High School
The Leffell High School offers a structured yet flexible, integrated, concept-oriented curriculum. Our secular and Judaic academics are rigorous, and they are supported and enhanced by our values and ethics, our vibrant communal life outside the classroom, and the strong and lasting connections that are formed between students and staff throughout the high school years. All these components provide our students with the courage and confidence to self-advocate, persuade, and present their ideas and opinions in cogent and compelling ways as they prepare for college and beyond.
Small School, Big Options
For a school our size, we offer a remarkable array of academic options. Beyond the core disciplines, our course catalogue highlights an ever-expanding list of elective classes in such areas as engineering and entrepreneurship, computer science, visual and performing arts, world languages, and physical education. And our partnership with the Virtual High School provides our students with access to hundreds of online course options.
Accelerated Courses and Individualized Program
No two students at Leffell High School share the same academic schedule. Many students are drawn to our intensive honors courses, in such areas as the sciences, mathematics, and Judaic Studies. Our double-accelerated calculus program, for example, enables students to take the college-level Advanced Placement exam at the end of 11th grade. We also offer a rich network of support that prepare learners with a variety of academic needs to thrive. Most importantly, we are a single academic community, ensuring that the schedule provides opportunities for all students to learn with and from one another.
Individual Identity Formation
High School is the time of life when students solidify the personal identities that will characterize them in their adult lives. In our classrooms, students are expected to define and articulate their own perspectives on the critical issues of our time, while being open to learning from viewpoints beyond their own. Judaic Studies courses in particular are built around this critical life skill of defining one’s own set of core ideologies while building community with others who may think differently. This ability, perhaps more than any other, prepares Leffell School students to thrive as leaders in the modern world.
Unique Senior Year
The culminating experience of a Leffell School education is the transformative Lev v’Nefesh trip to Poland and Israel. Twelfth-grade students spend eight weeks walking in the footsteps of Jewish history, getting a taste of independent living, and learning from extraordinary guides and madrichim (counselors). Upon their return, under the guidance of a faculty member, seniors participate in either a student-designed capstone project or in an internship which provides them with work experience in an industry or field of their choosing.
Student Services
Our High School is proud to provide an enriching environment for students with a wide range of academic skill sets, strengths, and challenges. The Center for Academic Support (CAS) is designed to serve students who need extra guidance or structured support in order to thrive. Students enrolled in CAS are assigned a case manager who is trained in special education, and they attend a dedicated class with that teacher three times per week. The CAS specialist also manages individual learning plans, accommodations, regular consultations with each student's classroom teachers, and communication with families.
High School Guidance and Counseling
The Counseling Department at The Leffell School is dedicated to meeting the educational, social, and emotional needs of students at each grade level. We recognize that developmentally, the adolescent years are filled with transitions and challenges; the task of the dean (counselor) is to provide ongoing support, guidance, and advocacy. A dean functions as an advisor, an educator, a listener, and a primary support person who works with students and families, both separately and together, on developmental issues, course planning, and problem solving. Deans provide a safe space for students and their families to share personal and sensitive information. We aim to promote self-awareness, wellness, independence, and advocacy as our students navigate their way through our rigorous dual curriculum.
As they are future leaders of the Jewish community, our objective is for our students to feel proud of their heritage and to live their lives infused with Jewish values and traditions. Essential to our approach is the belief that collaboration between deans, psychologists, teachers, and families ensures that the needs and goals of every student are addressed, making the Leffell School experience rich and rewarding.
Beyond the Classroom
What truly distinguishes the Leffell High School is the seamless integration of a rigorous academic program with a robust student life outside the classroom.
- Are fearless and take on challenges with confidence, possess the creativity and critical thinking skills necessary to solve them, and the collaborative abilities needed to build highly functioning teams
- Understand that academic excellence, intellectual seriousness, and full participation in the broader world can coexist harmoniously with wholehearted engagement with Judaism
- Cultivate a strong, individualized identity and learn to interact comfortably and respectfully with people whose beliefs, perspectives, and worldviews are different from their own
- Master cutting-edge academic skills and content that will serve them well in college and beyond
Leffell Graduates...
- Gain crucial leadership talents that are sorely needed by the Jewish community and the broader world
- Demonstrate a keen sense of responsibility to serve the community, to conduct oneself with respect at all times, and to maintain the ethical core of Judaism
- Develop the historical knowledge, confidence, and nuanced understanding of multiple perspectives that are necessary to become strong advocates for Israel, on campus and beyond
- Build meaningful, lifelong relationships with peers and establish enduring connections with caring adults who serve as transformative mentors, both during school and after graduation