Bentley Middle School

Bentley Middle School is wonderful. My second child is entering the 7th grade and both of my kids, while totally different personalities and learners, have had a great experience. The teachers are amazingly enthusiastic and committed. They truly get to know your kid and are totally invested in your child's learning and development. The school is academically rigorous and there is probably more homework compared to other middle schools, but the school does a really good job of focusing on the overall child and encourages them to try new things and take risks. The foreign language, arts/drama program and sports/phys ed are strong and varied, and participation by all abilities is encouraged and supported.  I've always said that if you can't skip the awkward middle school years altogether, then Bentley is the place to spend them. Good luck with your decision.

Hi, I am sharing a bit of our personal experience with Bentley School, and hope others can add to it, but it's summer, and many families may be busy with summer activities.

Our daughter will be in 7th grade this fall, so she would be your daughter's classmate. We enrolled her at Bentley in 4th grade (after our budget allowed us to apply), so she has been at Bentley School for 3 years now. Our older daughter attended Bentley from K-8 a decade earlier, so we have a bit of a longitudinal perspective. 3 years, ago, we had other enrollment offers for our younger daughter, but were very happy with our older daughter's experience and have no regrets about joining the Bentley community again. Why? First of all, we were wondering how the transition would be, joining in 4th grade, but our daughter and we as parents experienced a warm welcome by students, parents and faculty/staff. I think the transition was as seamless as it possibly could have been.

During the last 3 years, we were reminded why we liked Bentley School in the first place - strong academics, great interdisciplinary integration (e.g. several teachers/subject matters coming together for the Invention Convention, Greek/Roman Festival, Medieval Faire, etc.), but also keeping the whole student in mind with music, arts, STEM programs, etc., plus parenting resource events and great lectures.

Like all schools, Bentley has some administrative and faculty turnover, but having been on campus since the 1990's, we were delighted to see some of the best faculty from our older daughter's time still on campus. When evaluating a school, I tend to focus mostly on faculty, as the teachers are the ones who will spend most of the time with your daughter. My personal yardsticks are the 3 Cs: competence, (com)passion, and communication. During the last 3 years, our daughter's teachers did great in these areas. They know and are passionate about what they are teaching; it became obvious that they truly care about our daughter's learning, and they were accessible for meetings and questions, and proactive in communicating potential challenges.

Our daughter was a bit anxious about sixth grade, the first year of Middle School, but looking back now, she does not remember her concerns and had a great year, and loves the Advisory group, getting together with 2 teachers and students from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, on a regular basis. Areas for improvement? Initially, the campus and classroom size may feel a bit small, but there is not much that can be done at the current site. Being a linguist, I think some aspects of the world languages program could be improved, but by 7th grade, that's probably not your greatest concern. Let me know, if I can answer any other questions,

Karl