Upper School Curriculum

Literature communicates ethics, traditions, values, and elicits empathy. Literature introduces students to cultures, history, psychology, and the shared struggles of the human experience. Reading, writing and oral skills are an integral component of learning and communication and are essential to success in all academic disciplines. The courses in the English Department are designed to generate close reading of the texts, creative and unique written analysis, as well as thoughtful class discussion and insightful self-reflection. 

In each grade, students read works by diverse authors in a variety of genres (fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry). Texts are chosen for each course with the goal of extending beyond literary analysis and challenging our students to read closely, think critically, problem solve, and communicate effectively. Our curriculum prepares students for academic success in college and ultimately provides students with the ability and desire to be inquisitive, lifelong learners.

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Health & Physical Education is highly valued as an essential component of student development in every grade level from Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. A full program offering allows students to experience a wide variety of exposure to traditional, specialist, global and lifetime activities. Recognized as an extension of the classroom, the program emphasizes the ‘education’ in Physical Education with a careful and deliberate approach to empowering students with skills that promote lifelong healthy and active lifestyles.

Lower School focuses on developing essential prerequisite skills and knowledge acquisition that suitably prepares students to participate and thrive in Middle and Upper school recreational activity and competitive athletics. Students of all abilities thrive in our program as success is measured by individual development. Classes are specifically structured to encourage progress in a student-centered environment. Taught by a highly experienced and dedicated staff, each student is supported and challenged to reach a higher level of competence.

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The History and Social Science Department asks students to develop their understanding of past events and to examine the differing viewpoints and experiences of those who participated in them. We seek to encourage the development among our students of key critical thinking skills: rigorous inquiry, gathering and interpreting data, analyzing concepts, understanding cause and effect, and synthesizing information to produce one’s own interpretation of the past. We teach students to express their ideas with clarity and vigor in-class discussion and in writing.  The program is built around a core sequence of History classes, enhanced with opportunities in related fields of economics, political science, psychology, and geography.  We hope that the study of history and social sciences will become a life-long process for our students that provides them with an awareness of complexity and ambiguity as they confront ethical choices in their own lives and seek to unravel meaning in the world around them.

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The goal of the Mathematics Department at Wardlaw-Hartridge is to provide our students with the instruction, support and environment to allow them to develop their skills in critical, creative, and independent thinking, and in computational competence.  Additionally, our students build their level of understanding for mathematical principles by investigating real-life applications, as well as by solving interactive and open-ended mathematical problems. 

Upper School students graduate from Wardlaw+Hartridge with a deep appreciation for mathematics as a science, a language, and a tool that can be utilized to solve the problems of daily living.  In addition, they are fully prepared to handle mathematical principles in any four-year institution of higher learning.

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Our goal for Wardlaw+Hartridge Performing Arts students is to develop a life-long love of the performing arts, encouraging musical enjoyment, and participation long after the students leave the school.

During ensemble rehearsals, Performing Arts students are encouraged to take ownership of the learning process in a variety of ways. Reflection, input, inquiry, modeling, and performance analyses are just a few instructional strategies the directors use to engage the students.

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The study of science in the Wardlaw+Hartridge Upper School deals with natural systems, with observations and methods of inquiry using the scientific method, and with specific content areas such as biology, chemistry, and physics.  Our students are guided through the quest of science to find increasingly accurate explanatory models of how the universe functions.  Students learn about current models and some of the questions that remain unanswered.  Within this context, the science curriculum utilizes and reinforces mathematical skills learned in other courses, as well as modes of technology for data collection and analysis.

Wardlaw+Hartridge students graduate to be pioneering thinkers in a high-tech, global economy.  Providing our Upper School students with opportunities to integrate the sciences, mathematics, and technology in creative problem solving will give them the ability to use critical thinking and creativity in their approach to challenges in college and in careers.  Our Science and STEM courses set the stage for students to identify and wrestle with unanswered questions, preparing them for their future work in the sciences.

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The World Language Department believes that communication is essential to foster connections among groups, communities, and countries. In this context, world language knowledge becomes a skill that promotes much needed communication, teaches and encourages respect for other people, and cultivates a deep understanding and appreciation of other cultures.

The World Language Department at Wardlaw+Hartridge offers courses in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Latin. Latin courses teach reading, understanding and interpretation of classic prose and poetry, while cultivating critical perspectives of the Greco-Roman legacy.   On the other hand, Spanish and Mandarin courses use a communicative teaching approach where the target language becomes the vehicle to teach grammar and concepts in context. Other important strategies used, and recommended by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), are authentic resources, and comprehensive input-process-output techniques that aim to produce meaningful learning experiences.

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The Visual Arts Department at The Wardlaw+Hartridge School believes that art is a universal language that transcends boundaries of nations, age, race, and religion. Creating art offers an avenue for self-expression, and the study of art appreciation encourages students to understand the world around them, as well as develop compassion and empathy. Our art curriculum conveys our commitment to educating the whole student and reflects our philosophy that art is an integral part of education that enriches our students. 

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