Middle School (Secondary)

The movement for Montessori Secondary schools has been growing across the United States for several years.  In September 2009, after more than a year of preparation, Maria Montessori School initiated our own secondary program which includes grades 7 and 8.

The mission of our secondary program is to provide opportunities for our adolescent students to be self-confident in their academic, social, and developmental abilities and in their knowledge of self.  These competencies come from belonging to a community, learning to be adaptable, accepting the challenge of going beyond the minimum academic requirements, and by creating a vision for their personal future; in summary, our goal is to empower these early adolescents.

There are opportunities for cross-level work in which all or  a combination of the grades participate such as morning community meetings, the beginning of the year camping trip for team building, Spanish, Mandarin, cultural studies, public speaking and debate, field trips, P.E. and, of course, socializing.  In addition to cross-level studies, each grade level works on specific subjects in their core curriculum.

The Parent-Child-School triad is especially important in these early teen years, and parents are encouraged and expected to support their children in various ways, while allowing the strengthening of independence and identity.  This approach leads to a stronger collaboration within the student-parent-teacher partnership.