WSSD Middle School is a private Waldorf education for grades 6 through 8 in San Diego — the years a child becomes a thinker. Grades 6 through 8 mark a turning point: the age when children begin looking outward, questioning assumptions, and forming their own ideas about the world.
This is where curiosity gets serious. And students are challenged.
WSSD meets that shift head-on, with hands-on science labs, world history, drama, world languages, and real responsibility, taught by a main lesson teacher and subject specialists working together. Subjects are studied in focused blocks, deep enough to investigate rather than skim. By 8th grade, students don’t just know things — they think for themselves.
In brief
The age of looking outward
Early adolescence is restless by nature — and WSSD treats that as fuel, not a problem to manage. New boundaries, higher expectations, and a genuinely demanding curriculum give that energy something worth pushing against.
Meeting adolescence head-on
In place of a single teacher for every subject, middle schoolers move between a main lesson teacher and subject specialists — a wider range of expertise, and good practice for the independence high school will ask of them. Subjects are taught in focused blocks, deep enough for a student to investigate a topic rather than skim it. The result is that the students are challenged, not coddled.
A curriculum that turns outward, grade by grade
Across all three grades, students take the full core — English, mathematics, science, history, and Spanish — alongside music, eurythmy, handwork, gardening, and games. What changes each year is how far out into the world the curriculum reaches.
The world widens
Sixth grade opens up to the wider world: world geography and geology, the anatomy of a volcano, the history of Ancient Rome, and business math built from real economies — barter, money, double-entry bookkeeping. Handwork students draft their own patterns; gardeners take on the school’s animals.
The age of discovery
Seventh grade follows the Renaissance — voyages to unknown lands, the birth of modern science, the work of da Vinci and Galileo. Students take a mathematical approach to physics and chemistry with first-hand labs, develop poetic writing, and learn to draw what they actually observe.
Revolutions, inner and outer
Eighth grade studies the American, French, and Industrial Revolutions — an outer mirror of the upheavals of adolescence itself. Students study human anatomy, the Platonic solids, modern history through Anne Frank’s biography, and stage a full Shakespeare production.
Why families choose WSSD for the Middle School years
Middle school is when many families re-evaluate. Here is what brings them to WSSD — and what keeps them through high school.
Teachers who know your child
Middle school classes are small enough that no student fades into the back row. Teachers know each child as a learner — their strengths, their stretches, where they need a push.
Learning by doing
Students don’t just read about science — they run the experiment. They build the lime kiln, assemble the skeleton, survey the garden. Subjects are met through hands, not only textbooks.
Real preparation for high school
Group projects, public speaking, deadlines a student owns themselves, and a curriculum that asks for critical thinking — by 8th grade, WSSD students are ready for what high school expects of them.
One continuous Waldorf path
WSSD runs Pre-K through grade 12 on one continuous Waldorf path — so middle school doesn’t end in a scramble to find the right high school. The next step is already here.
Hear what WSSD alumni have to say
“In Waldorf education, you’re encouraged to observe things and to figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing and to really ask a lot of questions, which in other schools it seems…that there’s a lot of being told to memorize things.”
Jasper Giglio
Alumnus
“Instead of thinking very narrowly and focused…[I’m] able to relate different aspects of whatever I’m doing, whether that’s a physics project or even a paper that I’m writing, I can always tie it into all of these different experiences that I had at Waldorf.”
Quinten Giglio
Alumnus
“It’s that familiarity that makes us feel like Waldorf students, and when you’re…five years out of the school and you don’t feel that anymore, and you meet someone who has been a Waldorf student, you immediately get rushed back into your memories, your childhood and those experiences that shaped us to be who we are.”
Hunter Ottman
Alumnus
“This is a school that sees the children as individual beings, as spiritual beings, and so the teachers take great care and spend much of their energy on meeting each student where they’re at.”
Amielia Vance
Alumnus & Faculty
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Read MoreCommon questions Middle School parents ask
How big are the middle school classes?
Middle school classes at WSSD are small — around 16 students on average. Small enough that teachers know every child well, and that group discussion includes everyone.
What does a Waldorf middle school curriculum cover?
The full academic core — English, mathematics, science, world history, and Spanish — taught in focused blocks, alongside music, eurythmy, handwork, gardening, and games. Science is hands-on and lab-based; history runs from Ancient Rome through the modern era across the three grades.
How does WSSD prepare students for high school?
By grade 8, students manage their own deadlines, present and speak in public, work through demanding group projects, and move between subject specialists — the independence high school asks for. Students continuing at WSSD also move into ninth grade without changing schools at all.
Can my child join WSSD in middle school?
Yes — WSSD welcomes new students into grades 6, 7, and 8, and admissions runs year-round on a rolling basis. The process starts with an inquiry and a tour; after that, a student spends a visiting day with the class so the fit is real before any decision. Contact admissions at (619) 280-8016.
Does WSSD offer before- and after-school care?
Yes. Extended Care is available before and after the school day across the grade levels. For current hours and fees, contact the school office at (619) 280-8016.
The best way to understand a Waldorf education is to see it.
Tours run regularly throughout the school year — about 60 to 90 minutes, with time to ask the questions a website can’t answer.