Rocky Run Middle School

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Rocky Run Middle School is a public middle school in Fairfax County, Virginia. It teaches seventh and eight grade, and as of September, 2006, accommodates 819 students. Being a GT (FCPS Gifted and talented program) magnet school, it is fed by many elementary schools, including Brookfield, Bull Run, Greenbriar East, Greenbriar West, Poplar Tree, Willow Springs, and Centreville. The school is located on the borders of many suburban neighborhoods and is on Stringfellow Road, a main road soon to be expanded.[1]

Rocky Run Middle School

Established	1980
School type	Public school
Principal	Daniel Parris
Location	Chantilly, VA
Enrollment	819
Mascot	Ram
Feeds Into	Chantilly High School, Centreville High School, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (must Qualify)
Homepage	Official Website
Colors	Gold and Dark Blue

1 Academics
2 Bell Schedule
3 Teams
4 Physical Education
- 4.1 Gym Uniform
- 4.2 Gym Procedures
5 Miscellaneous
6 Feeder Schools
7 Contact Info
8 External links

[edit] Academics

All enrolled students are required to take five "core" classes, as follows:

Mathematics/Algebra/Geometry
Science/Chemistry
History/Civics
English
Physical Education/Health

Students can choose four semester-long elective classes, or two year-long elective classes. A combination of the both, (one year-long, two semester-long) is also permitted. Some electives, especially advanced classes, language courses, and music-related courses, are year-long choices, but most, especially for seventh-graders, are only semester-length classes.

Electives include:

Art
Family and Consumer sciences
Foreign Language
Music
- Band
- Orchestra
- Chorus
Technology education
Industrial education
Theater Arts
Yearbook
Peer helping

Algebra, Geometry, and Foreign Language are credit courses for High school. These courses will affect the student's high school grade point average, if taken.

[edit] Bell Schedule

Unlike most Fairfax County Public Schools, Rocky Run has eight periods in one day, instead of seven. Homeroom, which is primarily used for roll call purposes, is generally located in the student's first period class, where the morning announcements, moment of silence, and pledge of allegiance happen. During the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years, Rocky Run participated in a moderated "block" schedule, but has ceased to continue this altered schedule, previously used for second and third quarters.

Homeroom: 8:00am - 8:05am 5 minutes
Period 1: 8:05am - 8:51am 46 minutes
Period 2: 8:55am - 9:41am 46 minutes
Period 3: 9:45am - 10:31am 46 minutes
Period 4: 10:35am - 11:25am 50 minutes
Period 5: 11:29am - 12:19pm 50 minutes
Period 6: 12:23pm - 1:09pm 46 minutes
Period 7: 1:13pm - 1:59pm 46 minutes
Period 8: 2:03pm - 2:50pm 47 minutes

The students at Rocky Run have four minutes between each period to get to their next class.

[edit] Teams

The school enrollment in Rocky Run is divided into large sections, or teams. There are six teams at Rocky Run:

7th grade:

Nationals
Patriots
Stars

8th grade:

Eagles
Freedom
Trailblazers

These teams each have their own teachers for the "core" courses, but students going to another team's teacher (cross-teamed) may happen based on electives and number of students enrolled.

[edit] Physical Education

All enrolled students must participate in physical education.

[edit] Gym Uniform

All students must wear a correct uniform. The uniform consists of a short-sleeved shirt and shorts and are dark blue with a golden Rocky Run logo imprinted on them. The shirt is reversible and can be used to distinguish between groups in team-based activities.

[edit] Gym Procedures

Students are organized into squads, which assists in dividing classes up into teams. The number of squads and amount of students in the squad varies with the number of students in the class.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Rocky Run is predominantly white/non-Hispanic, with approximately 62% of its students belonging to this ethnicity. The Asian/Pacific Islander population is at around 22%, the second-highest ethnic group in the school.

The attendance rate is at 97%, 2% above the Virginia state average of 95%.

In 2005, the SOL results for English and math, respectively (Eighth grade: 94% and 97%) were higher than the state averages (Eighth grade: 76% and 81%).