Chadwick School

Educational excellence and unparalleled experiences. Fantastic faculty and beautiful facilities.
Unlike most schools where you have to be the best to fight your way into the best classes, to be on a sports team, or to participate in an extracurricular activity, students at Chadwick have all the opportunities they could imagine at their fingertips. If they want to learn something new, they have amazing faculty and facilities to support their development, and the possibilities are endless.
If you are a parent reading this, that is what you are paying for — not acceptance into an ivy league school, not the ability to wash your hands of involvement in your child’s education; you are paying for your child to have opportunities, including developing a love of lifelong learning.
You never know what your child will love or want to become when they grow up. Many try to push their children to becoming doctors or lawyers, but I would only suggest that approach if you secretly want them to only apply to art schools, as teenagers have a knack for being obstinate. In reality, neither parents, nor their children, know what what the future has in store, what opportunities will arise, so the best one can do is prepare them with a breadth of meaningful experiences and a depth in educational excellence.
Some examples from personal experience …
In 9^th grade, I could not for the life of me run the mile in under 10 minutes; I failed the physical fitness test twice in a month. But, one of the coaches put extra effort into running with me on the local horse trails during P.E. class. I found that I loved it, so I joined cross country the following year. Only a year after failing the physical fitness test, I ran the mile in 6:30. I went on to run in college.
Loving and excelling at math and science, I was able to take multiple college level courses, some of which are rarely offered at a high school level (for example, Calculus BC with coding theory and linear algebra mixed in). From my experiences at Chadwick, I went on to being accepted to the most selective math/​science/​engineering schools in the country with full tuition scholarships.
Since I was 2 years old, I can remember loving art; I even wanted to grow up to be an art teacher when I was a child. Unfortunately, I have never been the most skilled painter, and so naturally, I would have never been able to enter the AP Studio Art course at a public school. However, at Chadwick, I was able to enter a portfolio, mainly with pop art and logos, which filled me with a lot of pride and enjoyment.
Basically, I could go on and on. The thing that I find most wonderful about Chadwick is that students can become whoever they want to be, like that show The Pretender in the 90s. If your child wants to be a scientist, compete in math competitions, play the viola in the orchestra, backpack across the Southern Sierras, travel to another country, volunteer with special ed kindergartners, advocate for gay rights, express themselves on a canvas, take college level courses, run with an amazing team, photograph events for school publications, speak another language fluently, help make policies and decisions for the school in student government, try theirs skills at a dozen different sports — including flag and tackle football even if you are a girl, perform in a play, etc. etc. etc. … they can … and I don’t just mean they can choose these things, I mean they can do all of it.
I know because I did it and loved every minute of it.

I have a son who goes Chadwick school currently, he has been developing his verbal skill and personality very well. They are emphasizing the core values and I think it is really important.

They had a sweet asphalt bank between the basketball courts and the sand box that was fun to skate.

I must say when I went to this school 9^th-​12^th grade I didn’t appreciate the rigourous academic schedule, the high expectations, and studying all night. But I can honeslty appreciate everything when I look back on it now. I had tremendous oppurtunities and I was exposed to things I probably would have never known about. A few of those oppurtunies were backpacking, dancing, diversity conferences, community service, and wonderful college counselors.
There’s also certain traditions that make Chadwick special such as the Tree Awards, they physically ring a bell in between classes, eating lunch on the lawn, and the graduation.
There is also the rigorous academic excellence that is demanded from every student. This can be a challenge if you haven’t grown up in an environment where your suppose to study 45mins per class every night. Now that i’m in college i’m glad I have those time management skills. The teachers are definitely amazing too and they have very high expectations of their students also.
So all in all I think Chadwick is definitely a school you should consider sending your child too. The Alumni network is very active and give lots of money because most people who graduate are successful.

I have to plug my alma mater. Accepting students from K-​12, Chadwick school is the best educational experience available for your children. I would move back to southern California specifically to send my kids to the ‘Wick, where community service, athletics, and art are as essential as reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Believe it or not, I got better grades at MIT than at Chadwick – it is THAT challenging. The faculty are unparalleled and the facilities, supported by a loyal alumni network, are the envy of local schools, private and public alike.