Most ready for high school, SA pilot Year 7s say – but homework, play and costs need a tweak
“Too much homework and not enough play equipment”, say the first Year 7s to test high school in SA. But there’s also many positives.
Tertiary
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High schools will need to look at installing play equipment when all Year 7s move up from primary levels in 2022.
That is one of the recommendations from a review of the three South Australian schools which piloted Year 7 classes this year.
“Year 7s like to play,” said Linda Baird, principal of Mitcham Girls High School, which took in about 150 Year 7s this year.
“We’ve put in lots of playground equipment and also provided lots of clubs and societies.
“We’ve changed the way we think and we’ve provided explicit activities to keep the students occupied at break times.”
The review of the pilot schools – Mitcham, Wirreanda and John Pirie – found students were generally ready and embraced the extra opportunities available at a high school.
Unexpected issues including parents being concerned by the extra expense of uniforms, devices such as laptops and extra-curricular events.
Students found the demands of homework could be overwhelming.
Education Minister John Gardner said changes over the past three years to eligibility for School Card financial assistance would assist on costs.
“We’ve seen a massive increase in the number of families who are eligible,” he said.
Mr Gardner said the Education Department would need to review the funding process for schools.
“The traditional funding model looks at the number of students a school has in the previous year to determine funding for the following year,” he said.
“When you add in the extra cohort of year 7s that makes budgeting trickier.
“So we’ll look at how we can be ready to fund our schools prospectively in 2022 rather than retrospectively.”
Some 340 students were involved in the pilot program this year and 368 are registered for 2021. Mitcham, which is unzoned, has seen high demand and capped 2021 numbers at 125.
Mitcham student Madeleine Schiller said she loved the increased level of responsibility at high school.
“You make decisions yourself about what you want to do, but you also feel connected and part of a community,” she said.
STEM teacher Simon Brooks said the students really enjoyed his classes because primary schools didn’t have the same level of tech gear.
Tea Conry said she enjoyed the clubs.
“And there’s a big jump in homework, the standards are a lot higher,” she said.
Ms Baird said teachers would dial back homework for Year 7s but also co-ordinate better between subjects to smooth work flow. Caitlin Cavallaro said as well as greater subject choice, the school had more opportunities for sport, including zone netball and volleyball and a sport week.
“You don’t even have to be very good at a sport, you can just join in, they’re very inclusive,” she said.
Mr Gardner said high schools were preparing to accept an extra 20,000 students – half from the Year7s moving up and half from increased enrolments in public education.
The Education Department is recruiting 1000 extra teachers from primary schools.