Academics

 

VVS Academic Program

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide our students with the best possible academic program, VVS is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, and offers the IB curriculum to all our juniors and seniors. (Freshmen and sophomores are enrolled in our pre-IB curriculum.)

All students at VVS enroll in six courses – one from each of the six groups or departments. This provides a well-rounded, balanced educational program for every student, and prepares each for the competitive college admission process. Every VVS graduate can boast four years of English, four years of a second language, four years of history and cultural studies, four years of math, four years of science and four years of arts.

Our educational program is designed specifically to carry out our mission statement. Our curriculum is international in scope and is supplemented by our Field Trip program, which takes students into other cultures to live, work and interact with other cultures, as well as doing community service projects. But the most important aspect of international education takes place because of the diversity here on our campus, where about half of our student body is made up of international students from many different countries.
 
We are a college preparatory school that stresses competition with oneself rather than with others.  We challenge our students to fulfill their own potential in every area: academics, sports, physical work, the arts.  With small classes (average 11) and the availability of our faculty outside of class, we are able to stress a very student-centered approach to learning, knowing students’ interests, strengths and weaknesses, and how to motivate them. Our goal is that our students will be independent young men and women who are in charge of their own lives and their own educations by the time they leave us, who have the academic knowledge, skills, attitudes and work habits, and the self-motivation to be successful in college and beyond.
 
Verde Valley School is a well-rounded program that stresses knowledge, skills, creative expression, critical thinking, and hands-on learning in a community that is itself an exercise in international living.