Head-Royce School
Encyclopedia
Head-Royce School is a co-educational college-preparatory
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...

 K-12
K-12
K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...

 school in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The forerunner of Head-Royce was the Anna Head School for Girls in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

, founded in 1887. Relocated to its current site in 1964, Anna Head School for Girls merged with the neighboring Royce School in 1979 to form the present-day Head-Royce School.

Head-Royce is composed of three divisions. The Lower School consists of kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 through 5th grade. Middle School
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 is composed of 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Finally, Upper School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 encompasses 9th through 12th grades. Most new students enter Head-Royce in kindergarten, 6th grade, or 9th grade.

History


The school was founded in 1887 by Anna Head as the Anna Head School for Girls in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. In 1955, the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 acquired the school's property by writ of eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...

. The school was relocated to the Oakland Hills, and a new campus was constructed by 1964.

In 1971, the school's Board of Trustees established a co-ordinate school for boys, The Royce School, named in honor of philosopher (and Anna Head's brother-in-law), Josiah Royce
Josiah Royce
Josiah Royce was an American objective idealist philosopher.-Life:Royce, born in Grass Valley, California, grew up in pioneer California very soon after the California Gold Rush. He received the B.A...

. In 1979, the schools completed the transition to become a fully co-educational school, with its current name.

Today Head-Royce's commitment to diversity is a core value in the mission as the School helps students "develop an understanding of and respect for diversity that makes our society strong." Nearly one half of the students and one third of the employees are people of color. One quarter of the student body receives financial assistance ensuring that Head-Royce is a socio-economically diverse community accessible to able, motivated students regardless of financial circumstances.

Admissions and tuition

Evaluation for acceptance depends upon the division to which the applicant wishes to be admitted. The admissions process for the high school is generally composed of testing through a proprietary test or an Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE), transcript and relevant history, recommendations, and an interview; in addition, a student evaluation may influence the final decision. Head-Royce claims a selective admissions rate that is competitive with many American colleges.

Tuition for the 2011-2012 school year (USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

):
  • Lower School (K-5): $21,590
  • Middle School (6-8): $23,980
  • Upper School (9-12): $30,310

Academics and student life

Head-Royce students complete a college-preparatory curriculum including mandatory courses in English, mathematics, Russian, Chinese and Indian history, American history, European history, physics, chemistry, biology, foreign language, fine arts and physical education, as well as a rotating group of elective courses in science, English and history in the senior year. These senior elective courses have covered such topics as astronomy, robotics, Shakespeare, Japanese literature, psychology, the history of Islam, and many others. Some courses specifically prepare students for Advanced Placement exams in the subject. The vast majority of students take at least three AP exams by the end of high school, with many students opting to take six or more exams.

Additional graduation requirements include completion of a prescribed amount of approved community service activity, and completion of a "senior project" in lieu of final exams at the end of the senior year, involving logging 80 hours toward a specific endeavor of the student's choosing.

Graduating-class sizes are generally 85-95 students. The school boasts a 100 percent (in some years nearly 100 percent) matriculation rate to four-year colleges, especially University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 schools and elite private institutions.

The 77 students in the class of 2006 had average SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...

 scores of 674 Critical Reading, 676 Math and 673 Writing.
This class contained 15 National Merit commended students, 17 National Merit semifinalists, 15 finalists and 3 National Merit Scholarship winners.

Middle and Upper school students attend an annual "Fallout" trip near the beginning of the school year. The two-day event brings each class a different outdoors experience, such as sea kayaking or river rafting.

The eighth grade class used to travel to Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...

 for an annual three-day ski trip, though the high school class of 2001 was the last eighth grade class to participate in this tradition. Now the class travels to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

 for three days in May, while the sixth and seventh grades travel to Pinnacles National Monument
Pinnacles National Monument
Pinnacles National Monument is a protected mountainous area located east of central California's Salinas Valley, just miles from the town of Soledad...

 and Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

, respectively.

The school newspaper is The Hawk's Eye, which publishes bi-monthly. Students who write for the newspaper are enrolled in expository writing, a full additional academic course in their schedule.

School vacations include a week in February formerly (still colloquially) known as Ski Week, as well as a week of spring vacation. Seniors get a week off classes in the fall to visit colleges. First semester finals are held in mid-December, but first semester classes continue (post-exams) for two weeks in January before second semester classes begin.

10th–12th grade students enjoy an open campus, allowing them to leave during free periods or lunch. Ninth graders must stay on campus during the school day.

