In 6th grade English, students embark on a journey to reinforce skills learned in the elementary grades and challenge themselves to be more articulate communicators through differentiated reading, writing and speaking tasks. Students hone their skills writing critical book reviews, learning the differences between narrative and expository writing, culminating the year with a "This I Believe Speech." As the year progresses, Writer’s Workshop guides students through rigorous writing tasks focusing more heavily on analysis and the need for textual substantiation in arguments. Texts for the course include: New Kid, The Breadwinner, Shakespeare Stealer, and The Giver.

In 7th grade English, students begin to focus more intently on the text, noting the effect of various style choices that include: diction, figurative language, narrative voice, and sentence structure. Literary analysis includes both close reading and the writing of text-supported arguments.  Students explore the short story genre by reading a stylistic variety of stories and by composing an original piece of realistic fiction. Texts for the course include: Animal Farm, The Wednesday Wars, The Outsiders, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In 8th grade English, students will reinforce skills learned in 6th and 7th grade and begin to look toward the kinds of assignments and thinking skills required of them in Upper School. The study of literature encompasses short stories, novels, poetry, and mythology. Students work to demonstrate expected proficiency in organization, sentence structure, word choice, coherence, description, and mechanics in composition. In addition to workshopping written work, students will also practice timed writing that requires a more streamlined thinking process. Texts for the course include: Flying Lessons and Other Stories and Night.