Middle school facts for kids
Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school.
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Australia
No states of Australia have separate middle schools, as students go directly from primary school (for years K/preparatory–6) to secondary school (years 7–12, usually referred to as high school).
As an alternative to the middle school model, some secondary schools classify their grades as "middle school" (years 5,6,7,8 where primary and secondary campuses share facilities or 7,8,9 in a secondary campus) or "junior high school" (years 7, 8 and 9) and "senior high school" (years 10, 11 and 12). Some have three levels, "junior" (years 7 and 8), "intermediate" (years 9 and 10), and "senior" (years 11 and 12). Some schools run a specialised year 9 program separate from the other secondary year levels.
In 1996 and 1997, a national conference met to develop what became known as the National Middle Schooling Project, which aimed to develop a common Australian view of
- early adolescent needs
- guiding principles for educators
- appropriate strategies to foster positive adolescent learning.
The first middle school established in Australia was The Armidale School, in Armidale. Other schools have since followed this trend.
The Northern Territory has introduced a three tier system featuring Middle Schools for years 7–9 (approximate age 13–15) and high school year 10–12 (approximate age 16–18).
Many schools across Queensland have introduced a Middle School tier within their schools. The middle schools cover years 5 to 8.
Canada
In Canada, the terms "middle school" and "junior high school" are both used, depending on which grades the school caters to. Junior high schools tend to include only grades 7, 8, and sometimes 9 (some older schools with the name 'carved in concrete' still use "Junior High" as part of their name, although grade nine is now missing), whereas middle schools are usually grades 6–8 or only grades 7–8 or 6–7 (i.e. around ages 11–14), varying from area to area and also according to population vs. building capacity.
Another common model is grades 5–8. Alberta, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island junior high schools typically include grades 7–9, with the first year of high school traditionally being grade 10. In some places students go from elementary school to secondary school, meaning the elementary school covers to the end of grade 8.
In Ontario, the terms "middle school" and "senior public school" (sometimes just grades 7 and 8) are used, with the latter being used particularly in the Old Toronto and Scarborough sections of Toronto plus in Mississauga, Brampton, and Kitchener-Waterloo. In many smaller Ontario cities and in some parts of larger cities, most elementary schools serve junior kindergarten to grade 8 meaning there are no separate middle schools buildings, while in some cities (such as Hamilton) specific schools do serve the intermediate grades (i.e. grades 6–8 or grades 7–8) but are still called "elementary" or "public" schools with no recognition of the grades they serve in their name.
In the province of Quebec, there is no middle school section; post-elementary grade 6, the secondary level has five grades, called Secondary I to Secondary V (grades 7 to 11).
New Zealand
In New Zealand middle schools are known as "intermediate schools." They generally cover years 7 and 8 (formerly known as Forms 1 to 2). Students are generally aged between 10 and 13. There are full primary schools which also contain year 7 and 8 with students continuing to secondary school at year 9 (formerly known as Form 3). Some secondary schools also include years 7 and 8.
After 2000 there was an increased interest in middle schooling (for years 7–10) with at least seven schools offering education to this age group opening around the country in Auckland, Cambridge, Hamilton, Christchurch and Upper Hutt.
Spain
In Spain, education is compulsory for children and teenagers between 6 and 16 years. Basic education is divided into Educación Primaria (first grade through sixth grade), which is the Spanish equivalent of elementary school; and Educación Secundaria Obligatoria or ESO (seventh through tenth grade), roughly the Spanish equivalent of middle school and (partially) high school. The usual ages in ESO are 12 to 15 years old, but they can range between 11 and 16 depending on the birth date (a student who was born late in the year may start ESO at 11 if he or she will turn 12 before January 1, and a student who was born early in the year may finish ESO after turning 16).
After ESO, students can continue their pre-university education attending to Bachillerato (eleventh and twelfth grade) or choose a Ciclo de Formación Profesional (an improved type of vocational school).
