REQUIRED ELECTIVES

RELIGION

Each Wednesday morning we have two chapel services, the second one for 5th – 8th grade. This 30 minute gathering is not only our time of worship and prayer, but also our time to recognize birthdays with a birthday blessing from the priest and to celebrate our middle school students’ accomplishments.

All middle school students at Holy Nativity Episcopal School have a required religion course one day per week, taught by our school chaplain, Fr. Steve Bates, of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church. The classes are designed to strengthen the six traits of success: leadership, scholarship, citizenship, fellowship, character, and faith. Students have weekly prayer partners, discuss portions of the Bible, hold conversations on age appropriate topics like bullying, and being a good friend, and occasionally watch videos related to character development and decision-making. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Physical Education is required twice a week and supplemented by a variety of physically active electives. The PE department awards good sportsmanship ribbons monthly during chapel, organizes Field Day the last week of school, trains students for Presidential Physical Fitness testing and presents the awards annually at end of year ceremonies, and maintains the basketball, tennis and volleyball areas. The annual Fun Run in February has become a staple event in running circles and an excellent fund-raiser for the PE department. It is also good-time fun for HNES families.

SIXTH GRADE REQUIRED ELECTIVES

As new students in middle school, 6th graders are required to take a first semester Study Skills class. The purpose of this class is to provide support in the transition to middle school by providing strategies for: organizing lockers and notebooks, reading textbooks for information, developing skills in note taking, preparing for tests and semester exams and learning time management.

MIDDLE SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY

Our middle school adopted a BYOD (bring your own device) policy which supports our highly-valued, daily 15 minute silent reading time. All middle school students are issued locks for their lockers as a protected storage option for this technology. All of the 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes fully integrate meaningful technology into their curriculum.