NOCCS is encouraging 6th grade families to apply immediately in order to join our thriving school in Fall 2008. We invite you to share in and contribute to our educational vision, our love of learning, and our diverse community of learners.

Meeting the needs of 11-14 year-olds
Young adolescents yearn for purposeful educational experiences. They want to connect to the world and make a difference. They’re ready to take on greater leadership and autonomy. They straddle childhood and young adulthood, expressing a need for both security and responsibility. This can make the middle school years an exciting time academically. As a small, caring, learning environment, NOCCS helps students grow and mature at their own pace while they transition to adolescence with the support of teachers, parents, community members, and other mentors.

Teaching and learning
With Teaching for Understanding as its foundation, the 6^th-8^th grade curriculum promotes young adolescents’ development by connecting their personal concerns to wider social issues and real-life problems. 

English language arts: Students learn to discern, retain, and apply relevant ideas from their extensive reading practices. They become strategic readers of both informational and narrative text in various disciplines. They are instructed in non-fiction writing such as essays, literary criticism, and research reports. Writer’s workshops allow students to set their own ambitious goals as authors and get feedback from both teachers and peers throughout the development of their material.

Math: NOCCS uses National Science Foundation-funded math curriculum that highlights the real life purposes of math and exceeds California Math Standards. Students work with data, probability, statistics, geometry and the underlying principles of mathematical logic. Our mathematics program prepares all students to succeed in algebra by the end of 8^th grade so that they are well prepared for success within a rigorous high school mathematics program.

Science: Students develop scientific literacy and inquiry skills by learning about the scientific contributions of others, and by constructing and testing their own explanations. 6^th graders learn earth science, which lends itself to environmental studies and service learning. 7^th and 8^th graders study lab science as they explore biology, chemistry and physics.

Social studies: 6^th graders study world history and geography in ancient times. 7^th graders study medieval and early modern times, while 8^th graders learn about U.S. history and government. These topics are designed to develop students’ intellectual skills in chronological and spatial thinking, investigative research, use of evidence, historical interpretation and contextual analysis. Our program also includes a wide array of educational settings both in school and beyond the classroom such as reenacting historical events, conducting mock trials, curating museum exhibits, obtaining public records, gathering oral histories, and interviewing local experts.

Service learning: 6^th-8^th grade students take greater leadership in designing and implementing community service on a school-wide, neighborhood, local, and regional level. They research community needs, design surveys, collect data and organize their findings. Using analytic principles, they look for patterns and relationships using lines of questioning, such as: “What is happening and why?” “Where is the need?” “What factors impact this need?” and “Who else is working on this?” Finally, students develop and present action plans, implement a variety of long and short term service projects, reflect on and celebrate their results, and evaluate the impact of their efforts.

Enrichment: Students benefit from a range of rich class offerings that extend beyond the core curriculum. These include Spanish, music, art and physical education. NOCCS is committed to developing and offering enrichment programming that matches the growing interests and needs of the student body such as video production, instrumental music, dance, band and inter-mural athletics through creative partnerships with local non-profit organizations and educational institutions.

Students work with their advisor and teachers to set realistic and challenging goals based on their emerging skills and interests, and to establish methods for self-monitoring. In this way, students increasingly participate in their own evaluation, building self-assessment skills that help them become independent, self-directed learners.

Staffing: Full-time core-subject teachers work with several part-time specialists. All staff meet our high standards for qualifications and experience. Teachers work in small interdisciplinary teams that share the same students and class schedule. Common planning time allows them to share insights into individual student progress and challenges, both social and academic. This ensures the coordination and integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and strengthens interdisciplinary teaching across curricula and grade levels.

Vision
NOCCS was founded in 2000 with a compellng vision of teaching and learning that nurtures students’ curiosity about the world, supports their deep intellectual engagement, and helps create close, caring relationships school-wide. By expanding to K-8, NOCCS is fulfilling its educational mission to serve children along a wide developmental spectrum. We encourage family participation and consistently rank as a top school in state-wide comparisons.