Upper School Program
Academics
The Tools to Take You Anywhere
Upper School
The Upper School at Northwest will challenge you in ways that expand your worldview and deepen your self-understanding.
We offer an interdisciplinary liberal arts program which includes an expansive study of mathematics, science, humanities, arts, and modern languages. By exploring issues, ideas and methods across these subject areas, our students learn to read critically, write cogently, think broadly, and solve complex problems.
Through this program of study, students acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence to embrace the expectations and evolving demands of college and beyond.
Get Ready to Stretch
Express Your Ideas Effectively
In our signature humanities program, you’ll study history and literature together—learning to do your own research, develop informed opinions...
Express Your Ideas Effectively
In our signature humanities program, you’ll study history and literature together—learning to do your own research, develop informed opinions, and express your ideas effectively in writing, public speaking and debate.
Collaborate, Experiment & Analyze
You’ll establish a strong foundation in science and math courses, which integrate problem-solving, hands-on labs, and the use of...
Collaborate, Experiment & Analyze
You’ll establish a strong foundation in science and math courses, which integrate problem-solving, hands-on labs, and the use of real-time data.
Students in Advanced Biology Topics, test mussels from the Puget Sound to identify if they are local or invasive species. A math modeling project uses a Federal Reserve simulator to model the impact of real-life economic events on inflation, unemployment, and interest rates. Physical science students design catapults with a set of predetermined parameters to learn the importance of precision and consistency in design.
Expand Your World View
As an upper school student, you will have unparalleled opportunities to develop into a global citizen through engagement, immersion, and study...
Expand Your World View
As an upper school student, you will have unparalleled opportunities to develop into a global citizen through engagement, immersion, and study. A homestay in Spain will immerse you in the language. A friendship with an international student living in the dorms will teach you how lives around the world are similar and different. And a research project studying the Tibetan Independence Movement will teach you the importance of human rights.
Develop Leadership Skills
You'll develop intellectual independence, personal responsibility, and leadership skills during your upper school years. There are a number of ways...
Develop Leadership Skills
You'll develop intellectual independence, personal responsibility, and leadership skills during your upper school years. There are a number of ways for you to grow in these areas, for example, educating our school community on social justice issues through Days of Learning, taking an active role in our Carbon Neutrality Task Force or serving as a tutor for younger students. There are even opportunities to be a teaching assistant during your senior year.
Value Social Responsibility
Northwest’s curriculum and co-curricular activities are centered on our core values of social justice, environmental sustainability, and global engagement. We...
Value Social Responsibility
Northwest’s curriculum and co-curricular activities are centered on our core values of social justice, environmental sustainability, and global engagement. We foster an understanding that responsibility for the needs of the community does not lie with one individual or group, but with every student.
Think Differently
The best problem solvers are creative thinkers, so the arts are a central part of the upper school experience. Through...
Think Differently
The best problem solvers are creative thinkers, so the arts are a central part of the upper school experience. Through artistic self-expression you will deepen and expand on your strengths. You'll develop skills ranging from agile thinking to healthy risk-taking to resilience.
Even early on, as a student at Northwest, I was learning to think for myself. In Humanities, we brought in newspaper articles and discussed the underlying messages we were being fed in the news and teachers asked us to form our own opinions. Deconstructing the messages within the media and creating my own meaning is something I will use for the rest of my life.
A Northwest Education Inspires a Love of Learning
Our graduates enjoy careers as research doctors, surgeons, physical scientists, technologists, authors, artists, entrepreneurs and the list goes on. They credit their Northwest education for inspiring their further education and sense of purpose.
Graduation Requirements
Northwest requires the following minimum course of study in Upper School:
- Humanities: 4 years
- Mathematics: minimum 3 years
- Science: minimum 3 years
- Modern Languages: minimum 3 years
- Visual and Performing Arts: 4 years
- Physical Education: 2 years
- Environment: 4 years
- Immersive Summits: 4 years
Requirements by Area of Study
Students pursue an integrated and sequential study of world civilizations in grades 9-11, fulfilling English and social science requirements in a double-credit course. The program incorporates history, literature, philosophy, and art through weekly lectures, discussion seminars, and writing tutorials. In grade 12, students complete a trimester-long civics course and two history/cultural studies electives to complete Northwest’s social science requirement, as well as three trimester-long English electives.
Most seniors take a fourth year of study in Math, Science and Modern Languages. All seniors must take a fourth year of study in at least two of the three subjects.
