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Phoenix Country Day School

Middle School

Explore and create your world

The Middle School offers students ample opportunities to grow, to try new experiences, to expand their outlooks beyond their comfort zones. Students are presented with big questions, wrestle with new ideas, and learn to embrace challenges. Along the way, they develop care and compassion for themselves and others, letting joy and positivity permeate every activity and experience.

Schedule & Advisory

A student-centered approach to learning

Your Best Self

Middle School counseling courses for every student

Signature Experiences

Time-honored traditions in the Middle School

At a Glance

15

average Middle School class size

25

electives offered each season

10

students in each advisory homeroom

4

classes each day

 

In our block schedule, students attend 75-minute classes; these extended learning periods allow time for inquiry, collaboration, innovation, and depth of understanding.

3

breaks each day

 

The student-centered schedule includes three substantial breaks each day when students engage in enrichment (assembly, advisory, or electives), conference with teachers, do homework, or have down time.

1.5

hours of homework each day

 

In keeping with recent studies, we make homework meaningful and manageable, limiting that workload to 90 minutes a day and providing ample time to complete that work on campus.

Profiles

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Ben Sullivan
Ben Sullivan

Head of Middle School

For Mr. Sullivan, there is no substitute for treating people with kindness and compassion.

The best parts of his day are greeting the students in the morning and wishing them well at the end of the day – and he finds the students’ energy absolutely infectious. While these times provide him with great joy, he also knows those interactions are instrumental in helping students feel known, loved, and valued on campus. Mr. Sullivan is proud to lead in a place where students can explore so many different activities and start to find their passions along the way, a place where students are challenged, and a place where students are also supported and nurtured through some very challenging social and physical changes in their lives.

Chris Eriksen
Chris Eriksen

5th Grade Teacher

Mr. E. is always on the lookout for what he calls, “light bulb face” in his students, which incidentally happens quite often in his classroom.

He says this is similar to the look cartoon characters get when they get an idea and an actual light bulb appears above their head with a little “ping” sound. It occurs after students have struggled to grasp a concept, and then, because of something he does, they get it – their heads pick up, their eyebrows raise, they breathe in slightly, and then smile. This phenomenon inspires Mr. E. every day. Mr. E’s classes contain a studied balance of excitement and humor, combined with structure and boundaries. Mr. E. uses this strategy to create organized writers, curious readers, solid grammarians, enthusiastic, actively learning students, and balanced community members.