Upper School

Grades 5-8

Upper School offers an engaging, challenging curriculum that develops students’ critical thinking skills while promoting the development of foundational skills such as reading, mathematics, and writing. 

We offer as broad and varied a program as possible to meet the needs of students with a variety of strengths and interests. MCDS Upper School students take English, a world language (Spanish or Mandarin), history, science, mathematics, visual art, music, drama, social-emotional learning, and physical education. 

The Upper School curriculum also includes drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs, health and human body education (including sex education), internet safety, and media literacy.

Our program is further augmented by elective and club offerings and after-school opportunities such as our after-school athletic program, which allows students in grades 5-8 to compete against other independent schools. 

In fifth grade, students are in four self-contained homerooms of around 15 students. Each year, up to 25 new students join the school in sixth grade, increasing the class size to approximately 84. Sixth through eighth grades follow a departmental structure, with academic classes of 10-18 students and advisory groups of 10-11.