Core Classes
Hyla teachers continuously engage students by putting their unique identities and interests at the center of academics to personalize learning. Our exceptional teaching team is passionate about their craft, expert in their subject areas, and devoted to helping students achieve their full potential through interdisciplinary academics and meaningful coursework.
Advanced Options
Because of our scale and model, Hyla is able to offer an individualized approach to advanced coursework with a variety of options for advanced work:
Hyla Advanced Pathways: Within every core class (English, History, Science, Spanish, and Math), students can pursue the “core” or “advanced” pathway. Hyla’s advanced pathways meet or exceed AP material, and interested students will be supported, prepared for, and encouraged to take AP tests. (While the AP brand is one of many educational products for advanced learning, it is only one of many different approaches to advanced coursework. We welcome conversations about why Hyla, along with leading high school models like Exeter and Lakeside, has intentionally chosen not to use the AP branded curriculum in our core classes.)
UW in the High School: Hyla is a proud member of this UW program that allows us to teach UW curriculum so students can take college-level courses and earn college credit, right here at Hyla.
Global Online Academy: Hyla is also a proud member of the GOA consortium created by Lakeside School. Our GOA membership provides Hyla students with access to diverse and rigorous credit-bearing courses taught by teachers from 120+member schools across the world that meet high standards of rigor and quality. Hyla is the only GOA member in Kitsap County.
One Schoolhouse: Hyla students can also take AP classes through our membership to One Schoolhouse, along with many other courses offered through this membership-based consortium.
The "Deeper Learning" model
Our upper school program is based on the “deeper learning” model, something that is new to the Bainbridge educational landscape. Deeper learning is a pedagogical approach that threads through all aspects of our program, including mold-breaking core academic classes, Electives, co-curriculars like Clubs and Advisory, and signature programs like Panoramas. Our high school program is based in a fundamental optimism for the possibilities and potential for the high school years to shape a lifetime.
Our deeper learning program:
- Creates purpose in the lives of high schoolers by bringing their identity to the center of learning so that they connect what they are doing to how they think of themselves (doing science vs being a scientific thinker, a citizen scientist, etc.).
- Emphasizes meaning and choice, cultivates community, and provides students with ongoing opportunities for apprenticeship.
- Redefines rigor not as “workload” but as sustained powerful learning that is also joyful, personalized, and meaningful.
- Creates an iterative cycle of inquiry to continually ask students what they need, think, and see. (We believe that students are, in the words of Jal Mehta, “penetrating ethnographers of their settings,” capable of astute insights that articulate their school experience – as long as we ask and listen.)
Graduation Requirements
Each semester students are required to hold 8 classes, including one Elective, Aperture, and Panorama. Beyond Hyla classes, students can also fulfill graduation requirements with coursework at Global Online Academy and One Schoolhouse. Students must take 4 years of either science or history, and the 4th year counts toward Elective credits.
4 years English
3 years History*
3 years Math
3 years Science*
2 years Foreign Language**
1 year Arts
2 years Fitness & Wellness (1 sem. of Health)
1 year Career & Technical Education
5 years Electives (includes Panoramas)
24 Credits Total
*4 years recommended
**3 years recommended
Students can also fulfill graduation requirements with classes taught by Hyla teachers and partner organizations, such as UW, Global Online Academy, and One Schoolhouse.
Academic Terms
Hyla operates on semesters.
Grading
GPAs are unweighted. Electives are credit/no credit.
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
F 0.0
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
We believe that intellectual and personal growth is deepened when there are differences among us. Our investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) exist at many levels of our program:
- Curriculum: From the study of people (groups and individuals), through content (literature, history, science), to real-life interaction with experts (activists, scientists, community leaders), to the examination of systems (historical and institutional), the upper school curriculum integrates diversity into student learning, thinking, and creation. Additionally, each teacher brings a DEI philosophical framework to their subject areas, available here.
- Culture: Within a tight-knit community, students are encouraged to be their true selves, respect themselves, respect others, and co-create the space that makes those options available for everyone else, too. Cultural expectations weave through every aspect of our program.
- Admissions: Our need-blind admissions process honors diversity in personality, academic ability, interests, backgrounds, and financial circumstances. The Admissions Committee and the Financial Aid Committees make decisions independently.
- Flexible Tuition Since founded 30 years ago, Hyla continues to make investments to ensure that Hyla is affordable for all families, regardless of financial circumstances.