Please Tell me about Sidwell Midddle School ?
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Anonymous
| Thinking of applying for grade 6. What is the school like these days? How does it compare to the upper school? |
Anonymous
| My child is a Sidwell lifer, now a senior, and Middle School has been my favorite. The principal, Sally Selby, is the best. The teachers are outstanding. Love the art/music/drama offerings. 6th grade is a great entry point - a time for transition before academics ramp up in 7th. 6th still has the homeroom format, but with some movement to specialist teachers in English, social studies, Spanish and math as well as PE and arts. Fifth and sixth graders have their own floor and seventh and eighth are on the top floor where they each have independent schedules. All four grades share the library and arts facilities on the bottom floor. Middle schoolers share the excellent athletic facilities, theater and dining room with the Upper School. |
Anonymous
| To answer your question about Upper School, it's not for the faint of heart. Academics are very rigorous but again the teachers are for the most part fantastic. Love the principal. If you have a smart, hard-working, resilient kid - or one who is okay with being a C student - it might be a good choice. Arts options are really good, especially chorus. Some good athletics, lots of non-team PE choices, academic support for those who ask for it. My child has been happy at Sidwell for 13 years. |
Anonymous
| OP: Yes, we have a cousin in the Upper School, but he entered in grade 9, and he is very happy. Glad to hear the Middle School is also really great. |
Anonymous
| OP: Yes, we have a cousin in the Upper School, but he entered in grade 9, and he is very happy. Glad to hear the Middle School is also really great. |
Anonymous
| Our experience has been different from PPs above; our kids have thrived in the US, but thought the MS was just OK. There are a few very good teachers, but many are quite open about wanting to move up to the US. And Sally also doesn't seem to appreciate the developmental stage of middle-schoolers -- especially boys. Granted, middle-school kids can be a challenging group, but as a teacher myself (at another school) I've seen stronger middle-school programs than Sidwell's. |
Anonymous
NP. Interesting to hear this perspective on the MS principal. Our experience does not match PP though. We found, and are currently finding with another child, that principal does a great job on development stages. All teachers we dealt with seemed pretty gronded in middle school. There were other teachers though that we never had, so maybe they match PP's concerns. |
Anonymous
| I read recently that Sidwell's "middle school" was one of the first such schools in the country, so they've had a long time to work out the kinks! |
Anonymous
| Sally Selby is perhaps the best principal we have seen. Smart, supportive, observant, funny, gracious and generous. Too bad they can't clone her. |
Anonymous
| Our kids, one of whom has already graduated from Sidwell, still go back to visit some of their middle school teachers. Those teachers made that much of an impression on them. |
Anonymous
| Sally is the best --- |
Anonymous
|
+1
And the staff are acutely aware of the development edges that the kids experience and are adept at encouraging positive growth. It isn't perfect, but nothing is, but I have been generally impressed with the staff and faculty. |
Anonymous
| Another pro-Sally family. |
Anonymous
So, I guess you never heard her compare Sidwell middle-schoolers to Harvard freshmen? |
Anonymous
No. You must be thinking of the GDS thread. 
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