Our Vision of an Ideal Middle School

We strongly support learning experiences which:

• Deliberately and comprehensively attempt to develop morally sound reasoning and behavior

• Are academically challenging but age-appropriate

• Are genuinely responsive to students' intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and moral development.

• Are integrated so that students see the connectiveness of life

• Address students' own questions and focus upon enduring issues and ideas

• Open doors to new ideas, evoking curiosity, exploration, and at times, awe and wonder

• Teach a full range of communication skills

• Actively engage students in problem-solving and a variety of experiential learning opportunities

• Are full of exploratory opportunities such as:  drama, sports, student government, competitions, social occasions (dances, etc.), retreats, chorus, instrumental music, computer room access, climbing wall, science fair, and field trips

Further, we advocate learning experiences which:

• Recognize that each child has a unique contribution.  The dignity of the individual is upheld and our social responsibility stressed

• Involve students in meaningful and useful community service

• Draw on varied forms of intelligence and multiple modes of expression

• Nourish the imaginative life, cultivate initiative, responsibility, and encourage risk-taking

• Accommodate individual differences and celebrate diversity

• Emphasize collaboration, cooperation, and community

• Significantly engage students in setting goals, planning and assessing their own learning

• Encourage and challenge students to give their best as life-long learners and doers

• Above all, seek to develop good people, fostering caring for others, democratic values and moral sensitivity

Such learning experiences require environments in which:

• Achievement is honored

• Community is emphasized and  anonymity is eliminated

• Teachers enjoy Middle School students and they are skilled in the appropriate pedagogy

• The Middle School is separate from Lower and Upper Schools as an acknowledgment of unique qualities of Middle Schoolers

• The school climate is safe yet stimulating, relaxed yet alert . 

• Young adolescents are understood, cared for, and trusted

• Knowledgeable, caring, inquiring faculty and administrators are employed

• Respect characterizes interpersonal relationships

• Being and doing are regarded as important as knowing

• Parents are considered an integral part of the learning process

• The process of learning is valued as much as the content of learning

• Multiple learning strategies are a blend of the traditional and progressive