Social & Emotional Learning
What We Teach
The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Program at The Girls’ Middle School supports every GMS student in their transition into the teenage years, providing them with the skills necessary to develop into a strong, healthy, self-aware young person. In a course that meets weekly for all three years at GMS, students have a safe space to explore complex issues. Within this framework, the SEL course addresses numerous topics of concern to teens with both candor and sensitivity. These include effective communication skills, values clarification, healthy relationships, conflict resolution, human sexuality, drug education, diversity, and self-awareness.
Why We Teach It
In SEL, emphasis is placed on creating a caring and compassionate environment in which adolescents learn that they are supported, as well as how to support one another. The class provides the time and space for GMS students to build healthy identities, examine their own internal worlds, and begin to understand themselves and expand their autonomy, which is central to adolescent development.