The Upper School Academic Schedule

The Upper School's schedule is designed to support the mission of the academic program. In addition to maximizing flexibility for students and faculty, the schedule affords opportunities for:

Community 

As the sun rises on the Upper School campus each day, our students, faculty, and staff gradually gather in the dining hall. Teaching teams develop units and labs. Faculty, coaches, and advisors meet with students over breakfast. And students from across grades gather with their friends and prepare to start their day. From breakfast, the first stop is advisory: every student's home base. After touching base with their advisor, students head to their classes, where they focus on building the skill sets of a researcher, scholar, and collaborator. X-Period time for office hours, lab experimentation, and project work is interspersed throughout teaching periods. And performance rehearsals, club time, and student organization meetings happen in the middle of the day and after 3 o'clock. By 4pm, the athletic fields and dance studios are abuzz with activity, as students continue their learning in practices and rehearsals.

Team Teaching & Interdisciplinary Coursework

9th and 10th Grade English and History sections are scheduled back-to-back, so that humanities teachers can blend their course periods and utilize the many project and break-out spaces around the Upper School building. Eleventh and Twelfth grade electives are also scheduled in neighboring periods to facilitate the depth of research instruction prioritized by our upper-level programs.

Team-Based Learning and Access to Faculty

In order to facilitate collaborative learning with faculty and team-based academic work with other students, the Upper School schedule includes ample time for office hours, as well as "Academic Flex" time. Each student's schedule includes eight periods (listed as periods 1-8 on the schedule below). 

Faculty Collaboration

Our interdisciplinary teaching teams meet for an hour every morning before the start of the school day. This facilitates the development of our interdisciplinary curriculum, and it allows our faculty the opportunity to support each student in their work across all classes.

Personalized Student Schedules

An Upper School student is required to be enrolled in a minimum of seven courses. Courses meet five times during each eight-day rotation (listed as days A-H below). While Seniors may sharpen their focus in course enrollment, for most 9th-11th grade students, this will include:

• • Math

  • Social Sciences

  • English

  • Science

  • Seminar

  • World Languages

  • Arts & Electives*

  • Study Hall/Free Period**

*10th-12th grade students may use an elective period to double in a core subject. For example, a 10th Grade student may enroll in Physics in addition to 10th grade Chemistry, or they may enroll in an Advanced Literature course in addition to 10th grade American Studies - Literature. In order to do this, students must secure the permission of their advisor and the Academic Dean.

**9th and 10th Grade students have study halls, while 11th and 12th grade students have free periods. In consultation with their advisor, a student may elect to forgo a study hall period and enroll in an 8th course.

To download a PDF version of this schedule, please click here.

To download a PDF of the All-School Key Dates Calendar, please click here.