To think middle schools should be introduced in the UK?

[Serrina]

The transition from primary school to high school is very difficult for a lot of children at 11 and there's very little preparation for it. Somehow they're expected to jump from a nurturing primary school environment - which is often like a second home to many children, and spending the day in their own classroom with their own teacher and all their friends, then all of a sudden to a regimental high school system of registration, then having to go to different classes at various points in the day, with little more than a couple of minutes to get from one class to another and being penalised if they're "late" despite the fact the next class may be at the opposite end of a huge building than their previous one.

They have to get used to not just one new teacher, but several. Uniform rules are generally stricter, blazers aren't allowed to be removed no matter how hot it is, and in early September when school starts it usually is still quite hot.
Teachers in high school generally aren't as kind as primary school ones, if a child is upset or distressed they're expected to just "get on with it" they aren't comforted and reassured as they would be in primary.

P.E. lessons are more regimental, and you're expected to shower afterwards which is distressing particularly for many girls at this stage, as they are going through many changes and might not feel comfortable with this.

You're penalised for not having the right equipment on the right days, which isn't such a big deal in primary schools.

They're only 11. They've come straight from the school they've attended since they were 4 years old, and all of a sudden they're sharing a building for more than 6 hours a day with 15 and 16 year olds. And high school children can be brutal.

I know Year 6 is meant to be the "preparation year" but I don't think it's enough. They're still very much in a primary school environment. And outside of maybe one or two induction days, they don't have much help with the transition at all. I think this is one thing our cousins across the pond get right in terms of the education system, by having middle schools (previously called junior high schools) as a kind of in-between stage to help ease them in. I really think this kind of system would be beneficial here.

This.
They were done away with in my area in the 90s as it was deemed they were just another year of primary education, and led to poorer results at GCSE.

We had them in my area. My parents sent me to another school, precisely to avoid having to move again at 14. I believe nor goes all the way through to 16 now.

You lost me when you had an issue with showering after PE.

Teenage girls need to be made to feel that their bodies can achieve things other than appears sexually attractive. They need to run around and get sweaty. They will then need a shower before sitting in lessons for the rest of the day.

In Ireland kids stay in primary until age 12, then head to secondary school. The three year junior academic cycle takes them from age 12 to 15 when they complete the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement exam, then do a transition year which allows for exploration of various interests in the wider culture and other cultures, experience of community involvement or workplace involvement, personal growth which is designed to enable self directed learning and personal responsibility. Students produce portfolios on various projects, collaborate in groups, do oral and written presentations, and learn to self evaluate. The transition year is followed by the two year senior a academic cycle which is capped by the Leaving Cert (three separate LC tracks are available, though not in all schools).

I think the extra year in primary makes a difference. The transition year too.

We have some where I live in Dorset
Mine both went to Middle School

That. I trained to teach middle school, started my career in middle, and my own children went through the lower/middle/upper system. Middle is a great age range to teach, and they got the best of secondary (specialist teachers from year 6) and the best of primary (smaller and more personal setting). Then upper school through to sixth form.

But the national curriculum key stages have made the system really difficult to maintain. It's hanging on by a thread where I live now, but it's long gone in the part of the country where I trained, and many others.

That transition year sounds really interesting, going to go look it up and find out more

I trained as a middle school teacher - and many other teachers thought it actually brought secondary school behaviour etc down to younger children rather than what the OP hopes for of protecting the young for longer.

However, I think prep schools that are 8-13 work really well for children.

There is always a step up for the youngest year group though, as schools tend to set their focus / culture etc on the oldest years they have.

We still have this system in parts of Dorset.Catch is you are leaving primary school in yr 4! then settle in to 4 more years then changing again! Seems a lot of chopping and changing .A friends husband was a headteacher and disliked the system .

I had primary 4-10, then middle to 13, then upper the right through to A levels. Suited me very well as the middle school wasn't as huge as the upper school so the transition was easier.

3 of my 5 dc have done the transition from primary to secondary school and we are currently doing it with dc4 who is in year 6. It is scary but our local secondary does a lot of transition activities and there is a lot of support for year 7's. They have 2 transition days as standard and then another 3 for children who have SEN or are vulnerable. The senco at my dc primary school will take any child who wants to go again. The only issue we have had is my 13 year old still likes to run around and play at break time so he misses the playground equipment at primary school. I think the answer is to do more transition activities and more nurturing in secondary school than build new middle schools.

The nearest town to me has 2 middle schools 3 miles apart. Great fun when 1 was in reception a 10 minute walk away and the other was in year 5 in a middle school a mile and a half in the opposite direction up a steep hill and no car to get us there. Fun times.

I was also in Northumberland and used the 3 tier system and it worked really well there, but honestly I think that was because all the schools were so rural. You go to a local jr school usually 2 teachers for 4 year groups, then a middle school which may be a little further for middle school until 12then high school 13-18. By high school my friend was
Getting the bus 17 miles in the morning and 17 miles in the evening. I think that is why it worked there.

I agree that the National Curriculum makes it much harder to do this, but also it makes the high schools smaller which I think is better (mine was about 800 as opposed to the last one I taught at which was considered small at 1800 pupils).

We have some near us. There are a number round the U.K. but they tend to be focussed in certain local areas:

https://middleschools.org.uk/current-uk-middle-schools/#:~:text=Three%20tier%20systems%20are%20particularly,which%20middle%20schools%20can%20flourish.

How about the the schools just be nicer and more supportive of 11 year olds?

Introduce some Ofsted metrics around wellbeing for a start.

Do you need a middle school or just to make the transition later as all prep schools used to (for boys)?

I think Year 9 seems a good time to move up. Year 7s, and even some Year 8s, are far more like children than teens. And I think teachers who mainly teach GCSEs and A levels often struggle with Year 7 and 8.

There are lots of things wrong with schools. I don't really think this is one of them tbh. Having the upheaval of moving schools twice is just as likely to unsettle kids more than one transition would. I think middle schools end up being a bit of a no-man's land. Would many decent, well-qualified subject-specialist teachers want to work in them? I doubt it.

We do have middle schools. Some areas use the 3 tier system. I work in a first school!

Yes I agree, middle school would be a great idea.

That reason is because they need more pupils to make money to finance the whole school.

My school had this system before it was phased out. It okay; however, I don't see the benefits over starting school at 11.

There's no UK education system. You mean England.

There's no history of middle schools in Scotland.

I don't recognise most of your complaints as features of our quite different education system.

No thanks. I wouldn't have wanted to swap schools at the beginning of my GCSE courses, or ensure an extra transition.

I went to a Middle school. Apart from the first year, it was similar to high school and just as strict.

We had middle school but it was year 4 to year 7, so only one extra year.

It was great for me as a socially immature summer born. But we were way too big (physically, emotionally) by the end of year 7 to be in a primary school environment. We were also very very behind when we got to secondary school (they had a few year 7s in secondary for the surrounding villages).

They also ended up with separate first and middle schools (vs either primary schools or infant/junior schools next door to each other), so children had to move school at age 8, not necessarily with all their friends. One new family in catchment and you could find yourself the only person from first school not going to the same middle school.