Our Schedule

At Phoenix Middle School, our schedule is intentionally designed around how middle school students learn, grow, and develop. It balances academic challenge with flexibility, built-in support, wellness, creativity, and strong relationships.

While it may look different from a traditional middle school schedule, every part of it serves a clear purpose.

The Big Picture

•  Monday–Thursday are full days with our core academic schedule, plus built-in time for support, revision, wellness, reading, and the arts.
•  Friday is an early-release day (dismissal at 1:40 p.m.) with a shorter academic schedule and dedicated time for community learning such as Student Forum, flexible learning time, and support.
•  All students receive the same total instructional minutes per week in each core subject.
•  The schedule is flexible by design, allowing teachers to respond to student needs and support mastery-based learning.

Flexible Academic Learning Blocks

Phoenix uses a flexible block schedule. Instead of every class always meeting for the same length of time, core classes are designed to meet for about 45 minutes, about 90 minutes, or a combination of the two, depending on the course pairing and what best supports student learning.

This flexibility allows teachers to design instruction that fits the moment, including:

•  Socratic discussion and collaboration,
•  labs and hands-on learning,
•  small-group instruction,
•  feedback and revision,
•  and deeper thinking without being rushed.

How classes are grouped may shift during the year based on student needs, instructional goals, and class sizes.

Wellness, Reading, and the Arts

Wellness and Reading

Students participate in Wellness and Reading as separate courses. These classes rotate by quarter and support both physical well-being and literacy development.

Creative Start (Arts)

All students take year-long arts courses such as visual art, music, and digital media. Creative expression is a core part of the Phoenix experience and is intentionally embedded into the weekly schedule.

Daily Built-In Academic Support

One of the most important features of the Phoenix schedule is that support time is built into the school day.

Every day, students have structured time they can use to:

• revise and resubmit work,
• meet with teachers for feedback,
• get help with skills or assignments,
• organize and plan,
• or make progress on work that is still in progress.

This daily support is essential in a mastery-based system, where students are expected to revise work that does not yet meet the mastery standard. Students receive guidance and opportunities to work on revisions at school. Support at home is also important, especially with planning, time management, and follow-through. Families are not expected to do the work for students, but helping students stay organized and keep pace with the revision cycle makes a big difference.

Foundations

All students take a class called Foundations during part of the day. Foundations provides targeted instruction and support in skills that help students be successful across all classes, such as organization, planning, problem-solving, and academic habits. The specific focus of Foundations can change by quarter based on student needs and school priorities.

Do students have homework?

Yes. Phoenix students should expect to have homework, especially in classes where regular practice matters (like Math or Spanish) or when students are working on larger projects (for example, a science fair experiment that requires work outside of school).

Phoenix’s schedule does include daily support time when students can work on assignments, revisions, and studying with access to teachers and peers. How much work students finish during the day depends on how well they use that time. We do not force students to complete work during these blocks, but many students take advantage of the structure and support and are able to finish most, and sometimes all, of their homework before leaving school.

Friday: A Shortened, Purposeful Day

Every Friday is an early-release day, with dismissal at 1:40 p.m.

Because the day is shorter:

• There are four academic class blocks.
• The Connections (philosophy and critical thinking) class does not meet on Fridays.
• Other core classes rotate being “off” on Fridays.

 Which class is “off” may vary based on instructional priorities and projects. When a class is “off” on Friday:

•  Students do not attend that course that day.
• Teachers use that time to support students, assist other classes, collaborate, or prepare for large projects and school-wide needs.

Advisory, Student Forum, and Clubs

Advisory

Every student is part of an Advisory group for the entire year. Each staff member advises about 12–14 students.

 Advisory provides:

•  a consistent adult advocate,
• academic and organization check-ins,
• and support for the whole student.

 Advisory meetings may occur during lunch, during the end-of-day support period, or during Friday’s flexible time.

Student Forum and Flexible Time

Phoenix includes dedicated time on Fridays for Student Forum and flexible learning. Forum gives students a voice in their school community and is an important part of Phoenix culture.

Clubs

Student clubs may meet during lunch or during built-in support times, depending on the activity.

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Our schedule is designed to make time for the things middle schoolers actually need: focused learning, strong relationships, creative outlets, and support that happens during the school day, not just after it. If you’re wondering how this schedule connects to what students learn and how our mastery approach works day to day, the next best stop is our Academics & Learning page for a clear, family-friendly overview.