A minimum of six arts courses are required over four years. To fulfill the arts distribution requirement, students must take at least one course in each of the four departments and at least one art course per year. Based on individual circumstances it is possible to petition for reduction of this requirement.
Two times a week, students and faculty work in mixed-grade teams to care for the school and immediate surrounding areas. This activity supports environmental sustainability, facilitates leadership development, and builds community. Four years of satisfactory work in Environment are required to graduate.
All students in the 9th grade must enroll in a required Physical Education course. The two-year physical education requirement may be fulfilled by PE classes, the outdoor program, dance, fitness or team sports. We recommend a variety of these activities.
International students who receive ELL support are gradually integrated into more courses with fluent English speakers each year. Physical education/health, arts courses, sports teams, class trips, the Environment Program and the Outdoor Program offer additional chances for interaction.
For two weeks every spring, students participate in an immersive, crossgraded academic experience. Summits offer authentic learning with real-world applications in Seattle and across the nation. Examples of Summits include Urban Agriculture and Sustainability; Science Fiction, Science Film; and The March Goes On: Civil Rights Past, Present, and Future.
Requirements by Grade
Eleventh Grade
Take the equivalent of seven courses (minimum) plus Environment and Summits.
Ninth Grade
Requirements
Participate in the equivalent of eight courses plus Summits* and Environment**, Humanities counts as two courses and students take two arts/electives. Environment is two times each week.
- Humanities 9 or Humanities – ELL
- Math
- Algebra I
- Geometry
- Algebra II
- Pre-Calculus
- Physical Science
- Modern Languages
- Chinese
- French
- Spanish
- Beginning Grammar/Writing – ELL
- Arts/Electives (select two courses)
- Physical Education/Health (full-year course required in 9th grade)
Summits* — an immersive, two-week long, interdisciplinary, multi-grade, deep dive into a topic, offered during the last two weeks of school. Required.
Environment** — Caring for our school environment for 10 minutes, 2 days per week. Required.
Tenth Grade
Requirements
Participate in the equivalent of seven courses (minimum) plus Summits* and Environment**, Humanities counts as two courses and students take two arts/electives. Environment is two times each week.
- Humanities 10 or Humanities 10 – ELL (counts as two courses)
- Math
- Geometry
- Algebra II
- Pre-Calculus
- Calculus
- Biology
- Modern Languages
- Chinese
- French
- Spanish
- Intermediate Grammar/Writing – ELL
- Arts/Electives (two courses)
Summits* — an immersive, two-week long, interdisciplinary, multi-grade, deep dive into a topic, offered during the last two weeks of school. Required.
Environment** — Caring for our school environment for 10 minutes, 2 days per week. Required.
Eleventh Grade
Requirements
Participate in the equivalent of seven courses (minimum) plus Summits* and Environment**. Humanities counts as two courses and students take two Arts courses each trimester.
- Humanities 11 or Humanities ELL – Transitional year for ELL Students
- Math
- Algebra II
- Math Analysis
- Pre-Calculus
- Calculus
- Advanced Calculus
- Statistics
- Math Modeling
- Math
- Chemistry
- Modern Languages
- Chinese
- French
- Spanish
- English Composition & Advanced Grammar – ELL
- Arts/Electives (two courses)
Summits* — an immersive, two-week long, interdisciplinary, multi-grade, deep dive into a topic, offered during the last two weeks of school.
Environment** — Caring for our school environment for 10 minutes, 2 days per week.
At Northwest, we called teachers by their first names and we felt we could approach the teachers and ask questions. We could have an honest discussion with them; we could have a disagreement. In the sciences you are going to question everything. You're going to go to your boss and have a dialogue. You'll never get anywhere in science if you don't know how to ask questions. NWS was really good at encouraging that open inquisitive attitude.
12th Grade Requirements
Requirements
Participate in the equivalent of six courses (minimum) plus Summits and Environment. Typically, seniors take five academic courses and two arts.
- Humanities 12: Social Studies
- Humanities 12: Language Arts
- Math: Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Advanced Calculus, Statistics, Mathematical Modeling
- Science: Advanced Chemistry, Advanced Topics in Biology, Physics
- Modern Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish, Advanced English Composition
- Arts/Electives (two courses)
- Environment
Note: Current students, please refer to the Blackbaud portal resource board for more details on course electives and requirements.
