Middle School at Sabot

Grades 5-8

What makes our Grades 5-8 program different?

Walk into our Middle School classrooms. You will find small workshops in which students are active, engaged, and purposeful. You will find students designing, developing, and executing their own projects in Exploratory, our innovative independent study program. You will see students presenting original research to peers. You will find students collaborating, engaged in respectful discourse, and advocating for themselves. They address real problems, use real-world resources, and pursue the questions that drive genuine understanding. Content matters deeply, but so do the tools of inquiry and habits of mind that make students lifelong learners.

Sabot School is different for a reason, and our Middle School is intentionally designed to foster curiosity, independence, and a genuine love of learning. We believe in depth over breadth – teaching students to think and communicate like historians, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and artists.

Our Middle School program begins in 5th grade, and that is intentional. The Bridge Years (grades 5–6) meet students exactly where they are developmentally, building strong relationships, independence, and the foundational skills for rigorous inquiry. The Horizons Years (grades 7–8) deepen that foundation, preparing students for high school with advanced coursework, including many classes that qualify for high school credit.

OUR PROGRAMS

Two Connected Programs, One Clear Arc

Students in grades 5 and 6 learn through interdisciplinary STEM and Humanities courses and Exploratory blocks that grow in independence as students move through the program. Morning meetings, studio, time in nature, and a strong advisory foundation support students as they develop the social-emotional skills, communication, and self-advocacy that carry them confidently into the Horizon Years.

Students in grades 7 and 8 move through cycles of core courses and interdisciplinary project blocks, applying their learning to complex, real-world challenges with increasing autonomy. The advisory program supports students as they develop their identities as learners, build resilience and self-awareness, and step into high school ready for what comes next, including coursework that earns high school credit.