For more than eight decades, the goal of the academic program at the Upper Campus of Palm Beach Day Academy has been to prepare each student for admission and success at appropriate, excellent secondary schools. That goal requires a rigorous program and a substantial effort from each child. It also requires the support and encouragement of dedicated teachers, skilled at balancing challenging demands with nurturing support. In the end, PBDA students learn far more than the subject matter that they study thoroughly. They gain confidence as learners and they gain the genuine self-respect that comes from achieving challenging accomplishments that have real worth. As those personal strengths deepen, PBDA students begin to look beyond themselves with growing compassion and acceptance of others.
For the 2009 - 2010 school year, the Upper School Campus will include students in grades 3 through 9. Flexible grouping of children is based on ability, performance, maturity and readiness. During regular team meetings of the faculty, each child's progress and placement is reviewed and adjustments are made as needed. Every effort is made to keep each child at the appropriate levels in math and reading. Art, music, science, lunch, foreign language and physical education are heterogeneously grouped. Beginning in the earliest grades, all students participate in community service activities that are designed to give the children a personal understanding of the needs of others.
Children in the upper grades (5-9) participate in a departmentalized program. A low student / teacher ratio allows for considerable individual attention for students. Students are grouped in English and math according to performance. In addition to participating in their year-long core courses of English, mathematics, foreign language, history and science, students in Grades 5 & 6 rotate each quarter into art, music, drama and computers. Students in Grades 7-9 can choose electives which include photography, yearbook, mosaics, drama, painting, or study hall. All Upper School students also have art, pottery, art history, and computer graphics throughout the year. Interscholastic sports are practiced every day.
As students move through the Upper School, they assume greater responsibility and independence. Community Service activities and the Student Leadership Council provide the Upper School students with many opportunities to contribute to their school, family, community and world.
