Views on middle schools etc?

[herrcomesthenamechanger]

DS starts school Sept 21 so I need to start applying soon.

I had never heard of the concept of first and middle schools but have just become aware of one near us.

So - first school until age 10, middle school 10-13yrs and the 'college' 13-18 years (if staying for 6th form)

Has anyone either attended or has a child in such a system that could share your views?

There was one near me that was years 7-9, the. You had to move for years 10 & 11. My parents didn't want they so sent me elsewhere! It's now a year 7-11 school.

I went to a middle school but many years ago and honestly I loved it.

It was a gentle introduction to the madness that is senior school. It also meant that at age 12-13 we were exercising a lot more responsibility than we would have been in senior school at the same age - e.g. house captains, directing school plays, mentoring year 1s, librarians.

We are in a middle school area - for us that is yr 5-7, then high school yr 8 onwards (the next town do middle school yr 6-8). For ds it was great as the work was a bit more differentiated and they had specialist teachers for some subjects, got used to moving around to different rooms and so on. In our area it also means that children don't go from very small village primary schools directly to being on the school bus for up to an hour to the very large high schools - the middle schools give them a nice in between

My son has just left a high school (year 9-13) in a middle school area.

We moved him from a normal 11-18 school due to problems with his previous school. Most parents in this area seem to like the system. There are some concerns about specialist teaching in years 7 & 8 and one of the feeder schools is definitely better than the other which affects the high school results. But overall most like the fact that the children tend to stay younger for longer and are not thrust into a large high school at the age of 11.

It's the norm in some LEAs, unusual to have just one school in an area that isn't a middle school area.

Is it an independent just split over three sites?

@AriettyHomily

It's the norm in some LEAs, unusual to have just one school in an area that isn't a middle school area.

Is it an independent just split over three sites?

Often its a particular town within an LA that has middle schools, not the entire LA

DS has just finished his GCSE's in a 3 tier system and will start at 6th form next week.

It's been incredible for him and he has been ready for the next move at every stage. We've all been very happy with the experience.

My children have been through this system here in the US. I like it because you're not throwing 11 year olds in with 18 year olds.

Thanks everyone, I'm still trying to get my head round it. I genuinely hadn't know this was an option. There seems to be one middle school with several first schools feeding into it.

It just feels strange as I've never heard of it before but I can see it would have real strengths for him (he's bright, very mature but struggles with big personalities)

I went to school in a three tier system and DD is just about to start middle school in year 5. Personally I like it. The children grow up more in some ways, but also seem to stay children for longer if you see what I mean. So they have the independence of getting themselves to and from school, but don't seem to be quite so in to make up etc in years 7 and 8.

The middle school does have specialist teachers and science labs, and specialist DT, art and cookery rooms which are used from year 5.

Having said that we are also close to a grammar school area, so the school does lose about 25% of the students at the end of year 6. It's quite an odd set up really.