Middle School

Pictured above: MS students Ian and Kaden run a seed-bomb making workshop in the Lower Primary to raise awareness about climate change. Pictured below: MS student Demi designs and sews a dress from scratch for her SML project.

Self-Motivated Learning

Self-Motivated Learning (SML) projects play a central role in Middle School. All students have dedicated time in the second semester to engage in an iterative process that allows them to identify a curiosity or passion and deepen their knowledge or skill set. Over 70 of our students identified a passion of “Serving Together” by electing to spend their SML time identifying needs in our community and taking steps to engage in service.

MS students lead a candle-lighting ceremony at a chapel and the MS Choir performs.

Spirituality and Chapels

Spirituality is a focal point of our Middle School experience. In addition to religious education courses, we take time to reflect and ground ourselves through community-wide chapels. We use these chapels at key moments throughout the year to stay “United by Grace”. This year, the Middle School hosted seven chapels, including chapels that commenced and closed our school year. In addition to our chapels, Spirituality Stations invited students to pause and connect with God and understand themselves through interactive kinetic stations.

One of the Middle School plays this year was an original dramatization of stories collected from elderly residents through the service-learning partner Mighty Oaks.

Choosing to Serve Together

Our Middle School lived out the concept of “Serving Together” this year. Supported by our school’s Service Learning Coordinator Lindsay Ernst,  Middle School’s first Dragon Day of the year focused on students engaging in authentic service opportunities off campus. In addition, our Middle School play featured a dramatization of the lives of residents of an elderly home supported by Mighty Oaks. Our students met with the residents to learn about their lives and used this information to construct their Fall drama production. Our students served together in a genuinely touching way as the residents attended one of the productions and saw moments from their own lives retold.

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High School

The HS TA role is student-driven and self-directed and often based on students’ own interest.

Academic Leadership

Our High School Teaching Assistant (TA) program has grown exponentially. The Teaching Assistant role offers students an opportunity to support the learning of peers, gain experience in presenting in an academic environment, encounter teaching and learning from a different perspective, and gain valuable experience in the field. The TA role is student-driven and self-directed and often based on students’ own interest and growing expertise in a skill or content area they want to nurture further. Students have the opportunity to gain a new perspective by entering the teaching-learning process from the teacher’s viewpoint, developing an appreciation for others who may learn differently while deepening their understanding within the discipline. What began as a side project in AP Psychology over 6 years ago has turned into an official program with over 70 students serving as teaching assistants. The feedback from students and teachers has been very positive and we look forward to hosting our new cohort of TAs in 26-27.

Grade Level Leaders design activities that support relationship building and social awareness.

Grade Level Leaders

As we continue to strengthen our Pastoral Care Group (PCG) programming and alignment across Grade 6-12, the High School introduced the role of a Grade Level Leader (GLL). GLLs focus on the Pastoral Care experiences of students during regular PCG meetings, working with grade level teaching teams to design activities that support relationship building and social awareness. Planning meetings have kept the student experience at the center of decision making, with GLLs and class advisors working alongside student Class Officers to design whole grade as well as small group activities. Huge thanks to Johnny Hogan (G9), Randy Huberman (G10), Amy Smith (G11) and Darrius Shaw (G12) for all of their hard work and partnership this year!

With the introduction of Activity Block in the 26-27 school year and the provision of an additional PCG session, we’re looking forward to exploring all the ways our faculty and students can work together to build connection and community.