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WOODLAWN SCHOOL
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  • THE GREEN & WHITE GALA
  • Summer Camp 2023
  • Families
  • Alumni
  • Giving
  • Explore

    Explore

    About

    Why Woodlawn
    Mission & Values
    Our Campus & Story
    Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

    People

    Our Team
    Board of Trustees
    Alumni
    Career Opportunities

    Connect

    Schedule A Tour
    Contact
    Map & Directions
    In The News
  • Academics

    Academics

    Early Childhood

    Lower School

    Curriculum
    Distinctive Elements
    FAQ

    Middle School

    Curriculum
    Distinctive Elements
    National History Day
    FAQ

    Upper School

    Curriculum
    Distinctive Elements
    Senior Capstone
    FAQ
    AP Courses & Honors
    National Merit Awards
    Commencement Awards

    College Counseling

    College Profile
    Matriculations
    Merit Scholarships
  • Admission

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    Beyond The Classroom

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UPPER SCHOOL

DISTINCTIVE ELEMENTS

COME SEE THE DIFFERENCE

UPPER SCHOOL

REAL WORLD EXPERIENCES

Woodlawn’s Upper School students are provided with learning experiences beyond the classroom from overnight trips, international travel, and integrated humanities to intermezzo. It is within these distinctive elements that our students continue to learn essential skills for their lives in the real world.

GOAL SETTING + MINDSHIFTS

ADVISORY

Advisory is a time set aside twice a week in our schedule for students to meet with their advisors individually about course work and progress, to work on life skills like organization, goal setting, and shifting mindsets, and to participate in on-campus service activities which include working in the garden and with some of the younger classes.
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STRENGTHS, TALENTS + INTERESTS

FOUNDATIONS + FUTURES

Our Foundations & Futures program is a systematic approach to help students learn more about their own strengths, talents, and interests. Through guided discovery, students build self-advocacy skills as they learn more about their own unique talents and strengths while assessing areas of growth as a learner and contributing members of the Woodlawn community.

In subsequent years, student-driven inquiry drives exploration into possible professions through a variety of research and networking opportunities – such as visiting presenters, personal interviews, mentorship, and externships. When students are ready to engage in a professional mentor relationship within our community, they have the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of future professions and/or research interests, which will lead to their senior capstone project.

The following questions serve as Guided Inquiries during this four year journey:

FOUNDATIONS:

9th Grade:
What are my natural talents and abilities? What are my strengths? How can I build upon my strengths and how can I develop systems that help me better manage things that are hard for me?

10th Grade: How can I pursue excellence in my passions, how can I best utilize my strengths? What careers and professions align with things I love? Who can be my mentor?

FUTURES:

11th grade: What are ways I can gain experience in those careers and professions? What would be a great internship for me? How can I learn to network and create opportunities for myself?

12th grade: What colleges and universities offer the best opportunity for me to pursue excellence in my areas of passion? Where will my passions, interests, and abilities lead me? How can I open those doors?

A Demonstration Of Mastery

SENIOR CAPSTONE​

At Woodlawn School, “our mission is to produce independent, lifelong learners who are responsible, contributing members of a diverse global society.” As senior students near the end of their Woodlawn experience, the Capstone Project provides the opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding and fulfillment of the school’s mission. Students meet requirements throughout the year that address each part of the mission statement. Through successful completion of the Capstone Project, students demonstrate their mastery of the school’s core values and are ready to move forward as graduates of Woodlawn School.

distinguishing fact from opinion

Integrated Humanities

Humanities classes connect history, art history, literature, creative writing, foreign language, and drama whenever possible to deepen course content and critical thinking skills. With an emphasis on group and individual project work, writing to learn, and Socratic-seminar style discussion, the Humanities program hones student abilities to articulate questions, distinguish fact from opinion, analyze and synthesize information, and write and speak intelligently about world literature and cultural development.

Mutual Trust and Respect

Honor Code and Council

Our Honor Code states: “On my honor, I will conduct myself with personal and academic integrity.”

Woodlawn’s community of mutual trust and respect is grounded in the Code of Honor. An honor code helps students understand the importance of honesty, integrity, and respect. Students on the council are elected by upper school faculty and senior council members, all of whom are charged with upholding the Code throughout the school year.

