Middle School
The Middle School provides authentic learning opportunities through hands-on explorations of topics in and out of the classroom.
The Middle School Experience
Roycemore's Middle School is a nurturing, relationship-rich learning space where students are seen, known, heard, and celebrated. We remain intentionally small to provide a personalized, differentiated learning experience for all of our students.
Students are provided agency and voice in their learning. Research tells us that students learn best in supportive environments where they feel safe and respected. Given our small size and stellar faculty that are passionate about middle school education, our relationships with students and families are our strongest asset that consistently translates into happy and successful middle school scholars.
Through our daily Homeroom/Advisory period, we begin the day with a focus on the developmental needs of our young adolescents. We teach, practice, and support executive functioning strategies and utilize programs such as Mindful Schools and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens to address the social/emotional needs of our learners. Strong college preparatory curricula, talented educators, and robust and personalized clubs, sports, and events make Roycemore Middle School an exceptional place for young adolescents to learn and grow.
Academics and Curriculum
The Middle School curriculum reflects our understanding of the specific intellectual, physical, social, and moral developmental needs of our 5th through 8th-grade students as they seek independence, identity, and acceptance. Our dynamic curriculum builds on students’ intense curiosity, demand for relevance, challenge, and engagement in their learning. We address students’ innate interest in collaboration with their peers through active, Socratic-discourse-driven, hands-on learning experiences.
Personal Passion Project
Every student deserves to be an expert on something and have time to focus on their passions within the school day. At Roycemore MS, our P3 program harnesses the power of students’ passions while utilizing the design thinking process to guide our students through deep, intentional inquiry and action associated with their Personal Passion Project (P3). Students focus on their passion area weekly throughout the year, with advice/guidance from an assigned mentor. P3 culminates with Experience Week and our P3 Expo Showcase in late March where students have the opportunity to present their learning to an audience of family, friends, and our larger Roycemore community.
House System
We build vertical community and collaboration between grades 5 - 8 through our HOUSE program. Just like Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat at Hogwarts, we start each year by gathering together as a Middle School community in our Commons to sort all new students into one of four Houses. These four HOUSES each have a faculty sponsor and are led by their 8th-grade HOUSE captains. Our captains work together to plan bi-monthly academic, social/emotional, physical, and service-oriented challenges. Points are tallied throughout the year based on the results of each of the challenges culminating with the highly-anticipated and exciting reveal of the winner of the HOUSE Cup during our 8th-grade graduation ceremony. HOUSE provides yet another way that we build community and strong relationships within and between grade levels at Roycemore Middle School.
Schedule
Creating a schedule that meets the diverse needs of all of our learners is a bit like a puzzle. Each year, we look to the needs of our students to help inform our scheduling decisions. This year, our seven-period schedule is a blended block schedule. On Mondays and Fridays, all classes meet from Block A through Block G for 48 minutes. On Tuesday through Thursday, all classes meet two of the three days in 65-minute instructional blocks. To support the critical need for movement and socialization in MS, we have time in our Zone area each morning from 7:30 am -8:15 for students to play in the gym, compete against friends in foosball, ping pong, and air hockey, or just sit and talk with their friends. Every MS student also enjoys a recess block following lunch each day where they can enjoy the fresh air in Alexander Park, play a game in the gym, or cuddle up with a great book in the library.
Roycemore is a truly special place. We moved our son from one of the top middle schools in Chicago and have found that the academic level and the sheer intelligence of the curriculum are much higher. More importantly, each teacher is just remarkable as a thought leader and a human being. They really mean it when they speak of tailoring the learning experience for each individual student. They know my son well and he feels truly valued for who he is. The student body and the teachers are diverse in every possible way and my son just loves middle school— something I would have thought impossible!
— Middle School Parent