Private Middle School Bergen County | Saddle River Day School
Middle School
Middle school is a time of enormous growth. By the time our students finish their eighth-grade year, they bear just the faintest resemblance to the students who entered the school a few years prior. Their physical, intellectual and social growth is momentous, and it is our joy and privilege as educators and administrators to witness and participate in this transformation.
The middle school curriculum is structured to maximize scholarship, discovery and creativity.
Students participate in core classes that challenge and inform them while also offering them
opportunities to showcase their knowledge in unique and inventive ways.
Our focus on
cross-curricular, project-based learning and collaboration lays the groundwork for students’ future
studies and their eventual careers.
We strive to provide our students with the tools and the
practices that enable their success as scholars and leaders.
Support for students’ social and emotional growth is important at all stages but especially critical
as our middle schoolers transition from the children they were in elementary school to the young
adults they become in upper school and beyond. The low faculty-to-student ratio ensures that
progress and growth is monitored and charted by a team of people who know them
best: their grade teachers and advisors. Student advisories, previously known as home rooms
or home bases, are consistent, reliable, safe spaces for students to grapple with big issues and
ideas with a trained facilitator and their peers. Empathetic, compassionate advisors allow for all student voices to be heard and each student’s unique perspective and experience to be
respected.
Rounding out the middle school experience are extracurriculars. Students are encouraged to
either dig deep into an identified passion or to try something new. Traits including hard work,
perseverance and resilience are modeled, valued and reinforced as students engage in
activities that range from sports to drama, debate, horseback riding and robotics, to name a
few. Students who don’t find what they are looking for in the current roster of extracurriculars are
empowered to petition their own club or team.
We look forward to meeting you on campus at one of our admissions events this fall. Or you can call us
to make an appointment to visit. We’re excited to share the ways that Saddle River Day School
makes a difference in the lives of students who want to make a difference.
Anastasia Kelly, Head of Middle School
M.Ed., Fairleigh Dickinson University
Middle School by the Numbers
13
STUDENTS IN THE AVERAGE CLASS
1:7
TEACHER-TO-STUDENT RATIO
WEEKLY
FACULTY ADVISOR MEETINGS
Curriculum that features designing, building, prototyping, testing and improving.
Explore Curriculum
Hear all about middle school life at SRDS from our students and teachers and see why they love SRDS!
MS Life at SRDS
From debate to tennis, middle school students have over 20 options in clubs and activities to supplement their academic day.
Student Life
With course options such as Lego masters, robotics and music institute, the Coaching Academy offers middle school students extra engagement and enrichment in the afternoons.
Coaching Academy