Castilleja Viewbook 2023

What’s Possible?

What’s possible... when girls collaborate to engage in thoughtful conversations and innovative projects in a setting that values diverse life experiences, the playful exchange of ideas, and supportive friendships?

Since 1907, Castilleja has been creating confident thinkers and compassionate leaders in the only non-sectarian girls middle and high school in the Bay Area. Our students develop initiative, agility, and purpose as they listen thoughtfully, explore complex questions, and gain a sense of agency by taking action within our vibrant, inclusive community. At Castilleja, each girl makes choices and learns skills that will allow her to discover what’s possible for her.

In the Company of Girls

There is a moment for every Castilleja student. At some point, she finds herself fully engaged in the Castilleja experience and realizing that she is truly at home.

Relationships are at the heart of Castilleja, and within those meaningful connections, our students understand that they can share the full extent of their courage, curiosity, and joy with the people around them.

This happens because, at Castilleja, we put girls at the center of everything we do.

Combining over a century of experience with the latest findings about how girls learn best, Castilleja is a school where girls can thrive socially, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. As a community of learners, Castilleja students explore challenging subjects with fearless abandon and boundless enthusiasm while building lifelong friendships.

The success of our girls’ environment has never been about the absence of boys; it has always been about the steadying and inspiring presence of girls.

At Castilleja, the connections with peers across grades and divisions prepare girls to seek out mentors and step into leadership roles, both proven to be critical skills for women in the workplace and beyond. We know that graduates of girls’ schools learn how to advocate for themselves, and decades of research prove that this environment

breaks down barriers for students to pursue careers in STEM. But the moment we are talking about isn’t about glass ceilings or the change our graduates effect in the world. It comes before all that, and it marks an internal shift. It’s the joy that comes when our students discover that at Castilleja they can really be their full and authentic selves—funny and focused, determined and direct, courageous and compassionate. This moment is what defines a Castilleja education, but even more important, it’s what makes our students special.

Castilleja School educates motivated young women to become confident thinkers and compassionate leaders with a sense of purpose to effect change in the world.

Relationships are at the heart of Castilleja.

Women Learning, Women Leading.

There are confident public speakers, curious investigators, thoughtful observers, and strategic thinkers, and all of these strengths are essential to effective leadership. Across and within the middle school and upper school divisions, our older students serve as mentors to younger students while gaining a deeper understanding of their strengths as leaders. The leadership competencies that we teach are linked to Castilleja’s Antiracist Teaching and Learning Program, so learning to lead at Castilleja involves actively working to create an inclusive community where every voice matters.

Castilleja values and nurtures every kind of leader.

Inclusive Leadership

At Castilleja, we are preparing students to lead in a diverse and changing world.

From Affinity Groups to the DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice) Leadership Council to our signature community-wide event, #ComeAsYouAre, students passionately advocate for inclusion within and beyond our campus.

Affinity groups are intentionally-built spaces that serve as safe and brave forums to co-create an inclusive and equitable community. There are affinity groups for not only middle school and upper school students, but also for parents, guardians, and employees.

Castilleja students celebrate each other.

Faculty that Inspires

Our teachers rely on both time-tested and cutting-edge practices that are specific to the ways girls learn best—with meaningful real-world applications, extensive interdisciplinary connections, and steady attention—ensuring that every student’s voice is heard and amplified.

Above all else, our intentional and innovative program is founded on the understanding that deep learning begins with strong relationships and an emphasis on social and emotional wellbeing. Starting there, every day our educators invite students to become intellectual partners through interactive hands-on projects, careful critical analysis, and creative problem solving. An Upper School class may be visiting Angel Island to gain a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience while a group of Middle School students is bringing their research to life by designing monuments to people, events, and groups they feel are not well represented on our National Mall in Washington DC. All of our classes are taught by teachers who offer the tools and the space to ask big questions—ones that may take years to answer.

Castilleja students become intellectual partners.

Experiential Learning and Engagement

We know that hands-on learning experiences actively prepare girls with lifelong leadership skills. Because of this, we’ve prioritized experiential engagement in our schedule.

All students—and girls in particular— learn and lead best when they can integrate new information and skills through direct engagement with meaningful questions. Therefore, our program provides opportunities for deep-dive learning and leading through design thinking and making, community partnerships and hands-on learning on and off campus. These foundational experiences will prepare our students for lifelong learning and sustained leadership.

