Middle School
Middle School is a critical period of transition for young adults. During this time, students are charged with navigating increasingly complex questions of selfhood, social dynamics, and personal responsibility. Our Middle School program helps students meet these new challenges through a curriculum that excites our students about the world more broadly and gives them a sense of ownership over their education.
This requires that students be deliberate about forming connections, which includes academically, with others, as well as with their communities. Pilgrim builds connection for students through community programming, hands-on learning, and an experiential curriculum. This approach gives students a disciplined platform from which to develop their sense of self and world view.
While our program allows for individual expression and intellectual freedom, the curriculum is built to challenge our learners as critical thinkers and as people. We believe that a broad and rigorous education will help students understand their world more comprehensively and the role they want to play in it.
What sets our Middle School program apart?
- As a small, close-knit community, Pilgrim is a unique environment where every student feels seen and understood.
- Pilgrim’s environment produces civic-minded students who are grounded in compassion, kindness, and inclusion.
- Pilgrim is a city school and takes full advantage of this identity. From visits from local leaders to taking advantage of the many cultural centers around the school, students learn that learning doesn’t end at the classroom door.
- Our small size allows our teachers to understand how each student learns on an individual level. This system allows students to understand their goals and how to reach them while also allowing their interests to influence their education.
- Recurring programs, like Community Monday, allow students to engage with other students across all grade levels and develop leadership skills.
- Regular communication between faculty, parents, and students creates a supportive environment where consistent standards make sure that all parts of the student are nurtured in their education.
- At Pilgrim, we prioritize hands-on experience. Deeper understanding of important concepts is facilitated by students participating in first-hand experiences.
- Our curriculum is built so that students move beyond understanding content in isolation to understanding how they relate to the other subjects they're learning, and, in turn, the world and its various communities.
- Fifth grade teachers orient sixth grade faculty to each incoming student’s educational profile to create continuity for students.
- Likewise, High School faculty work with Middle School faculty to understand the needs and interests of incoming students. Students can be sure that their development in Middle School will be honored in High School.
- Four-year planning for High School begins in 8th grade based on individual student interviews with our Director of Achievement and College Planning.