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A short film: a Page eighth grader walking through the capstone process, from concept to public presentation.
Inside Middle School
A Page sixth grader picks a primary track in the Creators Program. By eighth grade, they have produced a capstone project for a real audience: a play, an exhibition, a published collection, an album, or a designed brand.
Page Middle School 6th through 8th
At a Glance

The numbers behind middle school.

8:1

Student-teacher ratio.

Across the entire school. Faculty work closely with every student through three years of escalating creative and academic ambition.

5

Core academic subjects.

Math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. Academic expectations rise sharply year over year toward top-choice high school placement.

4

Concentration tracks.

Performing arts, visual arts, design and production, writing. Middle schoolers select a primary track within the Creators Program.

1

Capstone project.

Every Page student finishes eighth grade by producing a finished creative work and presenting it to a real audience before graduation.

The Curriculum

What students are studying.

Core academic subjects in middle school, taught directly and reinforced through creative application, with academic expectations rising sharply year over year.

Mathematics

Pre-algebra to geometry.

Pre-algebra in 6th, algebra in 7th, geometry or advanced algebra in 8th. Direct instruction with mastery checks, applied through builds, designs, and production work.

Language Arts

Literature and composition.

Critical reading of full-length literature, long-form composition, original creative writing, and analytical essays across drama, fiction, criticism, and journalism.

Science

Hands-on labs every grade.

Earth, life, and physical science with lab work and prototyping. Middle schoolers apply the Invention Convention process to multi-week engineering challenges.

Social Studies

World and US history.

World history, US history, civics, and economics, taught through primary sources and translated into student-written, student-performed work.

Spanish

Spanish through eighth grade.

Reading and writing on grade-level Spanish-language material, conversational practice that scales with proficiency, and continued daily exposure.

Creators Program

Concentration tracks.

Performing arts, visual arts, design and production, writing. By middle school, students choose a primary concentration track within one of the four domains.

Inside a Classroom

An eighth-grade capstone.

A short walk through how the year-long capstone project unfolds. One student, one Creators Program domain, one finished piece of work presented to a real audience before graduation.

01

Choose a domain.

Students select one of the four Creators Program domains for their capstone: performing arts, visual arts, design and production, or writing. The choice is shaped by years of rotation and emphasis work.

02

Pitch the project.

Students propose a specific finished work to faculty advisors: a play, a short film, an exhibition, a published collection, an album, a designed brand. The pitch becomes the year's plan.

03

Build it.

Students execute the project across multiple months with regular advisor meetings, peer critique, and revision. Drafts become finished work.

04

Present.

Eighth graders present the capstone to a real public audience before graduation. Families, peers, and faculty come to see the work.

All-School Productions Three times a year

Three productions, lead roles, real production work.

At the middle school level, the school's full-scale productions become the proving ground for the concentration tracks students chose in the Creators Program.

Page stages three full-scale productions every year, with real staging, lighting, costumes, and a paying public audience. Middle schoolers step out of the ensemble parts they held in elementary and into lead roles, supporting roles, and the production side of the work. By eighth grade, students are directing scenes, mentoring younger casts, and running technical departments.

The productions tie directly into the Creators Program concentration tracks. Performing arts students play increasingly demanding parts. Production and tech students design lighting, run sound, manage the floor, and operate the boards during real performances. Visual arts and design students build sets, paint backdrops, and design costumes for the entire show. By the spring production, an eighth grader's capstone work is often what the audience comes to see.

6th and 7th Grade

Lead and supporting roles.

Sixth and seventh graders move into lead and supporting roles in performing arts and start carrying real responsibility on the production side: lights, sound, set construction, and costume design.

8th Grade

Production leadership.

Eighth graders lead the school's productions: directing scenes, mentoring younger casts, running technical departments, and serving as the senior production team for the entire show.

Capstone

Capstone in front of an audience.

For many eighth graders, the spring production is where year-long capstone work goes in front of a real audience: a directed scene, a designed set, a written script, a produced score.

Schedule a Visit

See a middle school classroom.

Tour the campus, sit in on a sixth, seventh, or eighth grade classroom, and watch concentration work, real production responsibility, and capstone planning in motion.

Request a tour
Newport Mesa Hancock Park