Campus

The Head-Royce campus was built in a ravine adjacent to Lincoln Avenue in Oakland, CA. The current campus consists of three distinct areas, coinciding with the three "divisions."

The Lower School is in the lowest and most western part of the ravine and has two buildings: the "Rotunda" which contains the main lower school office as well as the kindergarten and first grade classrooms, and the "Lower School Building" which contains the classrooms for 2nd through 5th grade. This is also the location of the after school program, lower school library, and computer lab. The lower school is also consists of a vegetable garden, a courtyard, a large play structure known as the "Big Toy" (although the "Big Toy" brand is no longer used) and a basketball court.

The middle school building is farther east and uphill. The main gathering area for the middle school is a large patio which is just below the administrative offices and overlooks the swimming pool. The main floor of the building houses 7th and 8th grade classrooms, the “Community Room” (which is also used for the school’s choir groups), as well as the Mary E. Wilson Auditorium (commonly referred to as "MEW"). The MEW hosts weekly "morning meetings", assemblies, performances, and special events. The main level also contains a kitchen which serves as a cafe for breakfast and lunch, staffed by the Epicurean Group, and a lounge room which serves as a lunchroom for faculty as well as a meeting room. The 6th classrooms are located on the lower level along with both vocal and instrumental music rooms. This level shares a courtyard with the lower school.

The fine arts studios are located on the other side of the MEW and include a computer lab for digital imaging and video production, a ceramics studio, the instrumental music room, and a drama room. On the upper level of these rooms are the 3D and 2D art studios and an art gallery.

Next to the fine arts classrooms and parallel to Lincoln Avenue is the World Languages Building, a two level building dedicated to the middle and upper school language classes (Latin, French, Spanish and Mandarin). This building was completed in 2008 as one of the changes of the “Master Plan”, Head-Royce's plan for renovation and reconstruction.

The World Languages Building is one of three new buildings built around the main courtyard of the upper school. The other two buildings are the Read Library and the main upper school building, which is perpendicular to Lincoln Avenue and has three levels. The bottom level houses the Jayhawk Café, run by the Epicurean Group. The faculty room, student-faculty lounge, computer lab, and upper school office are adjacent to the café. The second and third levels have most of the English, history, math, and science classrooms, including two biology labs and two chemistry labs.

The building parallel to the main upper school building houses additional math, history, language, and science (specifically physics) classrooms. It is commonly referred to as “the old middle school” because the middle school and high school switched places at the start of the 2008-2009 school year. This building is connected to the Paul Chapman Pavilion (the gym) which includes a weight room. Further east of the gym is the outdoor basketball court, the tennis courts, the athletics field, and the parking lot.

The Master Plan

The Master Plan was Head-Royce's multi-decade plan and execution of systematic strategic initiatives. The Master Plan renovated existing facilities by making them more spacious; better utilized technology as applicable to public education initiatives; increasing the school's endowment through corresponding expansionist measures.

Athletics

Head-Royce's mascot is a Jayhawk
Jayhawk
For the origin of the term, see JayhawkerJayhawk may also refer to:-Vehicles:*HH-60 Jayhawk, US Coast Guard medium range recovery helicopter *T-1A Jayhawk, twin-engine jet trainer used by the US Air Force...

 named Tuffy. The high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 competes as a member of the Bay Counties League - East
Bay Counties League - East
The Bay Counties League – East is a school athletic conference located in the East Bay Area. The league is a member of the North Coast Section, one of ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation. There are seven current member schools...

 (BCL East). The middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 competes as a member of the Bay Area Interscholastic Athletic League (BAIAL). Its rival is The College Preparatory School
The College Preparatory School
The school's strict academics and small size have translated into an admissions rate lower than many American colleges and universities. In turn many students from College Prep go on to study at America's top universities, and approximately one-third of each graduating class matriculates into Ivy...

, commonly known as 'CPS'.

Athletic facilities on campus include the Paul Chapman Pavilion (commonly referred to as "the gym") for basketball and volleyball, three tennis courts (each named), and the Farley Field with the Jesse Becherer Diamond for soccer, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. Head-Royce also has several small practice basketball courts spread around campus. A new drainage system was installed underneath the field in the winter of 2005-2006 to prevent mud patches which had become a problem. The school has also installed a running path on a hill above the field which can be used for recreational running. A swimming pool is on campus for lower school swim lessons, PE classes, and the swim team, but it is not of regulation size and therefore does not host many meets. The golf team plays at Lake Chabot Golf Course, which is near the school. No plans to improve the athletic facilities have so far been revealed in the master plan.

