About Gardiner Middle School

Our Mission Statement
To Inspire Excellence. Every Child. Every Adult. Every Day.

Our Guiding Principles

  • We act with respect, integrity, and responsibility, creating high expectations for others and ourselves within a positive learning environment.

  • Positive relationships yield positive results.

  • We all learn when actively engaged.

  • We all learn in different ways.

  • Schools, families and community will work together to foster success at all levels.

Our Mascot
Our school mascot is the hawk.

Our Colors
Our school colors are black and red.   

Gardiner Middle School is named in memory of Thora Benson Gardiner, a civic leader and active member of many community organizations during her lifetime.

Mrs. Gardiner was born in Holum, Iceland on March 17, 1884, and came to the United States with her parents in 1901 to settle in North Dakota. She married Frederick William Gardiner and moved to Oregon City in 1912. Together they had two sons, one daughter, and two grandchildren. She was a member of the  School  Board for 21 years and  was Board Chair at the time of her death on November 13, 1953.

During the 21 years Mrs. Gardiner was on the School Board, she served as Chair for three terms and was instrumental in  building the former Oregon City High School on 12th Street, Barclay School, and Eastham School. She also helped lead the consolidation of the Park Place School District with Oregon City School District.

Mrs. Gardiner always showed a keen interest in the welfare of children, especially the underprivileged. She served for many years as a volunteer for the Clackamas County Red Cross during the Depression, served as President of the Oregon City Women’s Club, and Secretary of the Clackamas County Historical Society.

Our New Building
Thanks to the 2018 Bond that was passed by the Oregon City community, Gardiner Middle School has a brand new building that opened in the 2021-2022 school year.  This new building utilizes natural lighting with flexible learning spaces. 

Our History ~ Thora B. Gardiner

Academics

Here at the Oregon City School District we want our students to think critically, collaborate with others on authentic projects, and persevere when learning gets tough. We want our students to leave school as expert learners who create and innovate. We want them to be reflective so that they learn from their mistakes to improve and grow.  Here is Gardiner's Instruction: Accessible Deeper Learning for All.

Instructional Frameworks:

OCSD middle schools are on a journey to become deeper learning schools. To achieve this we use three instructional frameworks to design learning experiences for students; (1) Universal Design for Learning, (2) AVID WICOR strategies, and (3) deeper learning competencies. Ultimately, we see deeper learning as the intersection of creativity, identity, and mastery. These descriptors give vision for our instructional decisions. 

When students engage in deeper learning they master content knowledge, communicate effectively, work collaboratively, think critically, and develop an academic mindset. Teachers utilize our flexible learning spaces to design experiences for deeper learning by using practices such as interdisciplinary and project based learning, Universal Design for Learning, and AVID strategies. Our instructional model encourages students to dig deeply into a subject, going beyond content memorization, in order to grapple with concepts and skills that are fundamental to each discipline.