Lakeside School

On March 28, Lakeside leadership shared the following message with community members.

Last year, Lakeside School launched our strategic plan, Hope in Action, which is designed to prepare our school and community for the future. Today, we are excited to announce a new initiative focused on our Middle School that creates the space — physically, programmatically, and relationally — for students to thrive during a formative period of their lives.

Rooted & Rising is an investment in the Middle School educational experience that will strengthen educational excellence, deepen belonging, and support the everyday experience of students and teachers. The benefits will positively impact our Middle School students and have a ripple effect on the whole community. It includes:

• Strategically reconfiguring Lakeside Middle School to be grades 6, 7, and 8 and increasing the size of those grades from 88 to 96 students, beginning in the 2027-2028 school year.
• Sunsetting the 5th grade at Lakeside, and folding key aspects of that experience into the 6th grade.
• Physically expanding, renovating, and investing in Middle School learning and community spaces.
• Gradually increasing the Upper School enrollment by about one section (16 students) per grade, while maintaining the overall ratio of Lakeside Middle School students and new students.

The Rooted & Rising initiative spans all three priority areas of Lakeside’s strategic plan — educational excellence; community experience, engagement and impact; and infrastructure, operations, and capacity — with benefits in each area.

Educational Excellence

• Middle School class sizes will be smaller. The adjustment to grades 6-8 and enrollment will result in an average of 16 students per class, as opposed to our current average of 17-18 students.
• The Middle School will be more able to honor student voice and choice in languages, performing arts, and digital life classes.
• The renovation will result in new flexible and functional classrooms (including renovated gym spaces) that can accommodate a wide variety of immersive and experiential learning activities that support student voice, creativity, and agency.

Community Experience, Engagement, and Impact

• Students and families will have a chance to finish their educational journey at their elementary school. In moving to a grades 6-8 middle school, Lakeside is aligning with the vast majority of other middle schools. Sixth grade is a natural point of transition in our region: Nearly every independent, public, and religious school in the region that begins at middle school starts with grade 6.
• All Lakeside 6th graders will have the same, excellent first-year experience. This will create a stronger, more connected class and a more inclusive and coherent educational program. Both students and families will benefit.
• A renovation will create appropriately sized spaces for community-building programs that foster belonging, including advisory, affinity groups, grade-level activities, cross-grade clubs, and spirit squads.

Infrastructure, operations, and capacity

• More students will be able to access a Lakeside School education. Growing the size of each grade at the Middle School and gradually increasing the size of the Upper School means that we will be able to impact more students and families. You can read more about the Upper School growth below.
• Moving to one major middle school admissions entry point at 6th grade will allow us to continue to assemble a strong, talented, and diverse student body.
• A renovation of our Middle School learning and community spaces is necessary so that our educators can continue to create dynamic classrooms that foster curiosity, creativity, and play. Our Middle School students and teachers deserve excellent learning spaces that support how middle school students learn today.
• Aligning the size of our Middle School student body with the realities of our campus solves issues of overcrowding in our lunchroom and theater — two spaces where we are physically unable to expand.
• The Middle School gym — the main athletics and PE classroom on the campus — has not seen significant upgrades in over 40 years. A renovation of the space has been a recognized need since 2008.

The Rooted & Rising initiative is spearheaded by a cross-divisional leadership team and Middle School faculty and staff, including those who work closely with our 5th graders. All faculty and staff currently engaged in our 5th grade program will be retained, and will work with students in grades 6, 7, or 8.

Lakeside has a proud history of thoughtful innovation and mission-driven evolution that is rooted in the school’s values: this investment in our Middle School students, educators, and campus brings the community’s focus to our youngest students. This initiative is part of our strategic efforts to explore Lakeside’s optimal size and enrollment.

Over the past 20 years, the school has slowly grown its enrollment in response to enormous demand for a Lakeside School education. Our Upper School campus has been undergoing a physical evolution so the school can accommodate more students: the construction of The Paul G. Allen Athletics Center in 2014; the opening of the T.J. Vassar ’68 Center for the Sciences and Humanities this spring; and, in the coming year, the substantial renovation of Allen-Gates Hall. Currently, each class at the Upper School is around 150 students; with this plan of gradual growth, we will add approximately 16 students to each grade, bringing the overall size of each class to 166 students. This is an overall growth of 6% spread over multiple years, moving us from our current student body (both Middle and Upper schools) of 899 to 952 students.

Our goal is smart growth that is supported by physical infrastructure and staffing: The right enrollment at each division will mean that all Lakeside students can engage in robust and joyful academic and co-curricular learning with faculty, staff, and coaches who know and care for them.

Rooted & Rising is an exciting new phase of our strategic plan — and, it’s something that hits us all differently, depending on our own experiences. In addition to sending this message to all of you, we’ll be letting our current 5th grade class hear the news in person today, before sharing it with our current students. If any of you have any questions, we hope you’ll reach out to us or another person at the school.

On behalf of all of the Lakeside faculty, staff, and administrators, thank you for your support of our school and students. We feel so grateful to move this work forward in a way that will strengthen Lakeside students’ and educators’ everyday experience and bring benefits to our entire community.