamed (3 classes per grade) and aims for class sizes of 22-25. The curriculum is comprised of the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography and PDHPE and the general experience subjects of Music, Visual Arts, Design and Technology, and a Language other than English (Japanese).

All subjects, except Mathematics, are taught in mixed ability classes.

As with all other sections of the school, Middle School is making extensive use of Information Technology in the development and delivery of the curriculum.

GUNNEDAH

Secondary schooling officially commenced at Carinya Gunnedah in 2019 with our first Year 7 class, then continued to expand to Year 8 in 2020.

Each Middle School class has a core teacher plus another two or three specialist teachers. Students in Years 5 and 6 generally have their core teacher for more of the time than in Years 7 and 8, which also means that students in Years 7 and 8 have specialist teachers more often than Year 5 and 6 students.

Carinya Gunnedah has one class per grade in Middle School and the maximum number of students per class is 24, which makes us a small school with small classes. Being a small school means that students are known and cared for in a way that isn’t possible in larger schools. Smaller numbers of students in classes also means that teachers have more time to focus on the needs of individual students.

All classes are taught in mixed-ability groups with Mathematics moving towards divided ability groups when we have two classes.