Upper School

Three themes connect the opportunities available in the Upper School. They are based on the mission statement: academic excellence, exemplary character and self-discovery through experience.

Academic excellence at Chadwick involves more than developing reading, writing, speaking, computing and interpretive skills. It also means mastery of that body of knowledge in the humanities, science, math, foreign language and the fine arts that provide an appreciation for contributions of the past, the realities of the present and the challenges of the future. Academic excellence results in a joy for learning and a capacity for independent thinking.

Exemplary character is as important to the school as academic excellence. Exemplary character means living in a manner consistent with the school’s core values: respect, responsibility, honesty, compassion and fairness. Good character means not only choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, but also the ability to make the best decision when confronted with a tough decision between two rights, such as how to balance honesty and compassion or how to reconcile the needs of a group and the rights of the individual.

Self-discovery through experience is also essential to the school’s mission. The school was founded on the belief that every child has special gifts and that education at Chadwick should be faithful to the Latin derivation of education, educare or “to bring out.” The school endeavors to bring out the talents that students have not only in the classroom but also on the playing field, in the art studio, on the stage or in a publication. Self-discovery means developing real people who know who they are and how they can use their gifts to enrich the world.

Although Chadwick is a college preparatory school, it does not pursue college admissions as its chief end. Rather, it pursues as its fundamental purpose the development of these three goals. For this reason Chadwick students do exceptionally well in college admissions.