Academics

Middle School

Grades 5-8

Berwick Academy’s Middle School is a supportive community with exceptional teachers who truly know their students and challenge them to think differently.

BECCA G., PARENT

The adults in the Middle School truly provide the kind of support that students need socially in addition to academically. Teachers are guiding students in working out how to be a friend, how to choose friends, how to be part of a group, how to move between groups, and how to advocate for yourself. I love that Berwick provides the foundation and support for teachers to be able to do that.

Student-Centered Experience

The four years in the Middle School are designed to build creative communicators and students who participate in all their classes with a disposition of inquiry. We provide an innovative, student-centered, and project-based culture where fifth through eighth graders can try new things they may never otherwise have had the opportunity to do. Using traditional and non-traditional materials and sources, Middle School students become problem finders as well as problem-solvers. They are encouraged to try new things, to get out of their comfort zone, and to learn from both failures and successes.


Balance of Traditional and Innovative Approaches

The academic programming in the Middle School cultivates students’ creative and curious minds and encourages them to develop a sense of responsibility, growth mindset, empathy, resilience, independence, perspective, critical thinking, and voice. Through a balance of traditional and innovative approaches, our students are actively involved in their learning, and are encouraged to build on new knowledge and ideas.

Opportunities to Explore Interests

Authentic student learning comes from within–driven by a student’s passions, interests, and innate curiosity. Therefore, our academic programming allows students to challenge conventional thinking, be change agents for their local and global communities, explore multiple perspectives, and, ultimately, learn and grow from and with each other. This approach cultivates students’ creative and curious minds and encourages them to develop a sense of responsibility, a growth mindset, empathy, resilience, critical thinking, and a voice. Through a balance of traditional and innovative approaches, our students are actively involved in their learning and are encouraged to build on new knowledge and ideas. This blend encourages independence while giving our students guidance and support.

Examples include:
• Commitment to developing confident readers, writers, and problem-solvers
• Place-Based Learning using the campus as a classroom
• Integrated projects in math, science, social studies, and English

Joyful and Engaging Environment

The faculty and staff at Berwick are committed to providing a supportive environment that will guide students in making wise choices. The social dynamics of our Middle School are equally important to academics. Students are learning how to navigate friendship circles and communicate in a healthy way in addition to their curricular and extracurricular involvement. As much as our teachers support them, our students also support one another. 

Teachers genuinely care for their students and provide academic support during and after school. Students also develop a profound sense of community responsibility and ethical behavior as part of the ongoing development of character at Berwick Academy.

JEN K., PARENT

Not only do they give the kids an amazing framework academically, they also give them an amazing framework to explore things that are interesting to them.

Our Middle School Emphasizes:

List of 10 items.

  • Challenging Academics

    Balance of traditional and innovative curriculum

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  • Relationships & Communication

    Close student-teacher relationships

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  • Character

    Healthy social dynamics
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  • Innovation

    Access to innovation spaces including a MakerSpace and Fabrication Studio
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  • Fun!

    School trips, activities, and spirited competition
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  • Performing Arts

    Music and theater opportunities
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  • Interscholastic Sports

    A variety of sports for all three seasons
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  • Diverse Clubs & Activities

    Including robotics, musical, and math team
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  • World Languages and Cultures

    Including Mandarin, Latin, or Spanish
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  • Poetry

    Poetry, and the Poet in Residence program, are special parts of the atmosphere and emphasis.
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Integrated Projects

List of 3 items.

  • Global Ex

    Global Ex is a student-driven, collaborative project integrating seventh grade science, world cultures, and art in the long term exploration of a country in a particular region of the world.
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  • Innovation Pursuits

    The Innovation Pursuit program is a curricular vehicle that allows students to fully engage an intellectual passion. Innovation Pursuits are endeavors that are driven, designed, and directed by individual inquiry. Berwick believes an IP is a valuable learning experience and can play an integral role in the college process.

  • Maple Sugar Unit

    Students immerse themselves into a three-month maple sugaring unit, during which they identify sugar maple trees, drill holes, and await an accumulation of sap for boiling. 
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Academic Departments

List of 5 items.

  • Middle School Science

    In the Middle School, scientific pursuits inspire the process of discovery. Content is spiraling with physical, chemical, earth, and life science themes increasing in complexity across grade levels to reinforce previous learning and to promote the development of deeper understanding. For example, principles of matter and energy are explored systematically across grade levels from measurement and classification in fifth grade, to transfer of energy in sixth grade, to forces of change in seventh grade, to density and solubility in eighth grade. Particular emphasis is placed on designing learning experiences that encourage purposeful thinking and instill confidence in the process of solving a problem.

  • Middle School Math

    The goal of the Middle School mathematics program at Berwick is to empower students to act, think, and see themselves as emerging mathematicians, problem-solvers, and critical thinkers. Middle School math teachers encourage their students to grapple and explore mathematical concepts and skills through a real-world lens, as well as employ inquiry-based and project-based learning approaches that allow students to collaborate, take risks, and develop healthy habits of mind. Math is integrated into projects and experiences throughout a student’s journey through the Middle School so that they can explore its connections to other disciplines and influence in their world. The math skills that our students develop over the course of their Middle School experience prepare them well for the increased depth and rigor of the Upper School math experience.

  • Middle School English

    English classes explore a variety of genres, both in individual assignments as well as in books chosen to be read and discussed as a group. An emphasis on the understanding and the precise use of English grammar provides a foundation for the building of creative and expository writing skills. A poet in residence each spring provides students with a model for the writing habits and dispositions of a successful published writer of poetry. Many times during the school year, works of fiction are chosen to expand understanding of multicultural studies and historic topics.

  • Middle School History and Social Studies

    The goal of the Middle School History Department is to enable students to practice perspective-taking, build historical thinking skills and processes, and engage in civil discourse, as they explore important events in our past and present history. Throughout their study of history, students will develop arguments, based on evidence and research, and take part in real-world projects designed to examine and dissect patterns between the past and present. Our hope is that our students come to see themselves as civic-minded citizens who will take action in their local, national, and global communities and that they value the rich diversity, voices, and perspectives in our nation’s history, as well as our world.

  • Middle School World Languages and Cultures

    The goal of the Middle School World Languages and Cultures program is to build our students’ confidence with a second language in both written and oral communication. Additionally, we encourage students to have compassion for others by building awareness, empathy, and understanding of other cultures as they learn to be globally literate citizens. We also expect students to apply their learning beyond the classroom walls. Beyond the fundamentals of learning a language, teachers find innovative ways to blend culture, art, creativity, music, and virtual travel into their courses.

Barbara W., Parent

There is a kindness at Berwick Academy that doesn't exist in the rest of the world.

Learn more about Berwick or start the enrollment process by completing the form below:

Berwick Academy

31 Academy Street
South Berwick, Maine 03908

Contact:
Admission | 207.384.6300
Main Office | 207.384.2164
Berwick Academy, situated on an 80-acre campus just over one hour north of Boston, serves 520 students, Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 and Postgraduates. Berwick students are from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and several countries. Deeply committed to its mission of promoting virtue and useful knowledge, Berwick Academy empowers students to be creative and bold. Berwick strives to graduate alumni who shape their own learning, take risks, ask thoughtful questions, and come to understand and celebrate their authentic selves.

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