Upper School at B’nai Shalom Day School
Where Curiosity Thrives, Leadership Grows, and Community Deepens
At B’nai Shalom, Upper School includes grades 5 through 8, a time when students step more fully into themselves as learners, leaders, and compassionate community members. We’ve designed our Upper School program to challenge students academically, nurture them socially and emotionally, and encourage them to lead with Jewish values.
A Connected Community
At B'nai Shalom, we believe that developing emotional intelligence is every bit as important as academic achievement, and nowhere is this more evident than in our Upper School. As students move through grades 5 through 8, the social and emotional landscape grows more complex. Friendships deepen, identities take shape, and the stakes of peer relationships feel very real.
Our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program meets students exactly where they are, addressing the challenges and opportunities unique to early adolescence with honesty, warmth, and intention. Our teachers complete SEL professional development so they are equipped to support students in real time, equipping them to respond to the nuanced, sometimes charged moments that arise in middle school life, whether a student is navigating shifting friendships, managing academic pressure, or learning to disagree respectfully.
What does this look like in practice? When students began struggling with the competitive nature of game days in PE, their teacher responded not by moving on, but by pausing to design a series of team building exercises centered on communication, cooperation, and sportsmanship. Students then reflected on what they had learned and presented their takeaways to peers and staff, an experience that made the connection between emotional growth and real world leadership both visible and meaningful. At B'nai Shalom, adolescence is not something to manage. It is something to honor, and our Upper School community is built to help every student navigate it with confidence, resilience, and a strong sense of who they are.
Rigor and Curiosity
B'nai Shalom's Upper School offers students in grades 5 through 8 a deeply personalized and academically rigorous program designed to challenge and inspire every individual learner. Small class sizes and differentiated instruction across all subjects allow teachers to support and stretch each student according to their unique strengths and needs, with every Upper School student working above grade level in math. Our middle school students utilize a comprehensive English language arts curriculum designed to build knowledge and strengthen reading and writing skills, blending literary, nonfiction, fine art, and multimedia texts to engage students in learning.
In grades 6 through 8, students participate in mixed grade level cohorts for Science and Social Studies, creating opportunities for increased academic rigor alongside meaningful cross grade collaboration and teamwork. Upper School students are also seasoned users of our state of the art FabLab maker space, where they tackle real world challenges through hands-on design, coding, and prototyping across subject areas, bringing creative, cross disciplinary energy to everything they build.
The curriculum is further enriched by specials in Art, Music, Physical Education, Technology, Drama, and Library, as well as student chosen electives each trimester ranging from cooking to dancing to academic games, ensuring that curiosity and personal passion remain at the heart of the learning experience.
Jewish Learning & Leadership
In Upper School, Hebrew and Judaics are taught as separate disciplines, allowing for deeper, more focused engagement in each area. Students attend unaffiliated services multiple times each week, connecting with Jewish tradition in a way that is inclusive, thoughtful, and participatory.
Leadership is woven throughout Upper School life, with students regularly leading t'fillah, Havdalah, and Shabbat services in roles that build genuine confidence and a sense of communal responsibility. Through Buddies, a beloved elective, Upper School students are paired with Preschoolers for weekly visits that form lasting relationships and bring to life the Jewish value of arevut, or mutual responsibility. These experiences create a Jewish identity that students don't simply inherit but actively shape and claim as their own.
The Alliance Program
B'nai Shalom is proud to participate in the Alliance Program, a distinctive partnership connecting small Jewish day schools across the country. Through this initiative, Upper School students expand their community beyond our campus through weekly virtual learning with Jewish peers nationwide, broadening their perspectives and deepening their sense of belonging to something larger than themselves.
The Alliance Program experience culminates each year in a capstone trip that brings learning into the real world.
Sixth graders travel to Alabama on a social action focused journey through the Civil Rights Movement, engaging in meaningful service along the way.
Seventh graders head to Washington, D.C., where they explore how government works and advocate directly with North Carolina representatives on issues they care about.
Eighth graders complete their B'nai Shalom journey with a transformative trip to Israel, deepening their connection to Jewish identity, history, and the land and people of Israel
Together, these experiences help students understand themselves as part of a larger Jewish story, one that is local, national, and global all at once.
