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Academics
9th and 10th Grade Foundation
Before the IB. Before the diploma. Before students know exactly who they are or what they want to study — there's 9th and 10th grade at VVS. These are the years when curiosity gets taken seriously, when learning looks less like a lecture and more like a question nobody has answered yet.
Three Questions. Four Years. One Community.
01
Who am I and how do I know that?
02
How do I fit into the world around me?
03
What is my responsibility to my community?
We Start With Questions
At VVS, the 9th and 10th grade curriculum is built around three questions that don't have easy answers. Who am I and how do I know that? How do I fit into the world around me? What is my responsibility to my community?
These aren't rhetorical. They shape what students read, what they build, what they argue about in class, and how they're assessed. Teachers across every discipline — science, history, English, math — design their courses around them. Students don't just study content. They use content to figure something out.
Learning that looks different
In the 9th and 10th grade foundation, projects are often planned by students and graded by self-assessment and peer review. Teachers don't just keep students busy — they ask them to lead their own education and think critically at every step.
That might mean carrying out a mock excavation to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. Or launching a potato across the soccer field to grasp pressure and velocity. Or dressing as 1920s salon attendees to teach each other about the celebrated minds of the era. The point is always the same: real understanding, earned by doing.
Ready for What's Next
By the end of 10th grade, VVS students aren't just prepared for the IB curriculum — they've already been living its values. They've led projects, defended ideas, collaborated across cultures, and learned how to learn.
Study skills are woven into every class, not taught separately. Working collaboratively is practiced daily, not just preached. The foundation years at VVS are designed so that by the time students reach the IB, they're not starting from scratch — they're ready to go deep.
Verde Valley School
Verde Valley School is an International Baccalaureate boarding and day high school for students in grades 9-12.
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Photo Credit to Arabella Media, John Sheedy, and others.
Photo Credit to Arabella Media, John Sheedy, and others.