Just another perspective-
our middle school encompasses grades 5-8, so here, they keep the 5th graders in their own wing. Since my DD is in 5th, I can't comment on the older grades and/or their hormonal issues, but it was a nice way to ease into a much bigger building, switching classes, lockers, all the organizational issues, etc. I can say that personally, my DD is pretty miserable with her classmates this year- there seems to be an even wider gulf than there was in elementary, particularly with regards to maturity (not talking about physical maturity here).
Re: the team building, I think that could be good or bad. In our middle school, there is no tracking or separation of ability (with the exception of limited pull-outs.) This seems to amplify the "differentness" of kids like my DD, and there has been a lot of bullying, of all sorts of kids.
So there is no acceleration / differentiation even in math for your DD? Have you considered grade acceleration? Is the school open to the idea? I suppose this has to do with how some kids more worried about being socially acceptable than being smart. I wonder if it's more of a problem among girls than boys... We have 2 younger DDs so we'll start worrying very soon
