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Miller School of Albemarle (MSA) is a coeducational and college preparatory day and boarding school for grades 8 to 12. Nestled in the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, MSA has been educating the Minds, Hands, and Hearts of students since 1878. With a visually stunning 1,600-acre campus, MSA offers its 175 students ample opportunity to broaden their intellectual horizons while gaining life-enhancing experience in a wide range of extracurricular activities. MSA provides a challenging and structured curriculum through which students learn their subjects and develop a life-long love of learning. This curriculum includes sixteen AP course offerings and special programs in applied engineering, humanities, and land management. MSA is known for combining academic understanding with practical hands-on experience so that students gain know-how and knowledge. Students participate in year-long community service partnerships on campus and in Charlottesville. MSA offers a broad selection of athletics and afternoon activities. The average class size is ten students. Sixty percent of the students are boarders. Miller School of Albemarle is located 12 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia. We understand and appreciate that every student has different ideas, interests, and learning styles. Miller is a place where you can be yourself and learn the way you learn. Our teachers will meet you where you are while our small classes allow us to differentiate instruction. At Miller, we will focus on your strengths while we challenge you to step out of your comfort zone. We create opportunities for discovery and reflection by engaging our students' minds, hands, and hearts. Service to the community through partnerships with local non-profits is a core value of the Miller School of Albemarle, where volunteerism is substantive and focused on long-term engagement rather than a simple accumulation of hours. This is accomplished through bi-weekly service days. Every MSA student participates, with many students maintaining sustained partnerships with local non-profit organizations and engaging in service activities that benefit a wide range of Albemarle County residents. At the beginning of each school year, students are assigned to an on- or off-campus service group that they will work with throughout the year, allowing for long-term involvement and investment. Miller School of Albemarle offers a rigorous yet supportive college preparatory curriculum that includes ample hands-on learning experiences. Fifteen Advanced Placement courses and four Dual Enrollment courses are available and specialty tracks in Applied Engineering and Humanities. The faculty comprises a remarkable group of educators that includes published authors, award-winning artists, and professional athletes. Students benefit from teachers who meet them where they are while challenging them to reach their full potential. The curriculum at the Miller School of Albemarle combines rigorous coursework with individualized attention and support. Students are challenged to reach their full potential as learners, building content knowledge and creativity, problem-solving abilities, and analytical skills. Our wireless campus and new laptop requirement enable us to stay on the cutting edge of technology education. A full spectrum of courses, including many honors sections and thirteen Advanced Placement options, provides the flexibility to meet each student's individual needs while preparing all students for college success. For more information on individual courses, see the Course Descriptions below. In keeping with our motto, "Mind, Hands, and Heart," the Miller School of Albemarle curriculum includes many opportunities for hands-on learning, both through students' traditional classes and innovative courses such as Design/Build. For example, a student may use surveying equipment to determine the height of Caton Hall in geometry class, gather a water sample from Miller's 12-acre lake in earth science, and build a scale model of his or her dream home woodworking portion of Design/Build. Over seventy percent of MSA teachers live on campus with their families. Students and faculty spend much time together outside the classroom. As a result, teachers get to know students better, and students get to know their teachers better. These connections allow for more meaningful and relaxed classroom interactions. View full school

4.4 years… However, the expected tenure of the workforce’s youngest employees is about half that. Ninety-one percent of Millennials (born between 1977-1997) expect to stay in a job for less than three years… That means they would have 15 – 20 jobs throughout their working lives!” Today’s children and teenagers are accustomed to highly varied and motivating leisure time activities, a high degree of autonomy, and many options available to them. Even children from families who are considered low income by Australian standards are wealthy compared to previous generations, and compared to children in the majority of other countries. Travel is second nature to many members of this generation of young Australians: they see the world as a global village. Traditional non-school activities, including regular attendance at places of worship, membership of groups such as scouts, and participation in sporting clubs, decrease in popularity. There are good and bad aspects of these changes in our society, but it is not helpful to students if schools ignore these profound and continuing developments. The rigid authoritarian structure of schools, which extends to, among other things, curriculum, timetables, behavior management, and subject choices, is at odds with the kind of world today’s young graduates will enter. The structure and practices of Alice Miller and Candlebark Schools are designed to match the world of the 21st century. Alice Miller School operates primarily through an elective-based, multi-age curriculum model. In Year 7 and 8, the compulsory subjects are English, Maths, Humanities, Art, Music, and PE. In addition to these subjects, Year 7 and 8 students may choose three subjects that they will study for a semester, before changing mid-year. Subjects on offer include Art, Drama, Dance, Music, Guitar Club, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Outdoor and Environmental Studies, History, PE, Motion Media, and a range of language-based electives: Writers’ Studio, The People’s English, Publishing, French, and Text To Performance. In Years 9 and 10, the only mandatory subjects are English and Maths. All others are electives, involving choices from VCE and other subjects which include French, Art, Drama, Music, PE, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Forensic Science, Outdoor Education, Sustainability, Dance, “Nerd Club” (ICT), Chinese, Philosophy and Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Motion Media, Guitar Club, History, Communications, Writers’ Studio, The People’s English, and Publishing. We encourage keen and able students in Years 9 and 10 to tackle at least one VCE subject during this time. In exceptional circumstances, Year 8 students may also take on a VCE subject. The last period of the day is dedicated to ‘Sessions,’ which include a range of options such as supervised study, cross country, martial arts, chess, art, writing workshops, choir, band, production rehearsals, ‘Fake News’ analysis, The Imagineers’ Club, and (outside of fire season), Explosions Club. View full school