Admissions
Our Mission
NativityMiguel Middle School of Buffalo is an independent, Catholic middle school (grades 5-8) that provides a quality, scholarship-supported education to underserved girls and boys of all faiths. Standing arm-in-arm with our families, NativityMiguel makes a 12-year commitment to our students, starting in middle school and continuing through high school and college. Drawing from four pillars – courage, compassion, community, and contemplation – a NativityMiguel education promotes academic, spiritual, social-emotional, and physical growth, so that our students are inspired to become women and men for others.
All of the pillars are grounded in the animating values and/or charism of four co-sponsoring religious orders:
- Courage – Daughters of the Heart of Mary
- Compassion- Sisters of Mercy
- Community – Christian Brothers
- Contemplation – Jesuits
Mission Aligned Admissions Standards
NMMS does not discriminate on grounds of race, color, sex, orientation, religion, or physical ability. Due to the unique structure of the school year with its mandatory student summer leadership program, NMMS can only accept students for the fifth and sixth grade, with occasional space available each year for seventh grade transfers.
NMMS is based on the East Side of Buffalo, a traditionally-marginalized neighborhood in Buffalo NY. The admissions policy is designed to admit applicants from the East Side and other city of Buffalo neighborhoods who will most benefit from NMMS’s mission and philosophy.
The admissions committee will be composed of a multi-disciplinary team of NMMS faculty, staff and administration. Only this team and the admissions director will have access to all the information in the application files.
Priority in admission is given to applications that demonstrate all of the following:
- Sincere financial need from the City of Buffalo as well as the ring suburb areas.
- Sincere financial need is determined by the HUD Section-8 Income Limits Documentation System.
- An applicant who is willing to be formed into a man or woman for others.
- Characteristics include a strong work ethic, care and compassion for others, and a desire to learn through possessing a good attitude.
- A family who will support the school’s faith-based, Catholic mission.
- Characteristics include a commitment to daily punctuality and attendance, to communicate regularly with the school, to support the personal formation of the child, and to post-secondary education for their child.