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Barrie School

Progressive Education for 3 Months to Grade 12

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Middle School

Grades 6-8

Discovering their world and also themselves.

At Barrie we understand deeply that middle school is much more than simply a transitional period. It represents the most crucial and wonderful time of a child’s life, full of opportunity to build lasting skills, form identity, and set the tone for future success.

The Barrie middle school experience is carefully balanced to cultivate courageous hearts through the right level of challenge and opportunity, without the pressure that discourages growth. Each student is valued as they discover their true selves in a tightly-connected community full of collaboration and mutual respect. They are empowered to ask bold questions, think big, take risks, and begin to build the foundation that will support a lifetime of achievement in their continuing education and beyond.

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Get Your Guide to Barrie Middle School

A closer look at how students build confidence, independence, and a strong sense of self.

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Come to our Spring Admission Open House

Saturday, April 18, 2026

Middle & Upper School (Grades 6 - 12) 
11:00am – 12:45pm

Register

The Middle School curriculum uses a project-based learning approach that brings lessons to life and makes learning more engaging and meaningful. Students work on projects lasting from a week to a full semester, each centered on solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. This builds a deep understanding of core content while helping students think critically, communicate effectively, solve problems, and reflect on their learning.

 

 

 

From The Barrie Blog

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Critical Minds: Middle and Upper School
Critical Minds: Middle and Upper School
Dr. Dwan Henderson

At Barrie, we ask students not only to question the world around them, but to test it, build it, revise it, and sometimes even float on it. Curiosity here is not abstract. It is embodied. It is social. It is iterative. And it is deeply human.

In the Middle and Upper School, critical thinking evolves from exploration of materials to exploration of ideas, systems, identities, and real-world constraints. The throughline remains the same: students learn best when they are trusted with meaningful problems, thoughtful structure, and the space to discover what they are capable of.

Take our Humanities 12 Intersectionality Project, for example. Students begin by examining the layered dimensions of their identities—race, gender, class, language, culture, ability, belief—and how those layers intersect to shape lived experience differently for every individual. But the work does not end in reflection on their own experiences.

Read More about Critical Minds: Middle and Upper School

I think our teachers really try to see into the mind’s eye of their students – to learn what will inspire each of us to think about the subject matter and find ways to apply what we’re passionate about. It makes us love coming to school.

Middle School Student

Curriculum Highlights

Have Questions?

Dwan Henderson

Head of Middle & Upper School

Emily Behan

Interim Dean of Studies & Registrar

Rachel Jackson

Dean of Student Life