Welcome to Middle Years (7th and 8th grade)
We believe that students best learn from an elevated curriculum that is developmentally appropriate and builds on itself from year to year. It is our goal to provide our students with rigorous lessons that spark creativity and curiosity, while still pushing them to their academic limits. Our students thrive in the stretch zone of learning.
- Students may earn high school credit for 8th-grade honors Algebra and Spanish courses.
- Integrated Physics and Chemistry is an honors course offered for our 8th graders.
- Our students receive accolades in the National Spanish Examinations.
- With writing being the focus of courses across the curriculum, St. Stephen’s students become experts in argument and composition, honing their critical thinking and analytical skills across all academic disciplines.
- St. Stephen’s STEM curriculum is robust, including coursework and extracurricular opportunities in applied engineering and robotics. Our da Vinci Lab for Creative Arts and Sciences is a makerspace where students showcase their creativity through computer programming, 3D printing, product design, and more. Robotics covers the basics of movement and sensors using a GUI-based programming software, in preparation for success at robotics competitions.
- Students choose their own elective courses, yielding the beginning of an outward expression of self-inquiry within the support system of the school. Elective courses are fully integrated into our program of study, and all of our instructors work closely together to keep instruction linked and coherent.
Results Driven
Our goal is to not only prepare our students academically but also to prepare them as responsible learners who are familiar with a traditional upper-level academic environment. Students often have their first exposure to rotating classes, a traditional grading scale, and a workload geared towards preparing them for high school and beyond. When students graduate from our Middle Years program, they are prepared to advocate for themselves as elevated learners.
St. Stephen’s high school prep and counseling are unparalleled. While we do not teach to the test, our 8th graders perform exceptionally well on standardized entrance exams, including the ISEE. Our 8th graders gain entrance to the top high schools in Houston, including the following recent admissions.
- Carnegie Vanguard High School
- Emery Weiner School
- Energy Institute High School
- Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS)
- HSPVA
- Incarnate Word Academy
- Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
- St. Francis Episcopal School
- St. Pius X High School
- St. Thomas High School
Individualized Attention
Our students receive individualized attention that is unparalleled at larger institutions as a result of our low student-to-teacher ratio. We know our students’ strengths and areas in need of improvement, when to challenge and when to support, and how they learn best.
Empowered Learners
Given collaborative control over their education, our students teach, lead, mentor, and grow, all while supported by accomplished faculty. Our block schedules, featuring multiple-hour work periods, are derived from our Montessori heritage and afford plenty of time for independent study.
Question Everything
We live our values, and this includes questioning everything. Our belief in the power of questions inspires our teaching style, with the Socratic method employed to teach mathematics, literature, science, and more. We challenge our students to formulate questions, seek answers, and delve deeper.
Strong Community
St. Stephen’s students collaborate on projects, homework, and even quizzes, an approach implemented out of respect for the research-based evidence demonstrating the developmental needs of students ages 11-14. We check in on each other each morning and make sure all is well in our cohort. The care is real, even when the competition is fierce. Our students develop lifelong friendships and EQ that will support them in all endeavors.
And More
Our academic foundation is deep and wide, but the sprinkles on top are the best. Students organize and participate in extracurricular activities including science fairs, student council, film festivals, student journalism, and community service. Off-campus, our students practice global citizenship through class trips dedicated to scientific, historical, and cultural inquiries.
While we take learning seriously, we seriously have fun. Class lectures are not dull, and laughter echoes in CoHo!
Middle Years Parent Video
Parents of our 8th-grade alumni speak about St. Stephen’s and the Middle Years program. View the video below, which they created for future families in the Middle Years program.
Robotics
The robotics curricula combines computer programming, engineering, problem-solving, and teamwork. Students are given a challenge, including specific components to be utilized in the build and key tasks to be accomplished by the bot. Working over the course of several sessions, students build, program, and cheer robots to victory on competition courses.
da Vinci Lab
Supplementing the math and science pedagogy at St. Stephen’s, the da Vinci STEM curriculum focuses on technology and its practical applications. Middle Years students create capstone projects that combine their coding skills with the ideals of Human-Centered Design. Shown here is a double-sided pinball machine, designed by an 8th grader.
Film
Film is a year-long, project-based learning, fine arts program. Each filmmaker is responsible for writing, producing, directing, and editing their own 3-5 minute short film, which is shown at our annual film festival. Students form production teams and learn all aspects of filmmaking. We challenge our filmmakers to use the platform to advance social justice and advocate for change.
Photography
Middle Years students are offered a full range of studio art opportunities, including drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, and photography. The arts curriculum infuses art history, technique, composition, and creative expression, challenging students to use color, symbolism, and form to tell their stories. Works of art by our Middle Years students display our students’ thought leadership, world views, and hopes for the future.
Spanish
Middle Years students translate literature, celebrate Hispanic culture, produce short films, and have fun learning Spanish. St. Stephen’s students regularly earn high school credit for 8th-grade honors Spanish and receive medals in the National Spanish Examinations.
St. Stephen’s has been exactly what we were hoping for in a middle years program. My son has found the curriculum both challenging and fun, and he is enjoying school more than he ever has. The smaller class sizes at St. Stephen’s allow the teachers to give each child the attention they need to progress in their studies and also to develop personal skills that I feel have been overlooked at our other schools. My son is learning organization and time management, and for the first time, I’m observing that he is self-driven in his assignments and homework. The teachers challenge the students and press them to excel but are so kind and supportive. St. Stephen’s provides a physically, mentally, academically, and spiritually nurturing environment in which my 7th grader is blossoming into a well-adjusted and competent young adult. I couldn’t be happier with our experience.