Grades 9 – 12
Upper School & Trades
Rigorous academics and a real, portable skill. Our graduates should be able to argue a point, write an essay, and do something useful with their hands.
The Program
Two things at once
Most schools ask a fifteen-year-old to choose: the academic track or the practical one. We think that choice is false, and that it is made far too early. Upper School at Discovery Prep keeps both open.
Students carry a full preparatory course load — literature, mathematics, science, history — and alongside it pursue a trade or certification pathway. They graduate having read seriously and having built something. Where their purpose points after that is up to them, but they leave with more than one door open.
Structure
What a Discovery Prep upper schooler carries
Preparatory academics
A demanding, book-centred core: literature and composition, mathematics through the upper levels, laboratory science, and history. Students write at length, defend an argument, and sit real examinations.
- Whole works of literature, not extracts
- Written composition every term
- Mathematics taught to mastery
- Laboratory science with hands-on work
Trade & certification pathways
Alongside the academic core, students pursue a trade or work toward a professional certification — practical, assessed, and recognised outside the school gates.
- Hands-on instruction in a chosen trade
- Preparation for the relevant certification examinations
- Coursework that runs alongside, not instead of, academics
- A portfolio of finished work at graduation
[PLACEHOLDER — client to confirm] Which specific trades and certifications Discovery Prep offers, which awarding bodies issue them, whether any external partner or licensed instructor delivers them, and what a student must do to qualify — none of this has been supplied, and none of it is claimed here. This section should be reviewed by the school before launch. Do not publish the names of certifications, accrediting bodies, examination boards, or college-admission outcomes until they are confirmed in writing.
After Graduation
Somewhere to point the purpose
“Where discovery ignites purpose” is not a decoration on our letterhead. The years a student spends here are meant to surface the thing they are for, and then to hand them the discipline and the credentials to go after it.
For some, that is university. For others, it is a trade they can begin practising the week after graduation. Both are respected here.
At a Glance
Program details
- Grades
- 9 – 12
- Typical ages
- 14 to 18 years
- School hours
- 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Admissions Open
Four years that decide the next forty
Speak with Dr. LE about a place in the Upper School.