Middle School Grades 6-8

Creating a Climate for Success

Middle school is a time of change, challenge and opportunity for young people. Addressing this directly, we strive to create a culture of collaboration, inclusion and respect where students’ strengths are recognized and their contributions are valued.

Unlike most urban settings where middle and high school students attend separate schools, our students in grades 6-12 eat lunch together, walk halls together and even share some classes. In this environment, middle schoolers feel safe and valued, and high schoolers cultivate maturity by developing multi-age friendships. The collaboration strengthens the academic climate and bolsters students' interpersonal skills.

Eighth graders begin the year exploring the dynamics of leadership and power on an overnight trip in the San Juan Islands at Camp Nor’wester. The following day, sixth and seventh graders join them for a three-day camp-out, focusing on cooperative games, reflection activities, team building and conflict management. Students sleep in tepees and wall tents, cook outdoors, challenge themselves with a ropes course and take classes in fire building, poetry, Native American culture and more. Ending on a collaborative note, they do a service project for the camp.

Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom

Middle school academics are challenging and standards are high. Science and social studies are offered on grade level; math placement is by accomplishment; and literacy is taught multi-age, grades 6–8. Sports play an important role in middle school. Our “no cut” policy assures that all students make the team. We offer soccer, basketball, track and golf for both girls and boys.

Honoring the full spectrum of learning styles, we take students off campus often. While outings vary by year, recent trips to Western Washington University, the International Children's Festival in Seattle, the Seattle Art Museum and a homeless shelter in Mt. Vernon offered powerful insights. Students also went mountain snowshoeing.

Mini-Weeks are another way we pique students’ enthusiasm, build their skills and broaden their horizons. Three times a year, our teachers create three ingenious days of hands-on, experiential classes geared to nature, nurture and exploration. 

Reinforcing school-wide themes of collaboration, understanding and support, each class ends the year with a school trip. Sixth graders focus on regional history during three days in Western Washington. Seventh graders head east of the mountains to study geology and science, and eighth graders backpack for five days in the Olympic National Park, exploring Native American culture, ecosystems and wilderness skills.

Learn more about:

Middle School Faculty

Secondary Learning Improvement Plan

OSPI Report Card