The Upper School offers a rigorous academic curriculum taught by passionate, diverse and expert teachers. Our program is designed to provide a wide range of intellectual opportunities that allow the student to delve deeply into areas of particular interest.
Where Learning Forward Leads
Grades 9–12:
From Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12, Sierra Canyon's momentum-building program equips your child to rethink the familiar and embrace the unknown. Our students' Learning forward journey culminates in the sunlit intellectual laboratory of our Upper School, where their well-earned academic and personal confidence launches them into college, career, and life beyond.
Our entrepreneurial, question-driven philosophy fosters both independent thinking and productive collaboration—so your child consistently transforms original ideas into real solutions. They develop new technologies to increase disabled people's independence. They can direct professional actors in their own movie. They can chase down leads for our award-winning Standard newspaper and discover firsthand how ancient history shaped modern Italy. All the while, your child comes to deeply know and respect their own interests and capabilities—and those of others.
Equipped with exceptional understanding, guided by attentive teachers and college counselors, our students confidently determine their own path to college and career success. Our Upper School graduates regularly enroll in highly selective universities—including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, NYU, Duke, Stanford, and UC Berkeley—and go on to forge satisfying and significant lives.
We invite you to find out more about our Upper School. Please consider our Grade 9–12 curriculum and schedule an Upper School tour.
Curriculum
| Department | Years |
|---|---|
| English | 4.0 |
| Fine Arts | 2.0 |
| History | 3.0 |
| Mathematics* | 3.0 |
| Science | 3.0 |
| World Languages | 3.0 |
All Sierra Canyon students are strongly encouraged to maintain a full load of five academic solids throughout their Upper School career and one or two elective courses.
* minimum of Algebra II required and Pre-Calculus recommended
Did you know?
Fast Facts about the Upper Campus:
14
Average class size
9:1
Student-teacher ratio
24
AP courses offered
87%
of AP students earned scores of 3 or above in Spring 2024
100%
of AP students passed in Precalculus, World History, Latin, French, Calculus AB, and Calculus BC.
35
Honors courses offered
50+
Upper Campus student-led clubs and organizations
23
Interscholastic athletic teams available for Upper Campus students