How To Apply
We're delighted that you're considering Phoenix!
Welcome to Phoenix Middle School, where academic excellence, innovation, and a strong sense of community come together to create a supportive and engaging environment for every student. We’re proud to offer a unique educational experience that nurtures curiosity, encourages critical thinking, and celebrates diversity.
Phoenix Middle School is a public middle school in Worthington, Ohio. It was founded in 2007 to provide an innovative, value-added curriculum for students in grades 7 and 8. The school has around 85 students in each grade and is staffed by 14 full-time teachers and various part-time staff and administrators.
Phoenix Middle School follows a Mastery Learning approach, integrating the core curriculum with critical thinking, global education, fine arts, wellness, and community interaction. The school's programs and activities are designed to align with its foundational pillars of intellectual discipline, global awareness, creative expression, wellness, and character. Teachers at Phoenix Middle School work together to combine, streamline, and enhance traditional middle school curricula to provide a meaningful educational experience for all students.
Each year, we review our process for the Phoenix Middle School lottery selection guidelines. As we prepare for the 2025-2026 school year, we will be drawing students from the current 6th-grade class to fill the Phoenix 7th grade new 7th-grade class.
STEP 1: Review the Phoenix Website
To learn more about Phoenix, please review the information in the "About us" and "Academics " sections of our website. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
STEP 2: Attend Information Meetings
It is imperative that prospective students and families understand the many aspects of the Phoenix program before they decide to apply. Therefore, we expect all families considering Phoenix to attend at least one of the information meetings (both parents and students are encouraged to attend).
Important dates for the 2025 / 2026 school year:
- Monday, January 13 - Online Application Opens | Phoenix MS information letter will be sent to Worthington 6th-grade families.
- January - 17, 24, 31 & February 07 - Phoenix students and teachers visits to district Middle Schools.
- Thursday, February 20 - In-person and Zoom Family Informational Meeting (6:30 PM - 8:00 PM) - @ Phoenix MS
- Thursday, March 06 - Phoenix Discovery Night (5:30 PM - 7:30 PM) - @ Phoenix MS
- Saturday, March 15 - Open House for Prospective Families (Saturday 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM) - @ Phoenix MS
- Tuesday, March 18 - Phoenix Lottery Application Deadline (4 PM)
- Thursday, March 20 - Phoenix Lottery - @ Worthington Education Center
STEP 3: Complete and Submit the Application
To apply to be a Phoenix 7th grader for the 2025-2026 school year, parents/students must complete the online application and submit it no later than Tuesday, March 18, 2025 at 4:00 pm. Students who have submitted completed applications on time will be entered into a lottery and randomly selected on Thursday, March 20, 2025. All students not selected will be placed on a waitlist. Worthington School officials reserve the right to remove any incomplete or fraudulent applications.
Additional Information:
The Lottery Process
- The Phoenix Middle School lottery is conducted at the district level; not the school. All questions about the lottery process should be referred to Susan Withers (swithers@wscloud.org) at the Worthington Education Center; not Phoenix Middle School.
- Students will be drawn from the lottery by neighborhood schools. To be eligible, students must be residents of the Worthington School district when school begins in the Fall of the upcoming school year. Parents and Students are NOT required to be present at the lottery on drawing day to be eligible for a spot.
- Worthington Schools will contact Families to confirm admission.
7th Grade Waitlist Practices
- Students not selected in the lottery will be placed on a waitlist by home middle school. If a student who is selected in the lottery declines the spot, students from the waitlist will be contacted and offered spaces until all are filled.
- Waitlist calls will be placed based on home school. If a student declines, the next student on the waitlist will be contacted.
- If the waitlist for a single middle school is exhausted, enrollment numbers from the other two middle schools will determine the next waitlist.
- Students remaining on the waitlist will remain on the list through their 8th-grade year.
8th Grade Waitlist Practices
- Phoenix staff may begin to contact the 8th-grade waitlist once enrollment numbers for the class go below 80 students.
- The first waitlist that will be contacted is the home middle school of the student leaving. If a student accepts a position, the process will stop.
- If all members from the home middle school waitlist have declined, Phoenix enrollment numbers from the other two middle schools will determine the next waitlist.
Enrollment Exceptions
- Due to our unique schedule, we allow current Phoenix families with a student who is currently enrolled at Phoenix as a 7th grader (moving to 8th grade) to have automatic admittance for an incoming 7th-grade sibling.
Please Note: Even if a 6th grader has a sibling who is currently enrolled as a Phoenix 7th grader, they MUST complete and submit an application. Students without applications WILL NOT be entered in the lottery regardless of whether their sibling is in the current Phoenix 7th grade class.
- Families with multiple students in the same grade and in the same household (ex. twins, steps) can submit a separate application for each student. In the case that a student from that household is selected, offers will be extended to each additional student for the upcoming school year but each additional student will not take any seats away from other students in the lottery.
- All seventh-graders attending Phoenix in the 7th grade will automatically matriculate into the eighth-grade class.
- The children of Phoenix staff can be added to the new class after an application is submitted. The Phoenix staff’s students do not take any seats away from other students in the lottery.
Final Notes
- After the lottery has been completed and we have our new 7th-grade class, we will host our new students at Phoenix MS for an Orientation/Open House. Parents will need to provide transportation to and from Phoenix that morning. More information will be provided to students who are selected.
- We will also hold New Parent Orientation/Acceptance. More information will be provided in the future.
- If you have questions about the Phoenix Middle School program, please email Sean Flynn (sflynn@wscloud.org) or Chrissy Cavaluchy (ccavaluchy@wscloud.org)
- If you have any questions about the Phoenix Middle School lottery, please email Susan Withers (swithers@wscloud.org).
We look forward to meeting you and your 6th-grade students during our recruitment process this spring!
The Phoenix Middle School Staff