BERT and Mission Statement
Mission Statement
Wayland Middle School is a community of learners. We strive to provide a rigorous, stimulating academic environment in which students find both challenge and support. We nurture a sense of curiosity, connection, and love of learning that extends beyond the middle school years. With equal regard, we support the development of social skills by encouraging a fundamental respect for oneself, our environment, and the larger world. Our house mentors - Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Louise Carson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. – model for us individual and collective responsibility and our role in fostering justice. We promote their teachings as we care for every member of our community.
As a thoughtful teaching and learning environment, we reflect on our mission statement – its language, its meaning, and how to best represent and remind ourselves of its integral role in all we do. An outcome of this process is BERT. BERT embodies the community values at the heart of this mission statement – belonging, empathy, respect, and trust – and signifies the collective responsibility we share in teaching, understanding, and living these values.
School Organization and Academic Program
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.
Wayland Middle 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. Each grade provides a fall and spring trip that supports and extends the theme of the house mentors.
Health / Arts / Applied Science
Throughout their three years at the Middle School, students explore a variety of courses in Music, Art, Health, Drama, and Applied Science.
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.