The Awareness, Compassion, and Engagement (ACE) Center urges Castilleja students to ask questions that reach beyond their immediate experiences, fostering empathy, activism, and a global perspective. Two key touch points in our global experiential learning programs include Junior Global Investigator Trips and our annual Global Week, when students attend workshops and presentations about pressing issues, like Inclusive Journalism: Moving Beyond Headlines and The Promise and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence. Through exploration, research, and engagement, Castilleja students make relevant connections across communities and disciplines while developing an informed and nuanced global mindset.

Social Emotional Learning & Wellbeing

At Castilleja, we support our students throughout the arc of their adolescent journey.

Our SEL team, composed of grade-level deans, advisors, wellness teachers, a learning specialist, and counselors, are highly attuned to learning each student’s individual social-emotional needs. Our developmentally appropriate curriculum allows different learners to safely challenge themselves to find balance, take risks, and explore roles, ideas, and activities. Wellness classes focus on developing solid study habits, navigating transitions in friendship, and learning how to advocate for oneself. Class retreats center on healthy risk-taking, trust-building, and of course, lots of fun activities like creating skits and singing around the campfire.

We model and instill a compassion for self and others and a commitment to mindfulness and life-long learning.

Castilleja provides safe spaces to take risks and grow.

Athletics

Castilleja coaches understand what our student-athletes need to build mental strength and perform at their highest level.

They understand how to motivate girls, working diligently to teach leadership, selfconfidence, wellbeing, collaboration, and resilience. Mentorship begins in Middle School, with Upper School students assisting the coaches, and younger studentathletes see the future ahead of them as competitors and leaders. And best of all, at Castilleja the girls’ teams aren’t just part of what we do, they are everything we do. Your child’s team will be at the core of our planning, and our entire community comes out strong to support our student-athletes, whether they are just starting a new sport in 6th grade or getting recruited at the collegiate level. With eleven sports offered each year and three-quarters of our students participating in at least one season, there is a place for every athlete to thrive within our athletic program.

Visual and Performing Arts

By developing their creativity, Castilleja students gain confidence in their own voices and perspectives.

We offer students a strong base and broad exposure in Middle School, so they can drive their own creative processes and guide our community’s collective growth as Upper Schoolers. The Middle School musical is a rite of passage, with the vast majority of students participating at some point, and each year the Upper School presents a play and a musical that are chosen by the student-run advisory board, giving students a powerful sense of agency. The dance department offers classes in 7th–12th grades, and all students are invited to participate in the yearly dance production.

All students learn to play guitar and sing as a shared experience in Middle School, which provides foundational confidence as musicians at Castilleja and throughout life. Visual artists can rise through advanced 2-D and 3-D classes, participating in and curating art shows. At Castilleja, we feel the arts are a way to explore who you are and how you want to live in the world by taking rewarding risks and asking brave questions.

Maker Spaces and Robotics

Castilleja’s maker spaces provide countless opportunities for students to explore, innovate, and engage in hands-on problem solving.

Classroom teachers collaborate with the Maker Space team to incorporate engineering and experiential learning into their programs.

Gatorbotics, one of the first girls’ robotics teams in the Bay Area, takes new programming and design challenges each year, with older students filling all leadership roles and teaching newer students skills and strategy. Girls who never would have imagined finding a space to thrive on co-ed teams dive in at Castilleja and rise through the ranks with the support and encouragement of their peers and industry mentors. Many use this exposure and foundation to pursue STEM fields in college.

Community, Enrichment, and Interest Clubs

At all grade levels, students have the opportunity to pursue new passions, connect within the Castilleja community, and engage with the world beyond Castilleja.

Through Middle School Exploratories our students have time to make new discoveries through the visual and performing arts, creative writing, computer science, and making and design curricula. The third trimester exploratories are envisioned, planned, and implemented by our own 8th graders for our 6th and 7th graders. Examples of student-led exploratories are DIY Room Decor, Clayopolis, Exploring Writing and Self-Care, Photography, and more! In the Upper School, the ACE Center houses our student-led organizations, clubs, and interest groups, many of which provide avenues for both local and global activism and outreach with groups like Human Rights Watch and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Other activities, like the student newspaper or STEM club, enable students to apply what they’re learning in the classroom to an immediately tangible objective or goal.

Beloved Traditions

While traditions have evolved at Castilleja, the sentiment and excitement surrounding them remain the same. Celebrations such as the Tie Ceremony on the first day of school, Junior-Senior Banquet and Rivalry, Spirit Week, and Founder’s Day all serve to strengthen the bond between students. As our students experience these rites of passage, they learn that they belong to a community of students and alumnae who are united by these traditions. Whether decked out in a silly costume or participating in a time-honored ceremony, Castilleja students across divisions relish the joy of developing memories and friendships that last a lifetime.