The Nueva School

The Nueva School is a private school in Hillsborough and San Mateo, California, serving students in Pre-K through Grade 12. Nueva was founded in 1967 by Karen Stone McCown.

The school was originally located in Menlo Park, California but now is located on the site of the former W. H. Crocker Skyfarm mansion, which was purchased and donated to the school by the late W. Clement Stone. The school moved to the mansion in 1971.^[1]

The remodeled mansion houses the lower school, grades prekindergarten to fourth, and classes for grades five to eight are located in modern buildings elsewhere on the main campus by the gym and cafe. Other campus buildings include a gymnasium/performance space, science labs, a library, a cafe, and a research and design space known as the "I-Lab" (an abbreviated form of Innovation Lab). The Nueva School's upper field includes a track and two soccer goals, as well as a scoreboard that was installed in 2013.

A high school was established in 2013 and a new campus was built as part of the Bay Meadows development in San Mateo, opening in August 2014.^[2][3] The inaugural ninth grade class was housed at the College of San Mateo.

The Nueva School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges^[4] and the California Association of Independent Schools.^[5]

Notable Curriculum

The school's music program was designed, in part, by Sir Yehudi Menuhin working with Dr. Genevieve Fitzmaurice. The school's mathematics program owes much of its approach to the vision of Mary Laycock. The school's Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum was developed in large part by Janice Toben.

Annual School Trips

Towards the end of the year for grades one through twelve, students have a school trip. For first grade it is a one-night sleepover in the ballroom-turned community space, for second, third, and fourth, students go camping (separately). The second grade trip is two days long, third is two days, and fourth is four. Fifth grade students visit Mesa Verde National Park and the Four Corners region. Sixth grade students travel to Washington, DC.^[6] Seventh grade students backpack in Yosemite National Park for five days, and then take a four-day trip to Ashland, Oregon, to attend the Shakespeare festival. Eighth grade students travel to Spain, China, or Japan, and participate in a homestay. The ninth graders go to Peru to visit Machu Picchu.^[7] The tenth grade goes to Costa Rica to work with the Leatherback Trust and the Monteverde Research Institute in conjunction with the sophomore biology curriculum.

References