The Middle School offers a challenging core curriculum for young adolescents. Its faculty members share an interest in the academic and developmental needs of middle school-age students.

SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM The school has three houses: Grade Six - Henry David Thoreau House; Grade Seven - Rachel Carson House; and Grade Eight - Martin Luther King House, and two clusters in each house to create smaller administrative units. In addition to the standard curriculum offerings each year (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Education), themed activities are an integral part of each student's experience. Field trips add to the richness of the Middle School program. For example, in the fall of Grade Six, students, faculty, and parents share in a 10-mile bicycle trip to Walden Pond, the site of Henry David Thoreau's wilderness experience. Students write in their journals, sketch, discover local history, identify flora and fauna, and engage in spirited discussions about Thoreau's ideas.

For Grade Seven students, studies in English, Math, Social Studies, Science, French, Latin, or Spanish, and Physical Education are complemented by a developing appreciation of writer environmentalist Rachel Carson. By year's end, students have embarked on several working field trips to study the ocean and other natural environments and have completed a major environmental research project. Year-long studies often culminate in a three-day field trip to Cape Cod.

In eighth grade, the core academic program also includes an intensive study of the concept of justice in American History. Grade Eight students traditionally spend five days in Washington, D.C., each May, working in small groups on individual projects.

In the Middle School, students change teachers for each subject. While most classes are heterogeneously grouped, ability grouping is utilized in Mathematics in all three grades and in Science in the eighth grade. Approximately two-thirds of our students complete Algebra I as well as a full year of high school French, Latin or Spanish by the end of the eighth grade.

HEALTH/ARTS/TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM Throughout their three years at the Middle School, students explore a variety of courses in Music, Art, Industrial Arts, Health, and Technology.

CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMS the Middle School has a large chorus, band, orchestra, and a number of smaller performing arts groups, including a jazz band, select chorus, and chamber ensemble. There are a variety of after-school clubs, a Science Olympiad and Math Team, drama performances, and an intramural and interscholastic sports program.