9TH GRADE ACADEMY

The Whitwell High School Ninth Grade Academy is a team of devoted teachers dedicated to making the transition year from middle to high school much easier. This team of teachers is comprised of English/Creating Writing teacher, math teachers, history teacher, lifetime well teacher and keyboarding teacher.

Primary goals of the academy teachers are to teach students the correct way to live a high school life, abiding by high school rules until time for graduation. In other words, the teachers and administrators believe if the proper groundwork is laid early in a child's high school career, the child will not deviate.

All academy teachers boast the same classroom rules and consequences when and if those rules are broken. The team is consistent and fair in all approaches from classroom discipline to the teaching of study habits. All ninth graders are to enjoy their first year in high school with more freedom with a team of teachers who understands the unique needs and can address each child's individuality.

Our ninth grade academy is not totally isolated from the remaining grades, but the academy is in a prime location in which it can be and is run as a school within a school. The academy has its own lunch and bell schedule, and restroom and water breaks are designed to work around the other three grades.

Students will most certainly mingle with students from other grades before and after school. Assembly programs will give the academy members time to see their older peers and the interactions they have with the freedoms they are awarded. Ninth graders will see more freedoms as they progress through school, month by month, and will be able to ease into the hectic high school environment without as much fear as before.