Click here to download the complete 2025-2026 Northwood School Program.
Northwood School’s Approach to Education
A Northwood School education, while maintaining a challenging college-preparatory curriculum at its core, is undergoing a process of re-design in response to the changing world and college landscape. This year’s offerings are designed to meet New York State requirements and college expectations, while allowing students flexibility and choice to pursue their interests. We include a variety of Honors, AP, Advanced Research, Independent Initiative, traditional and non-traditional options to suit each student’s abilities. Pathways of study are designed to strengthen intellectual abilities, promote character development, advance interests in specific subject areas and prepare students for life beyond Northwood’s campus.
Above all, we aim to teach students how to learn. We encourage them to be in the driver’s seat of their own educational career. It is our hope that all students will build the skills necessary to participate in one of our Independent Initiatives or Advanced Research Studies should they have a desire to do so.
With that in mind, our rigorous curriculum aims to recognize both the academic and experiential modes of learning that students engage in both during the traditional academic day and during their co-curricular pursuits. As you will find in the following course descriptions, many courses also are organized differently, outside of the traditional confines of how school “seat time” is measured. Courses may meet only once a week for an extended period of time once a semester for an intensive 48-hour weekend such as our Outing Club electives, or asynchronously such as our arts Studio Hours option.
In this course program, you will find each of our offerings for the 2024-25 school year with descriptions of course content and how the course is executed. Please read carefully to understand the commitment of each course as well as any prerequisites or necessary teacher approvals. Placement in a course is subject to space availability, the daily schedule and a student’s overall course load. Some changes may occur. All students will be contacted by the Academic Dean over the summer to confirm their registration.