What is middle school really like these days? Esp, Mills Park MS? (roughest)

[eesmom]

Hello all,

I have a girl starting Mills Park Middle this coming fall. We have recently started public school after homeschooling for a few years and are new to it all. She has found 5th grade a bit overwhelming (lots of crazy and loud boys, some annoyances with snobbiness) but doing her best academically. I am more concerned about the social and peer conditions that are in middle school as I don't have any friends in our current neighborhood (we recently moved a few months ago) who have girls that are currently attending middle school. I have heard vague things like, "the school is great!" and "it can be overwhelming at first because of the sheer size", but I really can't get a pulse on how things are like.

Am I being unrealistic in thinking that perhaps I will get a good idea by going for a tour? Or is there a better way of gauging what it is like?

Any parents out there who can give me some real life scenarios that we can expect?

Thanks in advance!

[michgc]

Sure, take a tour. Go to a sporting event (there's track and field, lacrosse, girl's soccer, baseball, etc. in the spring). You'll see the kids who go there. Or see if there's a school play - that's another way to get the vibe of the school. There should also be an orientation for the kids and their parents in the spring. We just went to one for my upcoming 6th grader's middle school.

[twingles]

You could also attend a PTA meeting and talk to the parents who attend. I know a couple people on the PTA there, they will be happy to talk to you. I think they have a FB page.

It is a BIG school. It's at 1800 students now if I'm not mistaken. I know a lot of people who have kids there and everyone is happy with it. I think you made the right move putting your chid into public school in the 5th grade - does she go to MPES? It will make for a smooth transition in all probability.

[eesmom]

Originally Posted by twingles

You could also attend a PTA meeting and talk to the parents who attend. I know a couple people on the PTA there, they will be happy to talk to you. I think they have a FB page.

It is a BIG school. It's at 1800 students now if I'm not mistaken. I know a lot of people who have kids there and everyone is happy with it. I think you made the right move putting your chid into public school in the 5th grade - does she go to MPES? It will make for a smooth transition in all probability.

We are currently at HDES and are glad that we were able to get in despite the cap that was in place.

I'll take a look at the PTA- that is a good recommendation.

Thanks.

[YetAnotherTransplant]

Our neighbors go there and have great things to say about it so far. They say the teams they have help the school feel smaller. (So they group the kids into smaller groups that have all their classes together, like a school within a school, I think?) GL

[twingles]

The team concept means the grade level is divided into teams and that group of kids has the same core teachers (obviously won't all be in the same class, but will all have the same teachers). At Davis Drive Middle, they only do this for 6th grade, and the kids stay in their same "pod" of classrooms for their core classes. I like this for sixth grade, not a fan of it once past that, but I can understand that it's probably easier for a school the size of MPMS to do it this way. At DDMS the sixth graders are on a slightly different bell schedule, which keeps them out of the hallways at the same time as the older kids when they leave their hallway for electives.

[MB1972]

I know many people with kids at that school and my son is headed there in August (from HDES as well). Every parent I know if very happy with MPMS. They all have great things to say,about the teachers and the principal. I know the way they break the kids up into "teams" helps a lot in dealing with the size of the school.

[boardmember10000]

I have one in public middle school and my feeling is it's pretty drama filled. I am sure part of it has to do with emotions as these kids are hitting puberty, dealing with the larger crowd of middle school and everything is heightened now by the always on social contact these days. In talking to some parents who have kids in high school it get's better, they tend to agree middle school was the roughest stretch for their kids. This is my experience with my first kid who tends to be confident, makes friends easily.

For advice - if your kids are on social media keep on top of monitoring daily. Ask them about what is actually going on in class. For our school the principal and counselors tend to keep things running pretty tightly but my kid has one teacher where the class goes off the rails and we (and other parents) have alerted the administration so they check in. Your kid will run into issues that either we missed in elementary school or didn't happen - with friends who are depressed, arguments over boys/girls, etc... Just keep them talking to you, I saw the big change happen more from 7th-8th grade than 6th but thankfully even now we have good communication going in our family.

[jakelily]

Most middle schools in Wake "team teach". Students in each grade are divided into smaller teams that have a team of teachers that teach most of their core classes. They even put the classes physically near each other to make it easier to go from one class to another.

The upside is a more contained experience than what most of us had in middle school. The downside is you don't get much opportunity to socialize with people outside your team.

Your daughter will do fine

[NoneOfThis]

We're at MPMS, and love it. I expected drama because I had always heard middle school was a hard age, but it's a great school with solid leadership and teaching teams, and I've only heard positive things from the parents and students around me. The band program is truly phenomenal. Sports teams are within reach.