Middle School Philosophy

By providing bright, motivated students with like-minded teachers and peers, a rigorous and imaginative curriculum, and the opportunity to push themselves in new directions, Academy Hill's Middle School fills a crucial niche.

Highlights include a highly individualized math program, in which students commonly complete five or six years of curricula in four; an interdisciplinary approach to literacy, social studies, and science, in which students might simultaneously study the literature of the Industrial Revolution, the physics of power plants, and the geopolitics of energy trade; and our signature Forum, in which the entire Middle School gathers daily to share in performances, presentations, debates, and community service projects.

Our philosophy combines the best thinking from two worlds: that of independent school education and that of gifted and talented education. From the former we take the principle that small class sizes--a maximum of fifteen students, curricular freedom, creative teachers, parent involvement, and a warm community allow children to thrive emotionally, socially, intellectually. From the latter we take the principle that academically talented students thrive when surrounded by bright, enthusiastic peers and teachers and when offered a demanding general curriculum with individualized acceleration and enrichment.

Our graduates are sought after by all regional college preparatory schools and are ready to approach the most demanding secondary school programs with maturity, self-confidence, knowledge, and skill.