Highlights of Exemplary Practices Aligned with the 18 Characteristics of Successful Middle Schools
Culture and Community
Teachers actively seek to understand the “whole student,” including family context and individual needs, rather than focusing solely on academic performance. Before a student officially joins our school, they and their families meet in person with our Head of School and Admissions Associate Director. The meeting is a conversation about the student’s interests, goals and worries. It allows for families and staff to meet in person and begin a relationship built on understanding. After a month in the school, New Student Meetings are held with the Learning Support Team, the student and their parents or guardians. This provides an opportunity to ask further questions, explain family and social dynamics, and let the school better understand the students on a deeper level. Further to the early stages of school integration, all Grade 7 students participate in special orientation days, which include experiential learning opportunities coordinated with local organizations. The purpose of this is to promote grade bonding and build an understanding of our school’s value placed on community service.
Grade 7 students can participate in athletics, arts, band, junior plays, clubs, and teams right away—reinforcing that younger students are valued members of the full school community.
Additionally, when students initiate clubs, fundraisers, or advocacy efforts, which happens fairly regularly, teachers mentor and guide rather than control and direct the action. This signals trust in adolescents’ capacity and voice, even when they are new to our community. There is an expectation that all junior students participate in at least one activity, team or club, each term. This aims to promote exploration, connection and confidence. All clubs and activities are built into the regular school schedule, so no one is unable to participate based on commuting needs before or after school. Finally, our inclusive athletics teams at varying skill levels ensure broad participation in a wide variety of physical activities. Everyone has a chance to play on a team.
Trafalgar further supports our younger students through the Big Sister/Little Sister program that assigns a Grade 11 student to mentor a Grade 7 student, for their final and first years, respectively. This program further fosters community belonging by ensuring the younger girls are supported by older peers as well as by the staff.
In the classroom, parents and community members are often invited to speak to classes and share their expertise. This includes students and faculty from McGill University, local community leaders, past students and parents.
Our junior students share a locker room, and senior students have lockers elsewhere. This aims to further create a bond between the junior students and allow relationships to grow organically.
Collaborative, culturally inclusive projects are displayed proudly. School-wide initiatives such as the American Sign Language hand form display, the Mona Project, the Tiny Art Gallery, CD weaving, and murals promote cultural respect and appreciation of diversity. These are accessible to all students and encourage collective ownership of shared spaces.
Plays and concerts are intentionally collaborative and inclusive, ensuring broad participation across grade levels. A clear example of this is the House Play tradition, in which students write, cast, produce and perform a play, and every student participates. From acting to designing and building sets, to choreographing the dance component, House Plays are a masterclass in both project management and community inclusion. Free concerts, like the Honk and Squeak performance, increase accessibility and signal that family participation is welcomed and valued.
Trafalgar’s Junior Advisory Program (bilingual) is designed to ensure every student is part of a small advisory group led by a dedicated educator who serves as an advocate for their advisees. The move to smaller groups ensures that each student is known well: academically, socially, and emotionally. The Junior Advisories are specifically designed to promote care and attention, tailored to students who recently transitioned from elementary school and for those who are new to our school’s busy reality. The junior advisors monitor their advisees’ academic and social progress during grades 7 and 8. Intermediate and senior advisors take over at the appropriate time.
Trafalgar’s House System fosters belonging and collaboration across the five grade levels, rather than isolating junior students due to their age. Each house includes the Junior Advisor staff member, other staff and a “House Mom’ who is an additional advocate for their house students.
Every student’s academic and personal development is followed by our Student Support team, which meets weekly and consists of the school counsellor, the academic support staff, the director of the school and the associate director of the junior school. Teachers and staff communicate and share concerns, and the support team provides suggestions, strategies or context when appropriate.
Trafalgar is fortunate to have an active Parent Community Network. Families organize and facilitate several events throughout the year, including the Mother-Daughter Barbecue, participation in the annual Girls for the Cure fundraising event, and the father-led Winter Carnival. These events provide structured opportunities for parent involvement in school life.
