PECONIC COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Middle School

GRADES 6 THROUGH 8

In 2020, PCS expanded to launch a Middle School that offers learner-centered, community-minded, project-based learning to students in Grades 6-8 . The dynamic, experience-based curriculum incorporates advisory, community partnered internships and work toward a capstone project to encourage students to venture out and inquire about the world around them while continuing to offer them the support and safety of the PCS community that they have helped to create.

With the addition of the Middle School, Peconic Community School aims to offer a high-quality, progressive alternative to the local larger middle and junior high schools in the area, which combines independent inquiry, community engagement and mentored study to support learners in growing as creative problem solvers, critical thinkers and leaders.

INTERNSHIP/COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Community partnerships are a cornerstone of the PCS experience, and our work with organizations such as Group for the East End, CCE Marine, CAST, Sylvester Manor and the Watermill Center, to name just a few, is vital to our place-based curriculum. Students moving into the seventh and eighth grades are now ready to work more intensively and independently with placements as apprentices and assistants. Whether creating historic early farm machinery exhibits at Hallockville Museum Farm, or researching conservation easements with a land trust, students in the 7/8 Internship program engage in authentic, purposeful work in the community. 

CAPSTONE PROJECT

Students in the seventh and eighth grades have interests and pursuits worthy of multi-year independent projects, and the capstone project is an opportunity for students to conduct a long-term, comprehensive investigation an issue, idea or problem and present their original thinking. With the help of an advisory group and faculty mentor, students in the seventh and eighth grades propose, design and execute a two-year-long project on a topic of their choice, culminating in an assessment and exhibition of their work, be it a research document, performance, film or other representation of leaning. The capstone project may be an intensive study of an abiding interest, it may grow from a student’s work during their internship/apprenticeship, or it may be an opportunity for a student to pursue a new line of inquiry. 

ADVISORY

For students of all ages, Peconic Community School is committed to educating, recognizing and honoring the whole child, understanding that social emotional engagement is vital to authentic, meaningful learning. As students move into the Middle School years, the push and pull between independence and the desire to be a part of something, between speaking up and fitting in, between self and community, is both a challenge and a profound opportunity. Advisory brings students in Grades 6 though 8 together to approach the themes of Digital Citizenship, Mental and Physical Health, Life Skills, Global Citizenship, and Community Building with honesty, information and responsibility.