Upper School

Hero Treatment

A group of MBS Upper School students filming for a class.
Pursuing Excellence

Each student is encouraged to take a leadership role in charting their own path to the future.

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.

Visit Our Upper School

When you visit, we’re confident that you’ll agree that we have the most authentically happy, accomplished students around!

Upper School Hours

Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 3:15 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.

Looking for information on
our private Middle School?

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.

Upper School Signature Programs

Instructor teaching class
Advanced Topics

Advanced Topics foreground critical thought and discussion, requiring students both to think across disciplinary boundaries and to engage in college-level readings and arguments.

Read More about Advanced Topics
Student and faculty member at a piano
Independent Studies

Our Independent Study program encourages Upper School students to explore areas of interest that fall outside the traditional course catalog.

Read More about Independent Studies
Students receive instruction at a museum
Humanities Program

This integrated Upper School curriculum, global in perspective, will allow your student to make new and surprising connections among different cultures.

Read More about Humanities Program
Girl in science lab wearing safety goggles
Earned Honors Model

Upper School has created a model in many classes whereby students are given the opportunity to earn honors on the basis of the work they produce.

Read More about Earned Honors Model
A faculty member supervises an experiment with soil
Advanced Studies Program

The Upper School offers a suite of discipline-specific, year-long Advanced Studies (AS) courses that equal or exceed AP courses as rigorous alternatives to the standardized AP curriculum.

Read More about Advanced Studies Program

Note from an
Upper School Parent

I am writing you as a "new" parent.  My daughter is in the class of 2022 and my son the class of 2024.  I feel compelled to let you know that the MBS "experience" has absolutely exceeded our expectations.  Having come from another private school, we had always heard exceptional things about Morristown Beard School, and are now realizing that they are all completely accurate. Be it coaches, teachers or advisors, the communication has been above and beyond.  Many teachers have called me on weekends and evenings, making us feel as if our children are their top priority. 

This year has been difficult for everyone, and I am continually impressed by how engaged and insightful the faculty has been, even when the children are a "screen away." 

Thank you so much for fostering a community that is so "student-centric."  We are grateful that our children are able to flourish and grow, even during these difficult days at MBS.

 

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.

Learn More about the CAW

The Center for
Teaching & Learning

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) empowers all students to better understand themselves and their own learning stories while, at the same time, developing students’ self-advocacy and self-efficacy.

Learn More about the CTL

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.

Learn More about the CQR

 

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.

Learn More about the CID

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:

Students perform on stage in Sense and Sensibility
Boys Ice Hockey team members in a game on the ice
Students engage in a building project as part of community service in Panama

Office of the Upper School

Ryan Liese

Ryan Liese

Head of Upper School
M.Ed., Vanderbilt University
School: 973-539-3032;521
View Profile for Ryan Liese
Rachel Platt

Rachel Platt

Administrative Assistant to the Head of Upper School
M.A., St. Elizabeth University
B.A., Lafayette College
School: 973-539-3032;543
View Profile for Rachel Platt

Explore the Pillars of an MBS Education

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