In the 2005–2006 school year, the middle school varsity boys teams (high school class of 2010) went undefeated and won the championship in all three of their sports (soccer, basketball, and baseball). This is the first time in league history that the same school has won all three championships and gone undefeated in the three sports.

The high school men's varsity basketball team and women's varsity soccer team have won the BCL
BCL
BCL may stand for:*BCL, an Algerian company that produces light infantry vehicles for the National Popular Army* the ISO 639-3 code for the Central Bikolano language*Bachelor of Civil Law, the name of various degrees in law in English-speaking countries...

 championship six years in a row. In the 2006 season, the women's varsity volleyball team won the BCL championship. The men's varsity soccer program has been extremely successful with multiple BCL championships and two NCS
NCS
-Organizations:* The NATO Codification System* The National Center for Simulation* The National Citizen Service programme in England* The National Compensation Survey* The National Cartoonists Society...

 Championship appearances in the last 4 years. The men's varsity volleyball program were BCL champions in 2006 and 2007 and came in second in NCS in 2006. In 2009, the men's varsity baseball program won the NCS
NCS
-Organizations:* The NATO Codification System* The National Center for Simulation* The National Citizen Service programme in England* The National Compensation Survey* The National Cartoonists Society...

 Championship. In 2010 the men's varsity soccer, basketball, and tennis programs all won the BCL championship.

Fall

  • Boys Soccer
    Football (soccer)
    Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

     (MS, HS)
  • Girls Volleyball
    Volleyball
    Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

     (MS, HS)
  • Women's Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

     (HS)
  • Cross Country
    Cross country running
    Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

     (MS, HS)


Spring

  • Baseball
    Baseball
    Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

     (MS, HS)
  • Softball
    Softball
    Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

     (HS)
  • Men's Tennis (HS)
  • Girls Basketball (6)
  • Girls Soccer (11–1, HS)
  • Men's Volleyball (HS)
  • Swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

     (HS)
  • Track and Field
    Track and field
    Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

     (HS)
  • Golf
    Golf
    Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

     (HS)
  • Lacrosse
    Lacrosse
    Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

     (HS)



Notable alumni

  • Helen Wills Moody
    Helen Wills Moody
    Helen Newington Wills Roark , also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."-Biography:...

     - Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

     champion
  • Adam Duritz
    Adam Duritz
    Adam Fredric Duritz is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and film producer. He is best known for his role as frontman and vocalist for the rock band Counting Crows, in which he is a founding member and principal composer of their catalogue of songs.Duritz has recorded solo...

     - Singer of Counting Crows
    Counting Crows
    Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...

  • Will Glaser - Founder of Pandora Media
    Pandora (music service)
    Pandora Radio is an automated music recommendation service and custodian of the Music Genome Project available only in the United States. The service plays musical selections similar to song suggestions entered by a user...

  • Daniel Wu
    Daniel Wu
    Daniel Yin-Cho Wu is a Hong Kong actor, director and producer. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 40 films. Wu has been called "the young Andy Lau," and is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese-language film industry.-Early life:Wu was born in...

     - Hong Kong
    Hong Kong
    Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

     film actor
  • Steven J. Law
    Steven J. Law
    Steven J. Law is President and CEO of American Crossroads, and President of its sister organization CrossroadsGPS. He previously held the position of Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He served as Deputy Secretary of Labor in the administration of U.S....

     - Former Deputy Secretary of Labor
  • MC Lars
    MC Lars
    Andrew Robert MacFarlane Nielsen is an American rapper, known by his stage name MC Lars. He is the self-proclaimed originator of "post-punk laptop rap". He was one of the first underground rappers to sample and reference post-punk and emo bands...

     - post-punk laptop rapper
  • Peter Linden - Artist
  • Helen Hull Jacobs - Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

     champion
  • Jane Connell - actress
  • Claire Falkenstein
    Claire Falkenstein
    Claire Falkenstein was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer, and teacher, most renowned for her often large-scale abstract metal and glass public sculptures.-Early life and education:...

     - sculptor and painter
  • Cynthia Holcomb Hall
    Cynthia Holcomb Hall
    Cynthia Holcomb Hall was a United States federal judge.-Early life and career:Born in Los Angeles, California, Hall received an A.B. from Stanford University in 1951, an LL.B. from Stanford Law School in 1954, and an LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 1960...

     - United States federal judge
    United States federal judge
    In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....

  • Suki Schorer
    Suki Schorer
    Suki Schorer is an American ballet dancer, ballet mistress, teacher, and writer.She danced with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet from 1959 to 1972....

    - ballet dancer

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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