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CWA's Middle School higher education offers academic power paired with elevated expectations for student performance. We emphasize skill development that helps students prepare for the academic independence that will be absolutely necessary in Upper School. Kids go beyond facts by learning to think and write analytically, to make a case and defend it.

Our Middle School teachers clearly understand the developmental needs of young adolescents, including the need for connections with peers and a separation from family, paired with a strong desire for personal power, a deep longing to be listened to, and heightened self-consciousness and self-absorption.

In response, the CWA Middle School fosters relationships and bonds between students and teachers that promote friendship and teamwork — because we know that students work harder for people about whom they care and in whom they trust. Teachers strive to earn respect from their students by being kind and firm, generous and truthful, and always available.

Middle School is a time of rapid academic, social and emotional growth, and Middle School students learn best in an environment where they feel comfortable taking risks.  Charles Wright teachers and administrators have designed a program to match the developmental needs of Middle School students and facilitate the transition between Lower School and Upper School by:
•    Providing an environment that encourages academic growth, supports individual learning styles and creates opportunities for experiential learning;
•    Affirming each person’s inherent worth and dignity and fostering a community of diversity and mutual respect;
•    Carefully increasing students’ responsibility and freedom, promoting self-reliance and critical thinking; and
•    Striving to provide students with appropriate structure, enriched with compassion and humor, so that mistakes become opportunities for learning and growth.

Charles Wright’s Middle School is a vibrant community with its own set of traditions.  Among the students’ favorite activities are building carnival booths for Lower School patrons at the Headmaster’s Picnic, attending after-school dances like the Winter Formal, and an ever-changing list of activities and student clubs.  The student body is very diverse with more than 31 percent students of color.

Every year, the whole Middle School kicks off the school year by spending three days away from the world at Middle School Camp where students get to know each other and their teachers on the ropes course, playing games or around the camp fire before setting foot in the classroom.   Throughout the year, students participate in many field trips built around their curriculum and several major outdoor community service projects. 

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