6th & 7th Grade Entry

Science Experiment
The supportive, close-knit environment of Berkeley Hall provides for a successful transition from elementary to high school. We welcome applicants for our middle grades, six through eight. 
 
Sixth through eighth grade applicants need to furnish an administrative confidential recommendation, two teacher confidential recommendations (English and Math), and a transcript from their current school. To assess their academic readiness, applicants must take the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE). Once an application is received, we invite the applicant to take a student-led tour and meet with faculty members. We also ask parents to join us for an interview. 
 
In sixth grade, students are split into two homerooms with two core teachers for mathematics, language arts, and social studies. They also continue Spanish in preparation for our junior high. Sixth grade is filled with engaging learning experiences starting with a three-day outdoor education trip that promotes teamwork and a positive approach to breaking through limitation. Students are challenged to become more independent and responsible in managing their work. Joint activities with our junior high and regular communication between teachers help prepare students for the move to seventh grade. 
 
Seventh graders are well-supported by a caring faculty in the transition from a coreclassroom environment to five academic teachers, multiple classrooms, lockers,and appropriately higher expectations. Over the course of two years, students become confident eighth-grade graduates who take charge of their learning, assume leadership roles, and take pride in their school and themselves. As a result of this foundation, Berkeley Hall graduates thrive in their chosen high schools.

List of 3 frequently asked questions.

  • How do you help my child get into High School?

    • Berkeley Hall's goal is not simply to get students into the best high school, but to get them into the best high school for them.
    • Since we spend two years getting to know “the whole child,” we are in a good position to help guide them there.
    • Our Head of School meets with each individual family in the spring of 7th grade to talk about the various high school options.
    • Our Head of School meets with 8th graders individually in the fall and conducts “mock interviews,” helping them to make the best of those all-important “first impressions.”
    • Our Head of School, math, and English teachers write comprehensive letters of recommendation, focusing on the “whole child,” and participate in follow-up phone calls to each and every school to which students apply.
    • Every Berkeley Hall graduate gets into a high school, the majority of which are considered the top high schools in Los Angeles.

  • Why is middle school beneficial?

    • The MS / Junior High students get to be the oldest, biggest students on campus
    • There is no pressure coming down from high school, forcing kids to act older and “cooler” than how they really are or feel
    • This is good developmentally AND creates an extremely important sense of self-confidence and self-awareness that helps them to make good choices when confronted with peer pressure in high school and beyond.
    • So much development and maturity takes place in Junior High that it is not always evident which high school is the best fit for a 6th grader.
    • By choosing a K-12 or 7-12 school for your child in 6th or 7th grade, parents are actually limiting their children’s options to go to a specific school and, if things don’t work out, they may find themselves having to go through the application and admission processes all over again.
    • In addition, children have a much better sense of who they are and what they really want and need by the end of the 8th grade than anytime before.

  • How do you bridge the gap between 6th and 9th grades?

    • We have the unique opportunity to work with students on a highly individualized, personalized basis for two years.
    • We bridge the gap between 6th grade and 9th grade – students come to us as elementary students and they leave as high-schoolers
    • We have a unique opportunity to make a deep and lasting impact in the lives of young adults during extremely vital, impressionable years
    • Since BHS is not attached to a high school, we are incentivized by the need to get our students prepared for a wide array of high schools – not just the one we could be attached to.
Located in Los Angeles, CA, Berkeley Hall School is a private, coeducational school for students in preschool through grade 8. Rigorous academics in a supportive atmosphere and grounded character development allow students to become fearless scholars and conscientious citizens - gain a love of learning, leadership with social responsibility, creativity with moral integrity, and self-esteem with compassion for others and the environment.

Berkeley Hall School

16000 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049
310-476-6421   info@berkeleyhall.org

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