In the sixth, seventh and eighth grade middle school years, the students are met with a rigorous science, math, history, and language arts curriculum. The curriculum sets a high standard, allowing for students to fully engage in their work. Students’ intellects are ready for critical and objective thinking, knowledge of cause and effect, and the cultivation of deep observation skills. This capacity is met with clear objectives, an increase in the science material, and constant reflection and review.
This is also a delicate and powerful time of transition and change in the students’ lives. Their inner lives are explored through positive and concrete modes of expression, which, besides academic work, includes a social/emotional curriculum, and the intentional exploration of topics in modern life, such as digital literacy and citizenship and gender expression.
Middle school students experience a dynamic interplay of knowledge of self and the world as they engage in a wide variety of arts – from painting, sculpting, and orchestra, to the annual production of a class play. A capacity for joy, wonder, and service is instilled in the students so that they meet the world with a sense of purpose and integrity.