United Kingdom
England and Wales
In England and Wales, local education authorities introduced middle schools in the 1960s and 1970s. The notion of middle schools was mooted by the Plowden Report of 1967 which proposed a change to a three-tier model including first schools for children aged between 5 and 8, middle schools for 8–12 year-olds, and then high schools for 12–16 year-olds. Some authorities introduced middle schools for ideological reasons, in line with the report, while others did so for more pragmatic reasons relating to the raising of the school leaving age in compulsory education to 16, or to introduce a comprehensive system.
Different authorities introduced different age-range schools, although in the main, three models were used:
- 5–8 first schools, followed by 8–12 middle schools, as suggested by Plowden
- 5–9 first schools, followed by 9–13 middle schools
- 5–10 first schools followed by 10–13 middle schools or intermediate schools
In many areas "primary school" rather than first school was used to denote the first tier.
In addition, some schools were provided as combined schools catering for pupils in the 5–12 age range as a combined first and middle school.
Around 2000 middle and combined schools were in place in the early 1980s. However, that number began to fall in the later 1980s with the introduction of the National Curriculum. The new curriculum's splits in Key Stages at age 11 encouraged the majority of local education authorities to return to a two-tier system of Primary (sometimes split into Infant schools and Junior schools) and Secondary schools. There are now fewer than 150 middle schools still operational in the United Kingdom, meaning that approximately 90% of middle schools have closed or reverted to primary school status since 1980. The system of 8–12 middle schools has fallen into complete disuse.
Under current legislation, as also at the time of the Plowden report, all schools must be deemed either primary or secondary. Thus, middle schools which have more primary year groups than KS3 or KS4 are termed "deemed primaries" or "middles-deemed-primaries," while those with more secondary-aged pupils, or with pupils in Y11 are termed "deemed secondaries" or "middles-deemed-secondaries." For statistical purposes, such schools are often included under primary and secondary categories "as deemed". Notably, most schools also follow teaching patterns in line with their deemed status, with most deemed-primary schools offering a primary-style curriculum taught by one class teacher, and most deemed-secondary schools adopting a more specialist-centred approach. Legally all-through schools are also considered middle schools (deemed secondary), although they are rarely referred to as such.
Some middle schools still exist in various areas of England. They are supported by the National Middle Schools' Forum. See List of middle schools in England.
Scotland
In Scotland, a similar system to the English one was trialled in Grangemouth middle schools, Falkirk between 1975 and 1987. The label of "junior high school" is used for some through schools in Orkney and Shetland which cater for pupils from 5 up to the age of 14, at which point they transfer to a nearby secondary school.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, in the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council area in County Armagh, the Dickson Plan operates, whereby pupils attend a primary school from ages 4 to 10, a junior high school from 11 to 14, and a senior high school or grammar school from 14 to 19.
United States
In the United States, middle schools are educational institutions for students between the ages of 11 and 14 years and comprise grades six to eight with some including grade five. Junior high schools are educational institutions for students between the ages of 12 and 15 years and comprise grades seven to nine. However, some junior high schools and middle schools have established models for grades seven and eight.
The junior high school concept was introduced in 1909, in Columbus, Ohio. Junior high schools were created for "bridging the gap between the elementary and the high school", an emphasis credited to Charles W. Eliot. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, most American elementary schools had grades 1 through 8 (and 8 or earlier was often the last year of school for many students, who then went to work), and this organization still exists, where some concepts of middle school organization have been adapted to the intermediate grades. As time passed, the junior high school concept increased quickly as new school districts proliferated, or systems modernized buildings and curricula. This expansion continued through the 1960s. Jon Wiles, author of Developing Successful K–8 Schools: A Principal's Guide, said that "a major problem" for the original model was "the inclusion of the ninth grade", because of the lack of instructional flexibility, due to the requirement of having to earn high school credits in the ninth grade and that "the fully adolescent ninth grader in junior high school did not seem to belong with the students experiencing the onset of puberty".
The new middle school model began to appear in the mid-1960s. Wiles said, "At first, it was difficult to determine the difference between a junior high school and a middle school, but as the middle school became established, the differences became more pronounced".
The faculty is organized into academic departments that operate more or less independently of one another.
The middle school format has now replaced the junior high format by a ratio of about ten to one in the United States, but some school districts have incorporated both systems or a mix of the two.
