Revising the public-school system’s governance structure using an authority model is only one part of the Government’s education reform strategy, and one that requires its own robust national discussion. Another key component is the introduction of a two-tier grade structure by phasing out our middle schools, but what does this mean for middle years education? Is the Government’s current strategy too in tension with best practice, and existing infrastructure, to be successful?

Middle years education at primary sites

The Government of Bermuda's current approach to phasing out middle schools and establishing a two-tier grade structure is to add the first two years of a middle years programme to primary school as its final two years, and the final year to senior school as its first year.

Best practice would require middle years programming to still be delivered as middle years programming despite being transitioned to sites that were previously exclusively utilised to deliver primary years programming. This would require school teams to fully acknowledge and actively accommodate the distinct needs of young adolescents rather than treating them as older primary-aged students.

This distinction is reflected in all major curricula, including the Cambridge International Curriculum, which has a dedicated middle years curriculum for Y7-Y9 (Cambridge Lower Secondary), culminating in the Y9 (M3) diagnostic Checkpoint exam, one of the standardised metrics used to measure the health of the Bermuda public school system.

For middle years curricula to be effectively delivered at primary school sites, relevant sites would require significant capital works so that there are explicitly differentiated facilities for primary-aged students and middle years students, and enough space to accommodate them, effectively pursuing a “school-within-a-school” model.

Differentiated facilities for middle years students would reflect the depth and breadth middle years curricula require, ie, fully equipped and functional science labs, appropriately sized athletic facilities, spaces for music, theatre, dance, etc. This also applies to bathrooms and indoor and outdoor common spaces, while considering building flows to contain student interactions to appropriate year levels.

An example of this approach is the K-8 “elemiddle” model (Y1-Y9, P1-M3), which allows students to access all six years of a primary school programme and three years of a middle years programme without interruption.

Despite these foundational requirements, to date designs required to not only expand applicable school sites to accommodate differentiated facilities but also ensure appropriate content delivery in uplifted 21st-century learning environments have not been fully developed, let alone approved or funded.

Only this year, a fellow consultant and I worked with architects to complete initial conceptual designs for five parish primary schools, three of which had already launched. The cart was put before the horse to satisfy a political timeline, and our children are caught in the middle of this.

The proposed new model is not without potential benefits. Middle years students have been shown to perform better in standardised testing when they do not transition to new sites from Y6 (P6), and Y7 (M1) students to experience more positive socialisation. The new model allows for this. Y9 (M3) students likewise perform better when tested before transitioning to senior school; however, our new model would see students sit their Y9 Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint exam after transitioning to their first year of senior school.

The benefits noted above apply to grade structures that allow all three years of a middle years programme to be accessed at one site; the new model splits the delivery of a middle years curriculum between two sites.

There are configurations that allow a full three-year middle years programme to remain at one site:

• Configuration (a): Y1 (P1, K)-Y9 (M3, Grade 8) and Y10 (S1, Grade 9)-Y13 (S4, Grade 12)

• Configuration (b): Y1 (P1, K)-Y6 (P6, Grade 5) and Y7 (M1, Grade 6)-Y13 (S4, Grade 12)

Configuration (b) is a successful structure that exists at multiple school sites in Bermuda. The primary impediment to a Y7-Y13 secondary school configuration is the capacity of the island's public senior schools. A split-site delivery model, in which a single secondary school delivers all seven years across two sites under one leadership team, could address this but presents its own set of considerations. Configuration (a) would require even further capital works to expand sites than the current Y1-Y8 direction.

Problems of practice

It has been reported that, amid uncertainty, of the 79 P6 students at our parish primary schools, only 25 intended to stay for Y7 in the 2026-27 academic year, with parents opting to send their children to middle schools or elsewhere. Separately, parents have cited capacity as a reason for their choice. Capacity, as outlined, is only one factor that would need to be addressed for the successful and sustainable implementation of our new model, if such implementation is achievable at all.

The transformation programme, though well intentioned, has been subjected to several impediments, one of the primary ones being improper sequencing, exacerbated by a “building the plane while we fly it” mentality. Factors such as capacity and ensuring appropriate content delivery in appropriate environments were not addressed before launching our parish primary schools or discontinuing schools not identified as parish schools.

There is a similar risk in rushing the establishment of the proposed Education Authority in any form, let alone in law, whatever its benefits as a governance structure may be.

Parents, to be frank, I cannot implore you any more than this: please, stay vigilant. Inform yourselves and accept nothing less than what your child is supposed to be receiving and at the standards they are meant to be receiving it. Our children and our educators deserve nothing less.

• Rajai Denbrook is an educator and applied theatre practitioner with experience in programme design and policy. He has provided consultancy services to the Ministry of Education, supporting the Bermuda public school system’s Transformation Programme. The views expressed here are his own