After a year of piloting a schedule with only four core curriculum subjects, Bromfield middle schoolers will once again have five core subjects next fall. And their class times will align with those of the high school.
Some of the strongest objections when the pilot schedule was first announced a year ago focused on the reduced class time it provided for world languages. Under the revised schedule next year, world languages will again be a core subject at the middle school, taught as often as English, math, science, and social studies. Sixth-graders will have a half-year of French and a half-year of Spanish as an introduction to their options for further language study.
Each day will have five class periods—the first one 45 minutes long, the other four 57 minutes long. The “waterfall” schedule means the subjects rotate in different cycles across seven days, so each subject gets one shorter class period and six longer ones. And no students always have the same subject first thing in the morning before they are fully awake, or last thing in the afternoon when they may be losing concentration.
Some features from this year’s pilot program will remain next year—in particular, the homeroom period to start the day and the flexible WYN/WIN (What you need, what I need) period immediately after lunch. WYN/WIN can be put to a wide range of uses including group projects, language labs, or extra academic support.
In his weekly newsletter to families, middle school Principal Stephen Greene noted that aligning the middle and high school schedules will allow service providers to work more consistently with students at all levels from sixth grade to 12th grade. “Shared staff between middle and high school will foster continuity,” he wrote.
