Upper School

Inspired, Original Inquiry-Based Projects

26 Arts Electives

Student/Teacher ratio: 8:1

Average Class Size: 14-16

The Upper School curriculum provides the foundational skills and understanding that students will need in college and beyond, while leaving room for them to develop and pursue their individual interests. We meet with students individually to help them design an academic program that will present challenges to instill confidence and foster a passion for learning.

THE ACADEMIC / INTELLECTUAL / ETHICAL (ALSO SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL/PHYSICAL) PART.

The Upper School academic/intellectual/ethical experience includes (but is in no way limited to):

The GFA Symposium, a conference featuring a renowned keynote speaker and presentation sessions in which students share original research.
Inquiry and Advanced Inquiry work in fields such as Constitutional Law, Applied Mathematics, Global Thesis, Visual Arts, and Science Research.
Travel courses to Spain, China, Peru, Rwanda, and more, most of which involve research and service (studying spider predation at a field station on the Amazon River; working with teachers in Kigali to explore new classroom practices.)
A broad range of courses in both the Visual and Performing arts including coursework in digital design, photography, and fine arts.
Membership in Global Online Academy allowing students to take innovative online courses with peers from around the world.
Access to adventurous off-campus programs like the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C., the High Mountain Institute, and School Year Abroad.

In and out of class, on and off campus, our students go into every experience with their hearts and minds open and their hands ready for work.

THE SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL / PHYSICAL (ALSO ACADEMIC / INTELLECTUAL / ETHICAL) PART.

The Upper School social/emotional/physical experience includes (but is in no way limited to):

Class retreats at the beginning of every school year — a chance to bond in a fabulously unfamiliar setting.
An always-evolving list of student-supported clubs.
Performances and gatherings sponsored by student groups, including coffee houses, a cappella throw-downs, and Harmony for the Homeless, a musical talent show benefiting local shelters.
An accomplished athletics program that in one recent fall season recorded four Fairchester Athletic Association postseason appearances, including one boys' soccer championship appearance, and a girls' soccer FAA Championship. There were also three New England tournament berths, and a New England boys' soccer championship.

This is an experience — and a community — where everything is connected, where every part belongs to a greater whole, each for all.

Moving Beyond the AP

This is an extraordinary opportunity to put our students’ exceptional talents and ambitions in the driver’s seat; it will allow our world-class faculty to mentor them as they chart their own paths of inquiry, produce original work, and prepare for lives of purpose in college and beyond.
At GFA, our curriculum has grown and changed over the years, but our commitment to partnership with students, excellence in academics, and the centrality of purpose has never wavered. As part of our ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation, we intensively examined the role of APs to consider whether they engender the highest level of excellence for our students. Based on this research, GFA phased out AP courses to make room for a curriculum that challenges students at the top end of their abilities in accordance with our mission and core values. To learn more, please explore some of the resources below. Learn more.

In the Field

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Sustainability

Marine Science: Local

In this course, students focus on the local marine and coastal environment — the “nature of GFA — by exploring and learning about each of the three ecosystems
right in our backyard: the Sound, beach, and marsh. This introduces many topics (physical, chemical, and biological) that allow students to explore in more detail as the semester progresses, and prepares them for regular monthly surveys and additional fieldwork.
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I’ve learned a lot more about the beach and how much biodiversity there is. On the shoreline and the high tide line, there’s a plethora of shells that we’ve found — if you can identify them, you get so much more out of it.

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Sustainability

Marine Science: Global

In this course, students will take a more global focus on the oceans. They will engage in fieldwork and take time to investigate global ocean ecosystems and issues with a focus on ways in which human activities influence the oceans. The units in this course
may include oyster reefs, coral reefs, noise pollution, and marine debris, among other topics.

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Sustainability

Human Ecology and Sustainability Inquiry

An in-depth exploration of what it means to live well in a place. Through case studies, primary literature, and other readings, students study sustainability theory, environmental ethics, and environmental justice. The course includes an off-campus immersion experience that will help class become a collaborative cohort of leaders in sustainability.

Sustainability

Human Ecology and Sustainability Advanced Inquiry

For students who are passionate about study of the environment and sustainability issues, GFA offers an interdisciplinary, project-focused program designed to empower students to explore their passions and become stewards of their world.

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STEAM

GFA Symposium

Now in its 11th year, the GFA Symposium featured live demonstrations from presenters — virtual reality activities, video game programming, robotics, poetry readings, and many other creative endeavors. To learn more about the projects presented that day, click here.

