What is it like to be part of the NOVA community?
NOVA students and families enjoy a rich community experience structured around our core values of connection, commitment, intention, and joy.
Our goal is for our school culture to be one of inclusion and belonging for every member of the NOVA community. School activities and extracurricular opportunities give your child the independence they crave during this developmental stage and give you as their parents and caregivers meaningful ways to be involved in your student’s middle school experience.
The NOVA Student Experience
Extracurriculars
Students can opt into a variety of activities, including clubs, athletics, music, and theater.
Special projects
Each seventh grader participates in a service project, a one-time service activity of the student’s choosing, followed by a presentation. Each eighth grader embarks on an Eighth Grade Project (EGP), an ambitious, mentor-supported, yearlong project that culminates with an end-of-year presentation.
School Trips
We connect student learning with the world beyond our school through start-of-year and end-of-year trips. In the fall, all teachers and students spend several days at Camp Seymour, a longstanding tradition filled with group and individual challenges, silly fun, and connection. In the spring, eighth graders celebrate with an end-of-middle-school trip to the San Juan Islands and sixth and seventh graders spend time together in either Portland or Port Townsend.
The NOVA Parent Experience
Parent Involvement
Each household gives a certain number of volunteer hours to the NOVA community, based on each adult’s preferences and skills. We have flexible, wide-ranging opportunities, including helping in the NOVA garden, organizing community projects, chaperoning school trips, helping with NOVA events, giving feedback on student work, and much more. Parents say these opportunities help them feel connected as they take on a more supportive role in their child’s education.
Community Activities
Game nights, potlucks, talent shows, Quiz Bowl competitions…every year, NOVA students and families gather for different types of events to eat, play, and explore together. These events not only enrich students’ lives, they give families a chance to get to know each other and to form their own bonds and friendships.
Extracurricular Support
From driving students to play rehearsals to sponsoring a club, parents and caregivers at NOVA help make their students’ experiences more layered, stimulating, and enjoyable. Because of adult support, NOVA students have a rich array of experiences that make their middle school years special.
Explore Our Commitments
Over the past 30 years, we’ve developed an outstanding middle school program built on NOVA’S four core values: connection, commitment, intention, & joy.
Our Commitments
