Upper School
Pursuing Excellence
In the Upper School at Morristown Beard School, you’ll find the academic rigor and innovation that young minds need to prepare for the next step in their scholastic journeys, all offered within a collaborative, supportive coeducational environment that nurtures each student.
Student Centered
A multitude of academic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular choices enable each student to build their personal journey with a transformative faculty there to serve as both mentor and teacher along the way. Learning to engage and interact with others in a coeducational setting is of great benefit to our students as they prepare themselves for the future, and student achievement and satisfaction continue to guide our ever-evolving academic program.
The Best of Both Worlds
As an engaging, dynamic and collaborative academic institution, we will inspire your child to take risks and pursue excellence. Many independent schools offer academic challenge; several others provide strong community support. At MBS, we’re proud to say that our students enjoy both, and as a result, your child will learn, laugh, love, and grow through a high school experience that offers unparalleled life balance to each and every student.
Upper School Hours
Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Upper School Office Hours
School Year:
Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Summer:
Monday-Thurs.: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
On most school days, the MBS campus is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Academic Program
The scope and sequence of our private high school's academic program provides each student with an outstanding education in the arts, humanities, world languages, sciences and mathematics with an emphasis on critical thinking, collaboration, and writing across the curriculum. Our rigorous program features a diverse, innovative slate of curricular choices from which your child will craft a personalized scholastic journey, including extensive honors classes, advanced seminars, advanced placement classes, independent studies, and a vast array of elective opportunities.
Upper School Signature Programs
Our Signature Programs are an important reason why our students report extremely high levels of preparedness through college and beyond. We’re confident that your child will enjoy the intellectual journey through these classes. The majority of these courses feature small class sizes, allowing for true student-teacher engagement and collaborative, team-based assignments and assessments.
Advanced Studies and Advanced Topics Program
Year-long, discipline-specific Advanced Studies (AS) courses provide rigorous alternatives to standardized AP curricula. Advanced Topics are seminar-style courses emphasizing college-level reading, discussion, and interdisciplinary thinking.
Earned Honors Model
The EH model offers students the opportunity to opt into earning honors credit in a course. Choosing whether to pursue Honors in a class means our students can decide what sort of learner they would like to be in a particular subject, rather than being told what sort of learning they are capable of. The School holds the student accountable to a corresponding set of standards and criteria.
Humanities Program
An integrated curriculum that asks students to place the study of History, English, and World Languages in dialogue, recognizing that these disciplines allow us to interrogate and make sense of the human experience.
Independent Studies
Students design and complete individualized courses exploring interests beyond the traditional curriculum.
Interdisciplinary Concentrations Program (ICP)
Students pursue an area of interest beyond a single discipline through one of several pathways: Arts and Innovation, Global Citizenship, Ethics, Leadership, Justice, and "Data Analysis & Research Methods."
MBS Centers for Learning
Decades of academic research highlight the importance of both meaningful teacher-student engagement and highly experiential learning in the intellectual growth of young people. Accordingly, Morristown Beard School has thoughtfully created four Centers for Learning to best engender the high-level development of several essential skills in your child.
The Center for Academic Writing
The Center for Academic Writing (CAW) acts as a support system for students, and, in concert with our philosophy, allows the students, themselves, to take on an important leadership role on campus as writing tutors in the center.
The Center for Teaching & Learning
The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) empowers all students to better understand themselves and their own learning styles while, at the same time, developing students’ self-advocacy and self-efficacy.
The Center for Quantitative Reasoning
The Center for Quantitative Reasoning (CQR) is a support center providing a place for students to strengthen foundational skills, receive extra help in their classes, and explore interest in mathematics that goes beyond the classroom.
The Center for Innovation & Design
Opened in 2019, the Center for Innovation & Design (CID) provides more than 8,000 square feet of flexible and innovative space where students design, build, and problem-solve as they engage in multidisciplinary projects.
Co-Curricular and Extra-Curricular Programs
Our private high school in Morristown, NJ truly values each student’s individual talents, interests and ideas. Through programs such as interscholastic sports, performing and visual arts, senior projects, student government, clubs and international travel, your child will gain a deeper understanding of themselves while contributing to the School community and beyond. These programs include:
- Performing and Visual Arts
- Athletics
- Global Studies
- Upper School Clubs and Activities
- Community Service
