AGES 10–11 · GRADE 5 · MIDDLE SCHOOL
Grade 5 is a preparatory year. Students meet more advanced academic material, but what they really learn is how to set up their own way of working and organising themselves. That is the thing that will carry them through every year that follows.
Apply now
01OVERVIEW
Grade 5 is a transition year in which students get ready for the middle school years. They meet more advanced academic material, and topics no longer finish within a single lesson: they connect to one another and build up over time.
The real subject of this year, though, is study and organisation skills rather than academic content. Students learn to keep track of their own homework, plan their study time, take notes and ask for help when something is hard. In primary school a teacher and the family carry part of this work; in middle school the responsibility passes to the student.
For some students this transition is easy, for others it is hard. We treat it not as a filter but as a set of skills that has to be taught. If a student keeps forgetting their homework, the problem is not laziness to be punished but a routine that still has to be built.
02FROM PRIMARY TO MIDDLE SCHOOL
This is what parents ask about most. Below we set out the main differences between Grade 4 and Grade 5 side by side, along with how we handle each one.
Most of the day is spent with a single class teacher.
Each subject has its own subject teacher. Students learn to adapt to different teaching styles and different expectations.
Homework is tracked largely by the teacher and the family.
Keeping track is the student's own responsibility. Using a planner and working to a plan are taught systematically this year.
Topics usually finish within the week they are taught.
Topics build on one another. Regular revision is established as a habit this year.
Assessment rests mostly on observation in class.
Written assessments carry more weight. How to prepare for them is worked on separately.
Friendships mostly stay within the same class.
The social circle widens. At this stage social and emotional guidance matters no less than academic support.
03FOCUS AREAS
These are not separate timetabled lessons but strands of work spread across the whole programme.
This year a student runs a project from start to finish on their own for the first time. Choosing the topic, planning, researching, making and presenting are all their responsibility. The teacher guides but does not do the work for them.
We talk about the problems the world shares and the answers different societies give to them. The aim is for a student to grow up knowing their own country while keeping an open view of the wider world.
Fractions, decimals, ratio and the basic ideas of algebra go deeper this year. What counts is the reasoning a student builds rather than a procedure learnt by heart, because the years that follow are built on that reasoning.
A text is no longer only read and understood; it is taken apart. What did the writer mean, why was this word chosen, through whose eyes is the story told? Questions like these change how deeply a student reads.
Students learn to weigh what they hear together with where it came from. Who is saying this, what is it based on, what does the other side say? This is the age at which that habit is formed.
Leadership is not speaking loudest; it is taking responsibility and standing behind it. We settle that understanding through classroom duties, group responsibilities and school events.
At this age the cultural mix in our classes turns into something valuable. Students learn both to explain their own culture and to listen to someone else's without judging it.
04SUBJECTS
We teach the Turkish curriculum in full. None of the subjects below is removed from the programme or watered down.
05STUDY SKILLS
"Study on your own" is not a piece of advice; it is a skill that has to be taught. In Grade 5 we work on these skills systematically.
Making a weekly plan, writing down homework and tests, and keeping track of them. The habit starts under the teacher's eye and by the end of the year becomes the student's own routine.
Writing a lesson down word for word is not note-taking. We teach students to pick out what matters, use their own shorthand and leave notes in a state they can still read later.
Going over a topic in short bursts during the week it is taught, instead of working through the night before a test. This way is both less tiring and far more lasting.
Estimating how long a piece of work will take and breaking a long job into parts. This is the year a student finds out from experience why "I will do it tomorrow" does not work.
Saying you have not understood is not a weakness but a skill. A student who holds back from asking lets the gaps pile up. We set the classroom up so that asking is the easy thing to do.
Written assessments carry more weight this year. Working out what to revise, practising questions and spotting what is still missing are taught in their own right.
06OUR METHOD
Our Grade 5 programme is built to support independent learning and studying under your own steam. Our teachers use project-based learning, group work and research-led assignments side by side.
Independence does not mean leaving a student to get on with it alone. We hand responsibility over step by step: at the start of the year the teacher builds the plan together with the student, and in the months that follow the student makes their own plan while the teacher only reviews it.
Because we keep our classes small, subject teachers can get to know every student. The most common problem in middle school is a student becoming invisible in a crowd; here we remove that risk from the start.
English supported by CLLC. As an optional programme, we offer English themes prepared with the twenty years of experience of the Canadian Language Learning College (CLLC).
In Grade 5 the English work can run through reading, writing and presenting. This level also lays early groundwork for families thinking about a move to Canada during the high school years; that route is not compulsory, though, and is entirely the family's choice.
07FOR PARENTS
Because classes are kept small, every subject teacher knows the student. This is the most common problem in middle school; here there is no such risk.
A student is not left on their own from one day to the next. Responsibility passes to them step by step across the year, and anyone falling behind is noticed.
Having several subject teachers does not mean scattered information. The overall picture of your child is passed on to you in one piece.
This is an age when friendships and self-confidence become delicate. Social and emotional guidance runs alongside academic support.
Written assessments are part of learning, not a way of sorting students out. There is no ranking within the class; a student is compared with where they were before.
Academic competence is the starting condition. After that we look at how a teacher speaks to a student, at their patience and at the way they understand a child.
08FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Settling in goes differently for every student, and some ups and downs in the first term are normal. Our job is to treat this transition not as a filter but as a set of skills that has to be taught. Keeping track of homework, making plans and the habit of revision are worked on systematically all year; a student who falls behind is noticed and supported.
There is a settling-in period in the first few weeks, and after that it turns into an advantage: a student takes each subject from a teacher who specialises in it. Because our classes are small, information about a student keeps flowing between teachers; there is a joined-up picture of how they are doing overall.
The load grows, but its nature changes too. Research and project work are added alongside revision tasks. Our aim is not to stretch the evening out but for a student to build a habit of working steadily. A student who works steadily spends less time than one who sits up the night before a test.
In small classes this is noticed early. The subject teacher works out which topic is missing, plans extra work and lets you know. A gap left in Grade 5 is carried into the years that follow, so catching up is not put off until report time.
Yes. Grade 5 is a fresh start for everyone anyway, which makes settling in easier for a student joining from outside. We observe their academic level in the first few weeks; a student who is not used to projects and independent work gets closer support on their first pieces of work.
Filling in the application form is all it takes. We then call you and meet at the campus on a day that suits you. During the visit you walk round the classrooms, meet the subject teachers and ask your questions face to face. We would also like to get to know the student at that meeting.
Grade 5 is the year that decides which habits a student will carry through the next four. Fill in the application form, let us call you and meet at the campus on a day that suits you. You will walk round the classrooms, meet the subject teachers and ask your questions face to face.