No Ordinary Fieldtrips

Overnight Trips

Our class excursions are no ordinary field trips! The campus empties out late spring as classes pack loaded vans and head off on an adventure, some for an entire week. The trips are always connected to an area of study at each grade level, and often include college visits while en route.

Immersed in a culture

International Travel

Through the international travel program at Woodlawn, Upper School students are immersed in a culture through the art, architecture, history, language, food, and traditions. Students learn to appreciate the challenges and pleasant surprises of traveling in a foreign land. Upper School students have an opportunity to travel abroad every year.

dedicated to community building

Common Hour

Each week, the entire upper school connects during Common Hour, a period dedicated to community-building. Sometimes Common Hour is academic in nature, with a guest speaker, TED Talk, or student/faculty discussion, but Common Hour is also host to some of our favorite upper school competitions: Ginger Bread House building, tree decorating, pumpkin carving, and the annual Quidditch match.

A break from the larger "movement"

INTERMEZZO​

Twice a year, the upper school student body and faculty take 2-3 days away from the normal coursework and curriculum in order to participate in the upper school’s intermezzo. In music, an intermezzo is an instrumental interlude which connects larger pieces of a dramatic movement; similarly, at Woodlawn, the intermezzo is a break from the larger “movement” of the school year that still forms vital connections between courses and to the larger mission of the school and our curriculum.

Starting with community building

Advance Week

Rather than heading straight to classes the first week, students in upper school spend the first two days of the school year engaged in discussion and activities that build community and foster camaraderie. Students meet their teacher-advisors, participate in advisory forums, and discuss the school’s mission and culture.

CELEBRATING OUR PAST + PRESENT

Woodlawn'S HOMECOMING Day

Woodlawn’s oldest tradition comes once a year, early in the fall, and is a campus-wide event for Homecoming. In honor of Dr. George Stinson (the original landowner of Woodlawn’s historic campus), we center the day around celebrating the history of our campus and our athletics programs. The day starts off with a pep rally, Varsity Volleyball and Soccer matches, jump houses, and food trucks to celebrate our 20-year history and thriving community of lifelong learners.

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GLOBAL COMMUNITY

TRAVEL ABROAD

Exploring the art, architecture, history, language, food, and traditions of a region are central to Woodlawn’s Upper School experience. 

LET'S SEE THE WORLD
reilly

WOODLAWN ALUMNI

Reilly (along with his three siblings) took full advantage of the opportunities that were provided by Woodlawn. One memorable moment occurred when he helped the boy’s cross country team earn Woodlawn’s first state championship trophy. But he was especially passionate about the sciences and immediately gravitated to the Physics and Astronomy programs when he arrived at Haverford. He attributes his readiness to be successful in these fields to one of the hallmarks of the Woodlawn experience – and its project-based curriculum.

 – Reilly M. ’15
Haverford College ’19  |  Major: Physics and Astronomy
Astrophysics PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill

hoops + more

ATHLETICS

Woodlawn fields over a dozen, competitive “no-cut” teams for middle and upper school students in cross country, track & field, soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, tennis and golf. Our alumni participate in NCAA teams in college and Woodlawn is uniquely able to support the special needs of exceptional athletes.  

LET'S GO 'BLAZERS

LOWER
SCHOOL

EXPLORE LOWER SCHOOL

MIDDLE
SCHOOL

EXPLORE MIDDLE SCHOOL

UPPER
SCHOOL

EXPLORE UPPER SCHOOL

COLLEGE
COUNSELING

BE PREPARED

BACK TO SCHOOL
FAMILIES
ALUMNI
GIVING
CAREERS

EXPLORE
ACADEMICS
ADMISSION
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
GET INVOLVED
TOUR WOODLAWN

BACK TO SCHOOL
FAMILIES
ALUMNI
GIVING
CAREERS

LET’S CONNECT

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135 Woodlawn school loop, mooresville, nc 28115
704.895.8653

THE WOODLAWN EXPERIENCE

Get an inside look at the Woodlawn Way and our
Project Based Learning approach.

Woodlawn is a private school providing a project based learning curriculum for early explorers preschool, lower, middle, and upper school academics. Our historic 61-acre campus is located just north of Charlotte, NC in beautiful Mooresville, and within driving distance of Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, North Mecklenburg, and Concord.

Woodlawn School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, or national, ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

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