Welcome to Middle School

Sumary

Baobab's school ethos sits at the heart of our Middle School identity. Through our mission statement, core values, and daily practices, the school creates an environment that enables students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally, and prepares them to become responsible and compassionate global citizens for when they start their IGCSE programme in Year 9.

In Middle School, we combine academic rigour and pastoral care when guiding our students. We endeavour to provide a sensible and suitable transitional phase between Primary School and the much more academically intensive expectations of IGCSE exam classes. With a combination of primary and secondary trained teachers, we have combined the best of both worlds in order to teach and care for your child.

Academic

The Middle School is pivotal in providing a four-year phase, during which time students are best prepared for the move to senior school - ready for the IGCSE programme. We have a standalone suite of classrooms and a main cohort of teachers to support this transition;  students still have a base on campus while moving to and from our specialist classrooms. Our Middle School programme of study helps students to develop a strong foundation of knowledge and skills that they will need as they progress to iGCSE and beyond. Our Middle School students are provided with opportunities to explore a variety of academic subjects and develop critical thinking, teamwork and time-management, as well as problem solving skills that will be valuable in all areas of their lives. 

Pastoral

In our Middle School, our aim is to provide students with a supportive and nurturing environment that can help them develop a sense of belonging. We have developed our pastoral system to assist the students in this transition from primary to senior school. We slowly integrate our students into the senior system by making small changes to the pastoral system each year. The content and delivery of our pastoral syllabus is age-appropriate and designed specifically to nurture our students as they progress from primary to middle school. The same applies to those advancing from Middle School into the IGCSE exams classes.

Lower Middle School (Year’s 5&6):

Our class teachers teach the majority of the subjects to their class within Lower Middle School, with students moving to specialist classrooms only. The class teacher’s role is not only academic, but also, very importantly, a pastoral one, in which the wellbeing of each individual is paramount.

Upper Middle School (Year’s 7&8):

Each class will have a form tutor who is also one of their subject teachers. This member of staff will spend time with their form class every day teaching the subject, but will also engage with them in pastoral time. They are also responsible for teaching PSHE and RE lessons.