Field Middle School: Progressive Boys Program

Looking for a progressive school for your tween boy? Field Middle School offers a progressive learning curriculum with a Montessori feel in an all boys environment, focused on the needs of the middle schooler. Founded in 2021, Field Middle fosters executive function skills while maintaining rigor. The program offers opportunities for acceleration, deeper learning, and skills development. 

Field currently houses up to 65 students in 6th thru 8th grade in a converted office space in San Mateo, off El Camino, a few blocks from Caltrain, which over half of students take to school each day. The space includes several classrooms, a ping pong table, a kitchen where 6th graders make weekly lunch, and convenient access to parks for lunch and PE for tennis, pickleball, baseball and Monday barbecues. Currently, the school has 16 to 24 students per grade, an average class size of 14, and a 5:1 student-staff ratio.

Academics 

Field maintains a daily advisory, a hallmark of private middle schools. Students take daily reflections and develop both personal and community accountability. The school culture supports boys without stereotypes, where boys can be free to be themselves. 

Field teaches a progressive, inquiry based curriculum, with Montessori inspiration. The typical schedule includes Humanities and Math four times a week; Writing and Spanish three times a week; PE and Music or Arts twice a week; and Science and Build once or twice a week. Seventh and Eighth Graders choose an elective six times each year, and further develop skills to prepare for high school. For example, a former lawyer runs a law elective with mock trials, where last year Christopher Columbus was on trial. Advanced Guitar, Drama and Debate are additional electives.

For math, every student takes the same math in 6th grade, using customized problem sets, word problems, Desmos, and ALEKS to differentiate. Math tracks begin in 7th grade, with the most advanced students taking Algebra I in 7th grade, and those needing more time taking Prealgebra in 7th. Eighth graders take either Algebra I or Geometry; graduating students then take placement tests for high school based on these courses.

All students learn Spanish, and fluent speakers and students from Spanish immersion elementary schools take Advanced Spanish.

Homework in 6th grade takes approximately 1.5 hours per week, and in 7th and 8th grade, approximately 2 to 3 hours per week.

Arts, Enrichment, Sports, and Travel

Field teaches guitar to all 6th graders, and offers an optional Friday Band Club. The technology classroom houses a 3D printer and laser cutter, where students take Build class and optional Open Build three times a week. For example, seventh graders build Go Karts, which they exhibit in the annual Maker Faire at the San Mateo County Exhibit Center. Students also make cardboard boats for Regatta Races. 

The school offers an array of interscholastic sports and is a competitive player in the SSIL league.

The school sponsors many field trips and travel, including a culminating nine-day Capstone trip in 8th grade.

Types of Students Served

Field is a great fit for boys who enjoy creative learning, like a challenge, and want a space where they can be themselves without preconceived stereotypes. The school is diverse, with 50% students of color and a wide socioeconomic mix. 

For gifted students, Field offers a more advanced math track with geometry in 8th grade, and differentiation in their humanities, writing, and science classes. The school also offers advanced Spanish for fluent speakers. 

Field welcomes neurodiverse students with mild ADHD, ASD, or learning disabilities, many of whom thrive in a progressive private school with a low student to teacher ratio. For example, students include alumni from Charles Amststrong. Most mild accommodations can be met with a support plan, but Field does not offer 1:1 interventions nor staff a learning specialist.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition for the 2024-25 school year is $41k per year. Approximately 35% of students receive need based financial aid, with a diverse mix of socioeconomics from low to high income contributing to a middle class vibe.

Role of a K-12 Consultant 

A consultant can help you craft your school list to be sure of a balanced list offering a match of services with the student and parent’s interests. A consultant can also review all admissions materials, in particular student and parent essays, to help focus them to each school’s admissions goals. A consultant can directly work with your child to brainstorm, draft, and edit their own essays. The consultant can provide feedback on whether the essays read as genuine and how to shine during the application process. 

Want more input on K-12 schools?

Vicky consults with families to help select, apply to, and communicate with public and private schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vicky maintains a principle of non-judgment. Hourly, VIP, and Season packages include a discussion to review school options, applications, essays, and key decisions. Vicky offers a limited number of packages each year to assure her availability. 

Vicky’s own children have attended both public and private schools, and have received both accommodations and curriculum changes; her elder is in high school, and her younger in middle school. New clients can email to learn more about her services, or see her website to learn about her packages.