These are the three grades where a school of this size has to work hardest, because the classes are the largest, the subjects are all taught by specialists, and nobody is anybody's whole responsibility any more.
Our answer is the class teacher system. Every class has one teacher who knows those thirty children properly, sees them at the start of every day, holds the message book, and is the person a parent asks for. Subject teachers report to the class teacher weekly about anybody they are worried about, in writing, and the class teacher telephones home in the same week. Not at the end of term.
What is taught: Dhivehi, English, mathematics, integrated science, Islam, social studies, information technology, and the practical, art and physical periods.
Marks matter here for the first time, because grade nine subject choices are made partly on them, and we are careful to say that in front of both the children and the parents in grade eight rather than letting it be a surprise.
The average class in these grades is twenty eight. That is more than we want and it is the honest consequence of a single session in this building. The learning support room, the class teacher system and the reading work in the lower grades are all built around it.