I'm in Edmonton but I've heard of some schools in Ontario doing that.
Is that where you visited? However, one of our most famous TV shows - which is set in Toronto - is called Degrassi Junior High.
I visited Quebec City midway up the east coast of Canada, which was beautiful, especially in the winter.
DeGrassi is an old show from the 1980s and is just one show based on one school in one city.
I think more and more schools both in the U.S. and Canada are now converting to 6-8 middle schools...it's better that way.
Ninth grade is high school, not middle school and not "junior high" and sixth grade is middle school, not grammar school.
That would have been cool to see 7-9 at a school together in the BSC world.
They could have aged a little more naturally.
I think it would have been
dreadful and would have ruined the entire series for me.
What was best about that series was that the very first scene had Kristy and her classmates calmly sitting in the classroom that hot early September afternoon already familiar with Stoneybrook
Middle School, fanning themselves.
They were already immersed in middle school and in their second year already.
No high drama of "getting used to junior high" storyline, which would have sidetracked the main storyline of getting the BSC started.
And SMS sounds so much better and smoother than SJH...I've never liked the term "junior high" anyway.
To me, Stoneybrook "Junior High" sounds so horrible and rings false.
I'm glad the beginning of the BSC didn't have that tired, trite storyline of
OMG! It's "junior high!" for the first few books.
Without that "getting used to 'junior' high" storyline, Kristy was able to get her great idea of the Baby-Sitters Club and she and her friends were able to get the club off the ground quickly.
It was far easier since they already knew their classmates from last year.
I think of sixth grade as middle school, not grammar or elementary school.
To me, it has always seemed silly to have sixth graders lumped together with elementary/grammar school kids and to have ninth grade high school freshmen lumped in with middle school students.
Yes, it would have been nice to see all the characters age naturally and progress into high school.
Actually, I've read several other series with that 7-9 "junior high" storyline and the characters there usually don't "age naturally" there either.
It's actually rather unnatural to me to show seventh-graders dating steadily, going to high school parties and homecoming games and behaving like full-fledged teenagers.
I think of sixth through eighth graders as pre-teenagers, not full-fledged teens yet.
Ninth grade is the fireworks year in my experience and the experiences of almost everyone I know and is the real start of high school and true adolescence.
I know my friends, siblings and I will never forget that first heady, rather tumultuous, new-feeling week of high school as ninth-grade freshman.
I'm glad the BSC are able to potentially have that experience in canon in the books Ann Martin created.
I loved writing about the BSC starting high school and ninth grade and them dealing with new classmates, a larger new school and acne, oily hair, huge parties and all for the first time.
And I
love that so many U.S. and Canadan schools now have four years of high school...freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors all in one school.
And it's kind of neat to see so many European schools have K-5, then secondary schools run from 6-12.
I like that the Harry Potter books followed that school system for Hogwarts and most of their magical schools.
The BSC would truly relate to the HP gang in that way.