Insofar as school safety, Trafalgar conducts an annual school safety survey to build data-informed policies based on student voice. Visitors go through check-in procedures before being permitted to enter the school. All staff are certified in CPR training and mental health first aid. All students have access to counselling services, which support prevention and intervention. These measures demonstrate a layered approach to safety—physical, emotional, and psychological.
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
The educators who work with our young adolescent students have been trained in the unique needs of the age group and have a depth of understanding of the content and subjects that they teach. All teachers have been trained in their subject areas through Canadian and international university programs. Additionally, many bring prior professional experience in their field, strengthening content depth.
Most members of our teaching staff have been trained to work specifically with early adolescent students and understand the cognitive, social and emotional characteristics of this age group. For example, some teachers who completed their education degrees in Ontario hold specific additional qualifications to teach grades four through six, in addition to teaching grades seven through twelve.
Special procedures were developed to support our Cycle 1 students in their language acquisition. One example is a day set aside before the incoming Grade 7s officially begin school. All new students attend an afternoon French language assessment day. This day allows the Francais Langue Seconde (FLS) department to get an accurate picture of each student’s French proficiency. This also allows the FLS department to tailor their curriculum for the following year to meet the students where they are and best support them in French language learning. This allows the administration team to properly allocate human resources to specific classes and ensure appropriate staffing. Finally, our Grades 7 and 8 Social Studies program is taught in French to reinforce authentic bilingual education.
Our Learning Support team researches and co-creates IEPs for our students. The IEPs go beyond simple strategy suggestions for teachers: they are built with input from teaching staff, the student and the student’s families. Because of the school’s size, staff can pivot quickly to create short- or long-term individualized plans when students require academic or emotional adjustments.
Our curriculum is challenging, exploratory, integrative and diverse. Trafalgar’s Junior School excels in interdisciplinary, experiential and student-driven learning. The most direct example is found in our STEM classes, which have been building a program anchored in student-directed inquiry. The Grade 7 students advocate for and choose a topic that they wish to learn about. They decide how they would best demonstrate their learning and present to an audience wider than simply their teacher. Some years, extended field trips are worked into the Inquiry project. For example, as the ‘24-’25 class chose marine biology as their topic, they then travelled to Tadoussac in August to further explore tidal pools and ocean-based life. Additionally, cross-curricular projects, like the Grade 7 “Mona Project” and the Grade 8 “Bedroom Makeover” project, integrate visual arts, English Language Arts, mathematics and science. There is also an additional Grade 8 cross-curricular assignment in its first year, which involves the science, Visual Arts and Spanish departments.
Another way that our Grades 7 and 8 curriculum is exploratory is found in the community service program that takes whole cohorts out into the community to allow students to participate in real-world activities and expand their confidence and comfort in different situations. We offer ongoing volunteer opportunities as well, such as making muffins and sandwiches for people experiencing housing and food insecurity, community gardening initiatives and in Grade 8, all students participate in a civic action project to further explore community institutions.
We also have a locally developed course that is taught over two years, called JAHM Sessions. The JAHM is derived from the Jacqueline Angus Healthy Minds program, which is a larger program that encompasses the Student Support departments. In JAHM Sessions, students in Grades 7 and 8 learn about executive function and study skills in odd years and social-emotional skills and emotional regulation skills in even years.
In our Physical Education classes, explicit instructions are given in goal setting, personal fitness, and wellness planning. We have multiple teams at varying skill levels to ensure inclusion. The priority emphasis is on sportsmanship, communication, teamwork, and skill development. Trafalgar is very proud of its consistent recognition in receiving sportsmanship awards from the inter-school sports organization. While our teachers and coaches are thoroughly committed to developing skills and promoting active, healthy lifestyles, tremendous care is given to encouraging students to try new sports and to always play fair.
Similarly, our Dramatic Arts program holds an annual Junior Play, reserved for Grades 7 and 8 students. Under guidance from their teachers, the students take ownership of some production roles. They develop teamwork, conflict resolution, responsibility, and leadership and build lasting peer relationships in a collaborative setting.
