Middle School

 

The Middle School Concept

St. Andrew’s Academy designed its program based around the Middle School concept, which takes into account the physical, emotional, and cognitive growth which students experience moving into their teenage years. Students gain more responsibility, independence, and autonomy, but still benefit from a structured environment. The Middle School bridges students between Lower School and Upper School both emotionally and academically.

Curriculum

Students benefit from an interdisciplinary curriculum which is centered around one common goal — to best meet the needs of each individual child. To meet the needs of each unique student, the curriculum is differentiated to both enrich and remediate when necessary. This is done by taking into account each student’s learning style, interests and academic readiness and then varying instruction based on the student.
 
Furthermore, a flexible schedule and team teaching opportunities help enhance the meaning behind what students are learning. By finding links from course to course, students see the content of their courses connected in school and in everyday life. Additionally, this development of critical thinking skills fosters a college-preparatory atmosphere enabling our students to excel in future academic endeavors.
 

The Advisory Program

Education stretches beyond academics with the advisory program in order to educate the whole child. Upon entry to middle school, each student is assigned an advisor and benefits from a weekly meeting with his or her advisor. The advisor serves as an advocate for the child in celebrating successes and dealing with challenges. Maintaining the same advisor from year to year helps to provide a seamless transition from Lower School to Middle School and later from Middle School to Upper School.
 
In advisory meetings, students work together to deal with social and emotional issues surrounding their age groups. More importantly, it is a time when students also learn leadership skills, build self-esteem, develop problem-solving skills, and build meaningful relationships. Students learn to support one another and also receive support from their advisors. This arrangement encourages ongoing teacher-student communication.

The Team Concept

The Middle School teachers function as a team, meeting three days a week to focus on coordinating the educational experiences of students both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers work to continually develop interdisciplinary units, meet the needs of students, collaborate with parents and other members of the community, and research best practices to implement within their classrooms.