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Middle School
Middle School
Middle School
Middle School

Middle School Overview

Building Confidence,
Capabilities, and Community

Since its founding in 1991, The Ethel Walker Middle School has been a special place for girls.

20
Minutes from Hartford
12
Average Class Size
175
Acre Campus
2
Hours from Boston and New York
6
Countries of Citizenship

Because of its small size, students in The Ethel Walker Middle School are able to cultivate a meaningful sense of belonging while establishing an excellent educational foundation that takes them through Upper School and beyond. Girls thrive in an environment that affords them a sense of agency and a platform where they further develop their voice and learn how to use it effectively to have a say in their own education. As the only all-girls independent middle school in central Connecticut for grades six through eight, local families travel from as far away as New Haven and Litchfield Counties, and the towns of Glastonbury, Hebron, and Tolland among others to be part of the Walker’s Middle School community.

A boarding program is available for students in grades seven and eight making it possible for girls from across the world be part of the Walker’s Middle School community. Weekend and evening programming is tailored to the developmental stage of middle school girls and it is managed under the supervision of Walker’s on-campus residential faculty.

Middle School Digital Finance

Students are introduced to the fundamentals of how a market economy operates. Students learn about the stock market and personal investment, while also understanding how investing affects the economy and how the economy affects investing.

Middle School Social Justice

Rooted in building communities of belonging, students work to understand identity and stereotypes through introspection and perspective. Students explore the many ways identity is formed by reflecting on their own identities, assumptions, stereotypes, and prejudices.

Let's Talk

Let's Talk is part of a national program with a very simple premise: high school girls mentor middle school girls to help deal with the triumphs and trials of the early teenage years.

Middle School Research Skills

Research Skills helps students to expand their knowledge of literary forms and describe their characteristics as they read and interpret works of literature for curricular and leisure reading.

Middle School Study Skills

The Study Skills Seminar is designed to improve study skills and test-taking strategies within the context of the class curriculum. Students participate in skill-building activities designed by SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum.

Speak Out!

8th-grade students have the opportunity to work together as they become confident using their voice through public speaking. Students present their speeches to the Middle School community and gain a sense of independence through the power of their voices.

Walker’s History

Walker’s History is an introductory course about the history of The Ethel Walker School. It gives students an in-depth look at the origins of the campus and surrounding area, including Ms. Ethel Walker herself, finding connections between history and the present.

Meet Our Head of Middle School

Head of Walker’s Middle School Isabel Ceballos possesses a powerful vision for girls’ education by combining her passions for achieving academic excellence and culturally responsive teaching. Her ability to connect with both students and parents as an outstanding teacher and administrator allows her to view education as a collaborative partnership. Ms. Ceballos believes that the middle school years are not ones to be faced alone and if there is anything that her students have taught her, it is how important friendships — particularly those developed in middle school — really are. She believes that “True friendships welcome you with open arms. They wear tutus and face paint with you on important spirit days. They will give you room to be your unapologetic self.” Prior to her appointment in Fall 2019, Ms. Ceballos was a Spanish teacher in Walker’s World Languages program and the former executive director of Horizons at The Ethel Walker School, the nation’s first all-girls program serving students in grades pre-k through fifth grade.

Explore Our Middle School

Academics

Designing curriculum for middle school girls means intentionally disrupting standards and educational practices.

Middle School Academics
MS Soccer

Athletics

Middle School athletes play at the level they can achieve.

Middle School Athletics

Arts

Theater, dance, visual arts, and music offered during the school day along with additional ways to feed your creative talents.

Middle School Arts

Student Life

Whether you’re a day student or a boarder, Walker’s will become your home.

Middle School Life