Middle School Program

In 2023, after much reflection and deliberation, the SBCA Board of Trustees voted to expand our academic program to include grades 7 and 8, starting in the Fall of 2024. The addition of these two grade levels will complete a newly founded and distinguished middle school that encompasses Grades 6 through 8. Our middle school will continue the logic phase of the classical education trivium and include additional distinguishing characteristics:

• Intentionally low-tech environment
• Opportunities for single-sex learning in theology, literature, and advisory
• Enhanced co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities
• Leadership opportunities in Houses of Faith & Benedictine Guild
• “Frassati Fridays”

In keeping with classical education’s goal of revealing to students the interconnectedness and unity of all learning, the Seventh Grade Seminar provides students with an opportunity for interdisciplinary philosophical exploration that brings together and extends what they have been learning in the classroom. The Seminar Advisor may invite other SBCA staff or outside guests to lead occasional sessions on interdisciplinary topics relevant to the holistic curriculum (e.g. explore the science of relics at the intersection of faith and science; read and discuss portions of papal encyclicals related to art, economics, or ethics; hear from guests how faith impacts their professional lives and vocations; etc.)

In the third trimester, students plan a two-day Seminar cycle themselves, selecting readings, designing experiences and activities, identifying potential guest speakers, and leading their peers in conversation. At the end of the year, students write a short (2-3 page) reflection on what they have learned in Seminar that year.

In Eighth Grade Seminar, students will spend their Seminar periods exploring a philosophical question of the class’s choice, under the guidance of their Seminar Advisor. Summer work between the seventh- and eighth-grade years will be geared towards preparing the students to think philosophically through reading and journaling. At the beginning of the year, the class will discuss and generate a philosophical question to explore together.

During the first and second trimesters of the eighth-grade year, SBCA faculty and outside experts and professionals coordinated and curated by the Seminar Advisor will present to students weekly, from a variety of different perspectives, on topics related to the philosophical question they are exploring. During the third trimester, the Seminar period will be devoted to crafting an essay (3-5 pages) bringing together what they have learned in the Seminar to address the question under exploration. These essays will be presented to the SBCA community at an evening gathering in the spring.