Middle School
Our Middle School campus sits on 39 beautiful acres
Welcome to the Middle School
We sit in a “rough circle” in the refectory greeting one another and reflecting on a quote someone has brought in to share. Thus, another day at the Middle School has begun, another day to celebrate some of the many rituals we practice here.
Rituals keep us grounded at the Middle School. They define our days, even when some of our days are unpredictable, and they mark the passing of our years. We look forward to the arrival of some of our bigger rituals: our Thanksgiving Feast and Sweat, our holiday white elephant, our end-of-year “hand down” ceremony at our Peace Circle during which rising 9th years find out the various roles they’ll play in the coming year. But it’s perhaps our “smaller” rituals that truly define who we are at the Middle School: the reading of a quote – sometimes deep, sometimes funny, sometimes both if it’s a really good one – before lunch, the sharing of affirmations of one another at the end of the day, the shaking of hands as the students leave for home and other places.
The Kennedy Center
Our rituals here at the MS provide us with a shared vocabulary and an assurance that, even though things can change quickly for this age group, we can be certain that some things won’t. Friendships may experience ups and downs, class work may enlighten and then frustrate, surprises may be waiting and catch us completely unaware. But we know how we’ll start and end our days, and we can predict the events that will highlight our years.
Middle School Highlights:
Every step in a Montessori education guides students toward finding their places in our world, and these steps continue in our Middle School program. Here, we offer both honors and regular level work in math, science, English, Spanish, and humanities, and our students engage in real-world activities ranging from running small businesses and performing community service to planning trips and working the land around us. Our students leave us with a sense of who they are, ready to take their places in society.
The Middle School sits on 39 acres at 408 Andrews Chapel Road, Durham, NC 27703. This rural and wooded location provides ample opportunities for making use of the land for both work and play. Our students raise chickens and bees and sell both eggs and honey to fund these small businesses. They tend gardens and plants in both raised beds and in our greenhouse. They run and bike the many trails surrounding our school, and they play sports on our fields and basketball/tennis court.
The Middle School is small by design, with a maximum capacity of 60 7th through 9th year students. Our size allows us to create a close-knit community of students, teachers, and families and enables us to respond to each student’s needs individually. Students’ work in classes is differentiated to meet their varied abilities and learning styles, and they are encouraged to pursue their interests not only in their classes but also through our occupations and intersession offerings.
Occupations take place each week and last for a trimester. Over the past several years, occupation offerings have included: Land and Livestock, Pottery Shack, Public Art, Documentary Making, Montessori Model United Nations, Cake Boss, Cycle Shack, and Jewelry Making. Recent week-long intersession offerings have included in-depth studies of and practice with glass blowing, organic farming, cake decorating, cooking, game making, music, drama, and a wide variety of fine arts.
Our size is also ideal for travel opportunities, and our students go on leadership trips to Nanatahala and Chewonki, Maine (as 9th years), as well as on national and international trips. Our recent 9th years have visited Rome, Venice, Prague, Vienna, London, and Dublin.
In addition to our main building which houses classrooms, a kitchen, and two large meeting areas, we have 3 outbuildings (renovated tobacco barns) that house our pottery business (the Pottery Shack), our music classes (the Music Shack), and our bicycle repair shop (the Bike Shack).
The Bike Shack
Maria Montessori believed that students reaching this “Third Plane” of development need two things: protection during these years of physical and emotional transition and an understanding of the larger society that awaits them. One hundred years later, these needs remain. Our environment allows students to develop freely and safely as they test their own values and thoughts and explore the many changes and opportunities around them. Through our concept-based curriculum, students examine “big ideas” and how these ideas relate to their own lives and to the real world. These “big ideas” include: survival and adaptation, influence, revolution and change, power and balance, and identity.
Explore, Cooperate, Create, Become…
While our students are discovering their places in our world, they are also developing the skills that they’ll need to be successful in their next schools and beyond. In addition to mastering study skills and habits of learning such as asking questions, test taking, essay writing, and time management, they explore how to build communities, serve others, and foster healthy relationships. By the time they leave our Middle School, our students have explored their world, worked cooperatively to run businesses, and created their own learning opportunities. They are well on their way to becoming thoughtful and responsible members of their larger society.
