Academics

FPO

Nueva students learn by doing. They construct knowledge through hands-on engagement. As experts in project-based learning, teachers guide authentic and purposeful investigations that enable discovery while building the skills students need to be successful.

At Nueva, learning is authentic, complex, and intellectually rigorous. Students do real work as authors, artists, inventors, explorers, athletes, and mathematicians. Giving students choice, autonomy, and high expectations for growth, we harness intrinsic motivation as the engine for academic excellence.

Through an interdisciplinary and inquiry-based program, students discover and master foundational skills in traditional academic disciplines while learning to grapple with the unknown, embrace multiple perspectives, and create novel solutions.

Lower School

Grades PreK–4

Our lower school is a haven for young gifted learners. Our intellectually engaging and creative program incorporates the powerful and joyful elements of early education: deep investigation, inquiry, play, kindness, friendship, community, and essential connections to the outdoors.

Middle School

Grades 5–8

The middle school years are a time of excitement, in which students find their voice and discover how they can make an impact on the world. Teachers use projects, trips, and activities and clubs to make the middle school experience rich with academic and elective experiences.

Upper School

Grades 9–12

At the upper school, the students’ experience is at the center of everything we do. We nourish their love of learning by providing each student unparalleled opportunity to chart their own pathway through high school. 

Nueva's hallmark programs feature:

  • Project-based learning
  • Social-emotional learning
  • Design thinking and engineeering
  • Global citizenship
  • Differentiated curricula

Nueva's culture honors and embraces:

  • Spirit of inquiry
  • Integrity
  • Diversity of perspectives
  • Community and connectedness
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Social justice, equity, and inclusion

Learn More About Our Campuses

Lower, Middle, & Upper School News

Lower School Digs Into Food Systems With Community Service Learning
Lower School Digs Into Food Systems With Community Service Learning

This year, the Lower School community service learning (CSL) series is focused on the food system. Teachers have been weaving this theme into their curricula, and with the campus garden, compost systems, and café, students have a plethora of opportunities to deepen their understanding of food production, the importance of healthy soils, sustainable waste practices, and the direct impact of these factors on health and well-being. 

Snapshots: Middle School Adventure Day
Snapshots: Middle School Adventure Day

On Friday, September 20, the entire Middle School went off-campus for Adventure Day. It’s a day of bonding as well as practicing the skills of traveling together as a group—behaving responsibly when off campus, taking care of your things, and listening to instructions—all in preparation for the May Trips.

A Lesson on Joy and Resilience
A Lesson on Joy and Resilience

"When I signed up for the first Nueva Community Service Learning (CSL) trip to the Philippines, I never imagined I would end up in a small coastal town singing pop songs while crafting with local boys—which would end up teaching me a lesson on joy and resilience. Yet, that’s exactly what happened in July this past summer," writes junior Kayla L. 

Dispatch from the Field: Reflections from 8th Grade Homestays
Dispatch from the Field: Reflections from 8th Grade Homestays

This year marked the return of a milestone Nueva Middle School experience: the eighth-grade trips around the world included language-based homestays.

Our Japanese, Spanish, and Mandarin students each spent a week living with a host student and their family, practicing their conversation skills and taking in daily life as a teenager in a different country and culture.

Read about their experiences and see photos from their daytime activities with their classmates.

Snapshots: Lower School Trips
Snapshots: Lower School Trips

Students in first through fourth grade had exciting overnight adventures with their classmates and teachers! From nature journaling to hiking, pitching a tent and cleaning up after a camping meal, Lower School students took their learning and community building outdoors.