Middle School Program 6-8
Why Choose Granada Preparatory School’s Middle School?
Granada Preparatory School's Middle School academic program is a continuation of that offered at Chatsworth Hills Academy, which as an International Baccalaureate World School program has long been a school of choice in the San Fernando Valley. The International Baccalaureate Program is recognized worldwide as being the best student preparation for success at high school, college, and in the world of work in the 21st century. Granada Preparatory School’s core curriculum and extra-curriculum programs strive to create curious, active learners who excel scholastically and develop healthy and moral characters. All students in the Middle School participate in a program appropriate for their grade level. The program emphasizes inquiry learning and the development of higher level critical thinking skills. Students study eight subjects including a second language, and there is a heavy emphasis in all classes on developing an international mindset in preparation for the evolving global society. Students’ hidden talents and individual strengths blossom through high quality performing and visual arts programs and a physical education and sports program that encourages student participation in basketball, volleyball and soccer.
Developing the Whole Child
The Middle School offers an active advisory program in which students learn many of the essential soft skills that they need to be successful socially and in their future careers. The school’s Tribes program helps to create the nurturing environment that the school is so proud of and believes is essential to promote learning. The Tribes program helps students to develop a sense of belonging and involvement in their school. The School’s very active Student Council provides students with the opportunity to take leadership roles. This school organization provides middle schoolers with the opportunity to organize and put on game nights, movie nights, school dances, spirit week, and a talent show, and assists with the holiday parade, the fall festival haunted house, and buddy days in which older students help younger students with their projects.
The Middle School offers an electives program, which has included such choices as Model United Nations, the Mock Trial program, archery, filmmaking, robotics, drama, ceramics and yearbook. Team sports include volleyball, soccer and basketball, with school teams competing with other local Middle Schools. GPS sends students annually in grade 6 to Yosemite, grade 7 to Catalina Island and grade 8 to Washington DC/Gettysburg.
Granada Preparatory School believes that developing a sense that every individual can make a difference is important and we achieve this through our Community Service Project. The project gives students an opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through action. As a consolidation of learning, the community project engages in sustained in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community.
In the most recent years:
- 44 percent of our students in Middle School qualified for the Johns Hopkins Talent Search
- 68 percent of our students in Middle School earned academic honors
While operating under the name of Chatsworth Hills Academy, students have been accepted to the following high schools: Army/Navy Academy, Bishop Alemany, Brentwood School, The Buckley School, Campbell Hall, Chaminade College Preparatory,The Cate School, Crespi Carmelite, De Toledo, Flintridge, Harvard-Westlake, High Tech High, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Louisville, Marymount, Milken Community, Notre Dame, Oaks Christian, Oakwood, Santa Susana Magnet, Sierra Canyon, Viewpoint, and Village Christian.
At Granada Preparatory School we recognize that students can learn in a variety of ways and at different rates. For GPS it does not matter how you learn, but that you do learn. The school carefully makes sure that tasks are differentiated and that students receive assessments that guide them toward improvement rather than simply generating a grade. Only when students have completed the learning task are they assessed for a grade. Students who fail to do well on their assessment are always allowed to have a second chance to show that they have now mastered the material.
- Communicate their thoughts well
- Advocate for themselves
- Think critically, analyze, and take responsible action
- Act with integrity and honesty
- Ask questions
- Learn independently and collaborate
- Be resilient in the face of a challenge and change
- Engage with issues and ideas with local and global significance
- Critically appreciate their own culture as well as the values and traditions of others