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Middle School Academics & Curriculum

Middle School
Academics & Curriculum

Our Middle School students do more than simply learn in the classroom. Our Middle School program encourages and supports students’ continued growth as scholars, athletes, and artists to help them to find their fullest potential. Our specialized teachers and caring faculty provide an easy and seamless transition from Lower School to Middle School. With continued emphasis on outside experiences and experiential learning, Dragon’s can expect to further refine their foundation of skills, knowledge, and principles learned in our Lower School. The refinement of these skills help foster success leading into our Upper School and beyond.

Programs such as our accelerated math curriculum and continued support of learning and development, inside and outside of the classroom, make Saint George’s Middle School curriculum one of the best in the Spokane region. Our focus on out-of-class experiences is aimed at providing the best private education in the Spokane area. This is dependent on a well-rounded, specialized, and tailor-made curriculum of activities and courses. These programs are made possible by our dedicated and specialized roster of teachers and faculty, who ensure that your child is receiving the best private education in Spokane. Our middle school curriculum is just one piece of the multi-layered, individualized program of curiosity, problem solving, and application that will give your child the skill set and knowledge to think and communicate compassionately, ethically, and effectively. All that we do for our Middle Schoolers is deeply rooted in our Core Values of honesty, respect, generosity of spirit, and best efforts.

In 6th grade, your child will find a team of teachers working with them to master the novelties of their own lockers and switching classes each period. Sixth grade builds skills that will buttress future academic success, such as learning how to take notes, study for a test, and organize the work of a long-term project. Highlights include the cardboard boat races down the Little Spokane River and Native American cultures and the biology of salmon, with a visit to the Nez Perce reservation and tours of two fish hatcheries and a dam.

Seventh graders at Saint George’s will continue to reinforce organizational, and study strategies developed in 6th grade. In 7th grade, students will gain executive functioning skills and effectively apply them throughout their academic journey and future endeavors. Our students will learn team-building skills through hands-on experience by participating in a three-day retreat in the Eastern Washington woods that combines eco-games, challenge activities, and fly fishing.

Throughout middle school and especially in eighth grade, the challenging academic program lays a foundation for success in our International Baccalaureate program in 11th and 12th grades. Eighth graders experience the excitement of discovery and the joy of service and leadership through a classic Saint George’s tradition, the Coast Trip. On this five-day camping excursion near Port Angeles, your child will explore tide pool biology, the rain forest ecosystem, and World War II shore defenses while reflecting on their growth in Middle School and looking ahead to the Upper School.

Middle School students learn while doing. Your child will learn what it means to serve while on lunch duty with their advisory or singing at a retirement home. They develop their leadership skills through refining their Genius Hour projects and while helping kindergarteners identify leaves. They try new activities – biking, archery, cross-country skiing, and fishing – while on class field trips. These trips are a crucial aspect of the curriculum, teaching your child that their reach can exceed their grasp, and that success is often the progeny of failure and tenacity. Away from the classroom, your child will open up to new skills and new friends. They get to take appropriate risks, while developing a caring, open-minded appreciation for themselves, Spokane, the world, and all its inhabitants. Building healthy relationships with peers and adults is an important part of the journey of middle school. Our experienced teachers help students traverse the often rocky terrain of pre-adolescence. Our school counselor is another resource available to help students navigate this journey. All of this is grounded in our Core Values of honesty, respect, generosity of spirit, and best efforts.

Click below to see a full collection of middle school academics and curriculum through photos:

To Middle School Parents

   Letters from Joelle Neiwert, Head of Middle School