About Our School

Patch Middle School (Patch MS) is one of five Department of Defense (DoDEA) schools serving the middle grade (6-8) students of military and civilian personnel living and working in Stuttgart, Germany. Located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, USAG Stuttgart is the size of an average municipality in the U.S comprised of a population of over 24,000 community members. The command is home to several U.S joint personnel readiness forces that support the mission of protecting and serving U.S. interests abroad.

The mission of DoDEA schools is to ensure an environment of academic excellence as we prepare students for success in an expanding global community, and the Patch MS community has accepted the challenge. In our efforts to remain ever mindful of our mission it is our belief that everyone has a role in ensuring the success of our students. Patch MS believes that it is our mission to engage students in active learning, provide both academic and social-emotional learning opportunities, and to empower students as they grow into productive global citizens. As approximately 30% of our students are new to our community each year, it is our commitment to providing programs to ensure that our school is a stabilizing force. Our Ambassador's Club, small teams, after school activities, vast counseling services and direct mentoring allows our unique population to navigate the often stressful life of the military child. The staff’s commitment to their team and the advisory program ensures that every child’s social and academic development is directly monitored and serviced by at least two adults in the school.

Patch MS was born out of two area schools, Böeblingen EMS and Robinson Barracks EMS with the express purpose of addressing the specific needs of intermediate learners. After several years of planning, in 2015 district and garrison partners introduced the first free standing middle school in the Stuttgart community. The teachers assigned to the school had been serving the same population of students from separate locations and the move was made in order to centralize resources and course offerings in order to provide a richer educational experience for the students. Teachers now enjoy the opportunity to expand course offerings due to a larger base of core teachers to better serve the unique and traditional needs of our students. This merger has enabled the middle school program to add high levels of technical courses such as Environmental Science, Robotics and Computer Programming and to provide small learning communities to personalize the relationships between students and teachers. Patch MS has embraced the DoDEA commitment to providing students with the most authentic educational experiences. All faculty and staff members are committed to providing support for both the academic and social-emotional growth of our students. Our core values focus on engaging in learning activities designed to enhance and excite the learning process for our students. All of our educational programs integrate into a learning structure that encourages cross-curricular exploration of subject matter while working with students as they formulate connections to the greater global community. Rigorous classroom instruction is an essential part of our practices, we are also acutely aware of the need for students to develop the social-emotional skills necessary for future success. Our students also engage in applied learning experiences that provide them with opportunities to expand and apply the learning in non-traditional ways.

Patch Middle School is designed around the collaborative teaming model and all teachers are committed to this model. By establishing grade level teams of core subject areas teachers work to ensure engagement and the active participation of students in the learning process. The teams are designed to ensure that students are well known and actively supported throughout their time at Patch MS. The school master schedule supports common planning and teaming time for each grade level team while providing additional time for extended teams to meet bi-weekly. This team structure helps to assist parents with the challenges of transitioning from the single teacher model of elementary school to a multiple teacher secondary structure. By developing this community of support we are able to provide students and parent’s the opportunity to engage with an instructional team who are committed to helping all students realize success in school while providing students with a solid team of mentors to support them as they grow.

Student success at Patch Middle School is not only measured by academic growth but by our commitment to helping our students become well-rounded and responsible citizens of our global community. The most important part of a student's schedule is the 80 minute block of time every other day for advisory families to work on social and academic growth. Faculty works to ensure that students participate in an equal level of academic development and global application of skills to help in supporting holistic growth. Students strengthen their civic responsibilities and leadership abilities through central school governance and community involvement designed to enhance their understanding of world cultures and how they are an integral part of social change.