The Westminster Experience - Middle School
Westminster’s middle school (grades 3 – 6) provides an extraordinary academic and character development program for your child. A well-rounded, rich academic curriculum, with daily guidance toward personal responsibility and independent study skills, is combined with close attention to each child’s personal development. Within a warm, nurturing environment, children are encouraged and taught how to exercise respect, kindness, responsibility, integrity, and resilience, as well as the knowledge, skills and attitudes fundamental to their delight in learning—today and always. Firmly grounded in the school’s overall mission and philosophy, the middle-school program provides a carefully planned, consistent approach to all aspects of your child’s intellectual, emotional, and social development.
In the middle school, students look forward to coming to school each day and are proud of what they accomplish. Daily work and special projects provide many opportunities to explore the world, discover special interests, and exercise creativity. A challenging curriculum provides motivation to learn in depth about a broad array of subjects. The children’s curiosity and imagination are sparked by a team of dedicated, creative teachers who are passionate about the subjects they teach.
At Westminster, rather than having one teacher deliver all core academic subjects, a specialist is engaged to teach each one. Many of our teachers hold an undergraduate degree in their subject and a master’s degree in education, or have a comparable background. One of these specialists will also be your child’s homeroom teacher, who provides a “home” at school, where the students are welcomed each day, have lunch, and return at day’s end to prepare for departure. Third-6th grade students have a separate teacher and classroom for English/language arts, math, history/classical studies, science/geography, French, art, music, and PE. This approach provides an “immersion” environment in each class, where the teacher’s background, passion, effort, and creativity are all directed toward the subject under study. Each day, the children enter classrooms in which all of the lessons, displays, and special activities are designed to engage their interest and further their knowledge of each subject. Each class is approximately 40 minutes long.
Although the teachers in grades 3 – 6 teach different subjects, they work closely together in teams (one team for grades 3 and 4, one for grades 5 and 6) to coordinate the daily schedule of classes, quizzes, tests, projects, field trips, and other activities to ensure a steady workload and balance of activities for the children. Since all of the grade-level teachers know and teach all of the children, they are especially able to keep a close eye on each student’s progress, whether academic, social, or emotional. Small classes provide the opportunity for individual attention. Teachers and parents are in close communication, through personal conferences, telephone calls, teacher postings on Edline, and emails. The teachers provide a warm welcome and a helping hand for each student, taking a personal interest in supporting the child’s progress, not only as a scholar, but as an individual developing his/her own personality and navigating the world of school, friends, and peer relations.