The best ideas, the wildly radical ones, can come from young people who are uniquely positioned to create and absorb at the same time.

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Advanced Inquiry

Global Thesis

Senior Emma Fellows completed an Advanced inquiry in Global Thesis: Linguistics and Discrimination Against Different Dialects in Schools. She shared: "There’s not really a field at GFA that goes into linguistics so choosing my own research topic was something I was really interested in. I think that’s a great opportunity just for your own learning and growth." Learn more about Inquiries

Through collaboration with peers and faculty advisors, the students get real-world learning opportunities while at the same time pursuing worthy goals, taking risks, and exercising resilience in learning from mistakes.

2023-2024 US Curriculum Guide

First page of the PDF file: USCurriculumGuide23-24-New

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Inquiries & Advanced Inquiries

Computer Science

Become a creator in the digital world by exploring the field of Computer Science from bits to apps. Projects and courses teach students about big ideas in computing related to coding, robotics, history, ethics, privacy, big data, security, and the Internet.

English

Upper school students can explore myriad voices in literature, spanning centuries and representing several literary genres. Their journey explores the written word, from politics to poetry to prose, from history's great works of literature, to mastering creative writing.

Global Studies

GFA’s World Perspectives Program links the curriculum of the school’s divisions and academic departments around the broad topic of global studies. The academic program exposes students to broad and diverse ideas from the field, and provides them the intellectual skills to critique, synthesize, and communicate effectively.

History

From the origins of man to the development of agriculture and the first civilizations, from ancient to contemporary cultures in the U.S. and around the world, these courses lay the historical foundation for global societies, still very much at the heart of the world today.

Mathematics

GFA math classrooms are active and dynamic learning spaces built on a foundation of trust, facilitated discovery, and supported risk-taking. In partnership with their teachers and peers, students take ownership of their strategies; value both process and product; continuously share, defend, and question their methods; and see themselves and their peers as valuable sources of mathematical knowledge, confidence, and validation, all while discovering and appreciating the beauty of mathematics and its application in the world.

Science

Through a variety of inquiry-based labs, hands-on activities and project work, students will investigate the major themes that connect all living things. Courses include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, and Marine Science, among many others. Students also further their understanding of science through a range of inquiries in both Human Ecology & Sustainability and Research.

World Languages

Offering French, Mandarin, and Spanish, the language programs use a proficiency-based approach to immerse students in the language and provide meaningful context to acquire communicative skills. World Languages span the curriculum to explore cultural products, practices, and perspectives in literature, history, art/film, and current events.

Global Online Academy

Students may also take online courses offered by Global Online Academy, a consortium of more than 136 independent schools from around the world. GOA replicates — in online classrooms — the rigorous programs and excellent teaching that are hallmarks of its member schools.

Carolyn Hale

Grade 10

Will

The soccer team has been on an incredible streak, but there is still more to build on. It’s a little like my Design Thinking class where there’s no textbook, and the teacher gives us complex problems to solve. She expects us to get stuck. She expects us to be totally wrong sometimes; she expects us to work through it together. We’re learning how to teach ourselves. There’s no need to be afraid. There’s just growing.

We're learning how to teach ourselves. There's no need to be afraid, there's just growing.

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Grade 12

Lilah

A lot of different moments pushed me to pursue the World Perspectives track. The biggest moment was spending a month in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. The media tends to portray refugees as helpless, immobilized, and vulnerable. The people I met were innovative and persistent. Now, when I think about going to college and beyond, I’m gravitating towards service. I want my work to make an impact.

When I think about college and beyond ... I want my work to make an impact.

Jane Doe

Assistant Head of Upper School for Academic Affairs

Victor Llanque

We see learning — and life! — differently. We want you to discover what you love to do,
what you care about, who you really are. We prepare you to succeed — and to fail. To be resilient. To solve problems. To take ownership of your education. Mastery of content gets you only so far. We cultivate curiosity, creativity, and intrinsic motivation— the qualities that help you go further.

We want you to discover what you love to do, what you care about, and who you really are.

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Grade 11

Olivia

I had attended only one school before I came to GFA. The thought of leaving a place that felt like home was, to be honest, terrifying. But GFA is such a welcoming place. There are smiles everywhere. My friends gave me the motivation to reach higher. That’s how it works here.

My friends gave me the motivation to reach higher.