At Trafalgar, we look for ways to offer assessments for learning, rather than of learning. Our aim, especially in the Junior School, is to foster active, purposeful, and democratic pedagogy. Some examples of active learning include science labs, engineering classes that lead to building with various tools and materials, multimedia production, original research and surveying, and performance-based learning in the form of the Junior play and various band performances. We build purpose into our lessons as well, including our school outings, which are all tied to learning outcomes, cultural outings connected to language studies, civic action projects which are based on real-world issues and sustainability-themed assignments that are conducted in the natural world around us. Finally, democratizing education is foundational to many aspects of our teaching. Students get to vote on topics they learn about, they are able to choose texts that they read, teachers facilitate learning rather than always direct it and inquiry models centre student voice.
We use a wide variety of assessment models to measure understanding. Teachers offer traditional tests, quizzes and exams, but also regularly use project-based learning models, presentations, collaborative assignments, and lab-based performance assessments. Students receive continuous feedback during the planning and drafting stages in the form of notes and teacher-student conferences.
Leadership and Organization
Trafalgar’s Leadership Team is committed to supporting the Junior School and its aims. Trafalgar’s Head of School created a position for a Director of the Junior School and made a point of differentiating how the institution celebrates and supports middle-grade age students. Since its inception, the role has grown to be part of the school’s Leadership Team. Much of the Junior School structure was informed by evidence-based practices championed by the AMLE. The aim of having this role in Trafalgar’s organizational structure is to promote a deep understanding of early adolescent development.
Teaching staff meet weekly to discuss cohorts of students. Equal time is given to students in Grades 7 and 8. In the meetings, educators discuss changes to IEPs, student well-being and progress, motivation strategies, and upcoming school-wide projects and initiatives. These discussions ensure that school decisions are student-centred and democratic.
At Trafalgar, we have dedicated Forum periods built into our daily schedules. This time is set aside for collaborative project work, meeting with teachers for tutorials, catching up on missed work and getting ahead on homework in order to increase family time outside of school hours.
Our school policies and practices are student-centred, unbiased and fairly implemented. Trafalgar’s leadership decisions consistently prioritize student development and equitable access.
Our admissions process also strives to be as equitable and fair as possible. Years ago, we did away with standardized entrance tests, which favoured some students over others and some learning styles over others. Instead, we base our entrance on several factors, including report cards, interviews and a full-day workshop that allows potential students to work through classroom-style challenges in small groups. This allows us to see how they collaborate, communicate and problem-solve. In addition, put a large amount of the school’s financial resources into bursaries to ensure students who require financial assistance receive it.
We have several organizational structures that aim to foster belonging and leadership. They include the aforementioned House System, the Big Sister/Little Sister pairings, advisory groups, cross-grade committees and the Student Council, which has representation from each grade.
Finally, as we are a Lab School, we have specific attention given to ensuring our Junior Grades are not overwhelmed by studies. Trafalgar shares an education partnership with McGill University called the CoLab. This entity is similar to a lab school but encompasses training for pre-service teachers and facilitating collaboration in the name of advancing education-based research. Being a part of this greater academic community brings researchers and experts into the classroom and allows students, including our Junior ones, a say in the direction that studies take. All the while, we work hard to bring age-appropriate research into the Grade 7 and 8 classrooms to augment their learning and their understanding of post-secondary research. For example, the integration of 3D printing through the CoLab Project gave our younger students the opportunity to explore design and innovative learning practices. Innovation is implemented thoughtfully, particularly in junior grades, ensuring age-appropriate, purposeful use and integration of technology.
Trafalgar teaching staff are offered many opportunities for professional development. Teachers may request and attend training that is aligned with their professional growth areas. Some examples of PD that our staff is offered include Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) workshops, Learning Support strategies, Digital Competencies, Mental Health Certification, CPR training, Awareness of Indigenous history workshops and responsible AI integration strategies discussions.
These systems reinforce one another: collaborative meetings support equity; PD supports innovation; advisory structures support student-centred policy; leadership knowledge informs instructional design. The result is a middle school structure that is coherent, research-informed, and developmentally aligned with the vision articulated by the Association for Middle Level Education.