Search the Community

American Heritage School is an independent, nonsectarian, and co-educational day school for grades Pre-K through 12 with approximately 2,400 students. The high school, grades 9 through 12, has a student population of 1450 students. The school was founded in 1965 to serve the fast-developing residential communities west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The wooded 40-acre campus and colonial-style complex includes our award fine arts program that is housed in a 100, 000 sq ft facility which contains a 1000 seat Proscenium Theatre, black box theatre and spacious studios for all areas of the arts, sports fields, Olympic- sized pool, and quiet courtyard areas. Our media center is a 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art structure housing four interactive classrooms, 150 computers, and 60,000 volumes of books and reference materials. We also have four brand new technology integration labs in the Lower School. American Heritage offers financial aid, scholarships, and faculty tuition benefits to approximately 21% of the student body for tuition expenses. The college preparatory curriculum at American Heritage serves students of bright average to gifted intelligence and aims to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and lifelong learning. We believe that our students should develop aspects of themselves in addition to academics. There are over 50 student clubs and organizations, and multiple service opportunities on and off-campus. The students at American Heritage are served by 210 instructors, counselors, and administrators. Fifty-one percent hold Masters or Doctoral degrees. Our teachers actively seek out both school-year and summer workshops from which they return with creative ideas. Teachers of AP courses keep up-to-date by attending workshops in their field. We have AP readers on our staff. Our faculty are considered professional, competent, and caring for our students and their parents. Former professional actors, practicing physicians, and attorneys bring resources uncommon to many high schools. Faculty turnover is minimal. We endeavor to offer a curriculum that will help students enhance and develop their strengths and passions that will lead them to reach higher academic goals. Faculty, staff, and students alike strive to model behavior that reflects honesty and strong moral principles in campus life. American Heritage students' compassion is developed and demonstrated through community involvement and a wide variety of service activities. American Heritage School seeks to develop the full potential of each child to be an active, intelligent, creative, and contributing member of the 21st-century society. To achieve this end: We provide the average to the gifted student, a college preparatory program with a significant emphasis on developing intellectual skills and mastery of content areas. Our academic objectives include the development of effective oral and written communications, mastery of mathematical concepts, an understanding of the events and contributions of history, essential communication in a foreign language, a knowledge of scientific facts and methodology, and an appreciation of the arts. We seek to teach our students computer uses and applications as tools for research, problem-solving, design, and communication. Our goal is to send our students into this rapidly changing world, prepared and enthusiastic for the technological changes to come in their lifetimes. We provide opportunities beyond traditional academic studies to develop talents and abilities in fully implemented fine arts and athletic programs. We welcome and encourage all students into these programs using a "no-cut" policy, which allows all interested students to participate. We believe that students need these outlets and opportunities for participation in their developmental years and will use these experiences and interests to add balance to their adult lives. We encourage involvement in our inclusive school community through clubs and activities, as well as arts and athletics, so that children may learn to know him/herself and develop confidence in his/her ability to contribute to his/her efforts. We believe that these goals are best carried out in an environment of mutual trust and caring where competition with one's peers is respected but not required. Effective discipline means learning to take responsibility for one's actions and because there are, after all, consequences in this world. We believe that to be complete, the sense of family fostered on our campus must include parents. To this end, we maintain active and frequent oral and written communications and an "open door" policy. We believe that American Heritage shares with the parents the responsibility for instilling positive values in our students. We believe that as a unit school (PK3-12), we have a unique opportunity to provide our youngest students with positive role models. This continuity of 15 grades provides us with both the privilege and the obligation of getting to know our students and parents to serve best the interests of every child entrusted to our care. View full school