September 3, 1997

While students at The Barrie School in Layhill expect to receive a non-traditional education, its pre-teen students can still be traditional pre-teens.

That is the main reason the private school decided last year to restructure its groupings and create a middle school to include students in sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grades.

Previously, sixth-grade students had participated in the Montessori, independent-learning style of education alongside the school's lower grades.

"I believe it's more appropriate for sixth-graders to be affiliated with seventh- and eighth-graders than fourth- and fifth-graders," said Barrie headmaster Jeff Moredock. "Truth be told, sixth-graders probably shouldn't be affiliated with anybody. Sixth grade is a very volatile time developmentally."

"We really studied our structure here and came to the conclusion that the Montessori structure wasn't working as well as with the younger students," said Shelley Jones, who was selected as the new principal of Barrie's middle school. "When children reach adolescence and become more social, they need a little more structure."

With the new middle school, sixth-graders will move to a more traditional classroom structure alongside the upper grades, Jones said. Though they still will have an emphasis on independent and experiential learning, they will also have more teacher instruction, she said.

"They're getting older faster [but] at this age, they really still are children and I think we need to remember that," Jones said. "There's so much change going on with them, I feel like they really need a safe space...I want the kids in the sixth- through eighth grade to feel held, like they have a place here, like they are part of a unified group."

The new middle school structure will provide not only an academic curriculum but also a developmental curriculum for its 82 students, Moredock said.

"We will be helping them understand who they are, their bodies, their place in the world," he said. "I think sixth-graders have two things on their minds, 'Where's my pencil?' and 'Who's my friend?'

"I think one on the reasons kids struggle academically in those grades is because there's so much going on," Moredock added. "When you get some of that under control, they're able to learn."

Moredock said Jones, a humanities teacher and division leader at Barrie for six years, was the ideal choice to lead the students through the middle school transition.

"Shelley was a very known entity as a teacher. She is extraordinarily able with [pre-teen] students, but of equal importance, she likes them," he said. "I think it's the rare person who is both good with them and can really enjoy them. It's a tough age, but if you are able, you can accomplish so much with them."

As for Jones, who is 34 and lives in Takoma Park, she said there is no place she would rather be.

"I feel very connected to the community here. It's just a wonderful place to work," she said. "I believe in the concept of the school... I have a lot of support from the staff here... We really get to know the kids."

"My dedication is to the students," she added. "This change is really exciting. The kids are wonderful and I think they're really ready for this."