The Middle School Experience: Where Curiosity Becomes Inquiry
In middle school, students learn to harness their inherent curiosity and translate it to inquiry questions that move far past core content and promote deep learning.
The middle school experience at Bosque inspires students to take ownership of their education and establish the habits of academic excellence that lead to long-term success. Students are introduced to the inquiry model, in which teachers share a thoughtful and developmentally appropriate curriculum and then support students with rich opportunities to showcase their understanding and application of knowledge through guided questions and projects.
As students acquire core academic skills in math, science, English, social studies, and Spanish, they integrate them across disciplines through engaging projects and fieldwork. To support the importance of developing creative skills, they receive a rich grounding in the visual and performing arts, taking a course in each for all three years. All students also engage in our developmentally appropriate whole-child curriculum that develops their sense of self, builds their executive functioning and study skills, establishes healthy habits and relationships, and responds to their desire to meaningfully contribute to their community with many opportunities for community engagement and service learning. In addition, to support our students’ health and well-being, all our middle school students participate in physical education. Most students choose to enhance their experience through an array of athletic and extracurricular offerings.
Three-week-long immersive courses (offered each May) provide additional opportunities for deep academic engagement as students apply their passions, skills, and knowledge through interdisciplinary coursework that broadens learning beyond campus. The rigor that comes with sustained immersion and complete focus on one academic topic accelerates and strengthens student learning and outcomes. Some recent middle school immersives include Food to Move, Journey Into Science and Medicine, The Art of Hiking & Camping, Agua Es Vida, and Design Genius.
Research indicates that optimal learning occurs when students forge strong connections with empathetic and attentive adults and actively participate in a vibrant, joyful, and evolving community, and we are committed to nurturing a sense of belonging that starts during the middle school years and carries through upper school. From the 6th-grade takeover to the 7th-grade camping expedition and the 8th-grade reading buddies service learning program to the daily tradition of morning meetings and a purposeful advisory program, our dedication to cultivating a thriving community is evident at every turn.
Beyond academic development, the goal of middle school is to shepherd our students through what can be very challenging years of physical, social, and personal growth while nurturing them in ways that ensure that each student is seen, heard, and known.The Bosque middle school honors our students’ individual stories, challenges them with demanding academic content and skill development, and fuels their emergent curiosity. By the time our middle school students step up to high school, they are confident in their academic as well as social abilities — and eager to take on increased academic expectations, leadership opportunities, and personal independence.
Leslie O’Hanlon, Middle School Division Head
“Children learn best from people they respect and love—relationships and community are the foundations of rigorous academic learning.”
Mrs. O’Hanlon joined Bosque School in 2014 and is currently the Middle School Division Head. She holds a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Howard University and a master's degree in education from the University of Missouri. Mrs. O’Hanlon is passionate about creating spaces where students are not only academically challenged but also supported in discovering their personal interests and passions. As the division head, she promotes a nurturing, inclusive atmosphere that is essential for helping middle schoolers grow into thoughtful, engaged, critical thinkers who are ready to take on new challenges.