GRADES 6-8

Cultivating their emerging gifts.

From your own experience, you likely understand the significant role middle school plays in shaping your child. Their daily environment will have a tremendous impact during this season of extraordinary growth — physically, emotionally, socially, and academically. Your child will be forming their identity as they learn to embrace their unique God-given talents and interests, and you want to offer them the best learning experience.

At Hill Country, our middle school program is designed to be an intentional season of growth where your pre-teen will learn to better self-advocate, distinguish their strengths, strengthen their faith, and identify personal interests. Below, you’ll find a brief overview of what we offer, including:

A Middle School Where Your Preteen Can Belong.

Download your Middle School Guide

Building a culture of respect.

Have you considered all the ways a Christian education can shape your child’s learning environment? During middle school, many parents want to limit their pre-teen’s exposure to negative influences and unhealthy social pressures, while creating a safe place for them to explore. 

As a Christ-centered community, we want to support your child as they learn to navigate conflict, model kindness, and build healthy relationships. We guide our students through this process by teaching them to:

A younger male student with laughing with an older female student at a table in a classroom.

Demonstrate Christ’s love for others through their actions

Discern the importance of reconciliation when conflict arises

Understand how they personally contribute to creating a positive learning community

Cultivate a biblical worldview that reveals and emphasizes God’s truth, beauty, and goodness in everything

janet snapp and family

“I love the tight-knit community.

We’ve made life-long friendships, and since the class sizes are smaller, my kids are able to keep close contact and have meaningful relationships with their peers.”

The Snapp Family

To get the best feel of our program, we encourage you to schedule a meeting with admissions

Classical Middle School Academics

Following our classical Christian education framework, your middle schooler will focus on learning how to think using the tools of logic and language. In class, they will participate in discussions and practice project-based learning and an inquiry-based approach to solving problems. As they build their foundation in formal logic, there will be opportunities for acceleration in Math and English.

Biblical Worldview

Everything we teach is delivered through biblical integration, which we define as the revealing of God’s order and will. Your pre-teen will attend chapel weekly and meet regularly with their Advisory Group, made up of peers and led by a faculty member, to pray, reflect on, and discuss the things that matter most. They will also have the opportunity to participate in service projects throughout the year.

Leadership Opportunities

What interests your pre-teen most these days? At Hill Country, we help middle schoolers turn their growing interests into leadership opportunities. Your pre-teen might become one of the next leaders for National Junior Honors Society, Middle School Spirit Council, or an athletics team.

Enriched Learning

While we want to deliver the right amount of rigor in the classroom and ensure students are prepared for high school, we also want your middle schooler to have fun and enjoy learning. Hill Country students get excited about the electives and clubs we offer, and we know that excitement can build a foundation for post-secondary endeavors. Some favorites include theatre performance, musical theatre, robotics, coding, digital design, visual arts, and beginner band. 

Competitive Athletics

If your pre-teen is interested or gifted in athletics, they will fit right in at Hill Country. Approximately 73% of our students are athletes and participate in at least one of our 37 athletic teams (grades 6-12). We’re proud of our student athletes’ achievements, but also their Christ-like sportsmanship on and off the field or court.

HIGH SCHOOL PREP

Setting them up for success —
today and tomorrow.

Middle school should be more than a bridge between elementary school and high school. At Hill Country, we’re intentional about how students grow their independence and take responsibility for their learning and achievement. The result? Our middle school graduates are confident, responsible individuals who are ready for high school.

High School Prep

In sixth grade, your pre-teen will take a Study Skills & Strategies course to prepare them for more rigorous academics. They will learn how to compose emails to teachers, check their assignments and grades on FACTS, and are encouraged to reach out to teachers with their questions.

Class Schedules

Choosing a class schedule might feel intimidating for some students. That’s why you and your middle schooler will work with our Academic and College Advisor to determine course placements and electives. We want to engage students where they are and nurture their interests in order to optimize their growth and success. Examples of this include our math program, which allows students to enter one of several tracks based on their readiness, and our electives offerings. Click here to view our middle school course offerings.

Mentorship

As a parent, you want to know that your child will be supported and loved by the people who teach them each day. At Hill Country, this happens both formally, such as our Advisory Groups, and informally — small class sizes, service opportunities, and more. All of our teachers are Christians who demonstrate a love and giftedness in mentoring students to grow academically and spiritually.

Loving Guidance

Every student is an integral part of our Christ-centered learning community. Through our curriculum and culture, our middle school students uphold our mission and core values. They’re taught not only how to be independent, but also how to be a good friend, a caring member of a community, and a good example for others.

A Safe Environment

Who will be your middle schooler’s peers? Our students come from 12 cities, 30 zip codes, and 93 churches! Most of our families drive 10-20 minutes to reach our 54-acre campus in Cedar Park, a suburb of Austin. We take campus safety very seriously and protect our students with staff background checks, on-campus security, staff trained in CPR, and a school nurse.

A view of the exterior of Hill Country's building at the entrance of the South Lobby

Group 29

See for Yourself

Are you wondering if Hill Country Christian School is the right place to nurture and inspire your pre-teen? Schedule an on-campus tour or a discovery call and see first-hand how we create a positive learning environment for middle schoolers.

Explore all the reasons why Austin-area families choose Hill Country.