At St Paul's we acknowledge the uniqueness of every boy and this is reflected in our Middle Years where we provide a safe learning environment allowing each boy to feel comfortable to pursue a variety of interests. Our Middle Years learning philosophy acknowledges that adolescent boys are active learners. As such, our teachers in the Middle Years facilitate active learning through interdisciplinary inquiry learning and project-based learning. This approach fulfils our commitment to developing learning that is responsive to Middle Years students' developmental and learning needs through engagement, relevance, innovation, creativity and authenticity (ERICA).

Our vision and structure is informed by the specific needs of Middle Years learners and ensures that our learning approach is tailored to these needs.  Research tells us that adolescents in the Middle Years are influenced by a variety of challenges and attributes including physical,  psychological, cognitive and social development needs. 

At St Paul's our approach to learning addresses the attributes of the Middle Years learner in the 21st Century. Subject integration is relevant, innovative and dynamic and prepares learners for the world beyond school. Therefore, at St Paul's the students in the Middle Years engage in three broad learning areas:
1.  STEM (Science, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics)
2.  LEAF (Literacy, Language, Literature; Economics, Enterprise and Environment; Advocacy and Action; Faith and Formation)
3.  Specialist subjects (Arts, Technologies, Languages, Health and Physical Education)
STEM AND LEAF are interdisciplinary, inquiry- and project-based learning disciplines that are skills-orientated, student-directed, flexible and collaborative. This learning approach provides opportunities for our Middle Years learners to develop 21st century capabilities that will establish lifelong learning. These capabilities include:

• problem-solving
• safe risk taking
• effective communication
• collaboration
• critical thinking
• creativity and innovation
• active and ethical citizenship

Students develop learning goals and are responsible for monitoring and reflecting on their progress. Learners become accountable for their own learning, growing increasingly independent in an engaging, relevant, innovative, creative and authentic (ERICA) environment.

Students' learning spaces are designed to inspire creativity and critical thinking. Each room is light, airy, and filled with a variety of furniture that is functional and flexible to meet a range of learning objectives in a number of configurations. St Paul's Middle Years classrooms have an assortment of seating options including stools, soft chairs and floor cushions to enhance comfort and engagement. Every Middle Years learning space has high speed Wi-Fi to enable communication and collaboration. An external learning space has also been created to allow students the opportunity to learn in an alternative outdoor environment.

All assessment and reporting aligns with the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards for each learning area and Crossways/MITIOG for Religious Education.
1.  STEM is assessed and reported as Science, Maths, and Technologies
2.  LEAF is assessed and reported as English (Literacy, Language and Literature), Civics and Citizenship (Advocacy and Action), Economics and Business (Economics and Enterprise), Geography (Environment), History (Advocacy and Action) and Religious Education (Advocacy, Action, Faith and Formation)
3.  Specialist subjects (Arts, Technologies, Languages, Health and Physical Education)