Academics

Saklan Valley School academic programs achieve two primary competing strands of contemporary education: high educational standards and rigorous academic challenges harmoniously blended with a culture of support, encouragement, and nurturing for the individual student. Where some schools promote academic intensity without compassion, and others make such a priority of consideration for the students’ emotional well being that academics are de-emphasized, Saklan instead achieves the golden mean of strong academics with deep concern and care.

Small classes provide the human scale and humane community wherein students quickly develop a sense of belonging, and where teachers, unhurried by the demands of a crowd, can truly attend to children as individuals. Teachers teach to the group without losing sight of each student’s needs, and elevate them all to the highest and best they can be.

Research has established that small classes, classes of 15 or below, achieve nearly two months per school year of additional academic advancement when compared to classes of 20 students or above.

While we ensure students have many opportunities to investigate their subjects to construct their own ways of understanding material, we are committed to providing them a solid foundation of skills required for academic success. This traditional approach gives students enormous confidence because of the great strength of their abilities, and also promotes high achievement in standardized testing as well.

A Saklan education is further enriched by the joys and delights the specialist programs provide. Our foreign language program begins earlier in the grades and is provided more weekly minutes than at almost any other East Bay school. Our students learn French, Spanish and Mandarin in a way that stokes their love of the language and leads them to a terrific prowess in the tongue. Art and Music programs have rapidly expanded in recent years, and now we can truly say students are enjoying a wonderfully rounded experience in the course of their school week. Physical Education is consistently popular with our students. Visits to our Library, amazing preparation in computer skills, and Science classes round out our specialist offerings.

David Hague,
Head of School