What They Take With Them
So much of what happens during a child's years at WHPS is designed with a longer view in mind: what they need to learn now, and what they will be able to do with that learning later.
From the earliest years, children are learning how to approach something unfamiliar, find a strategy when they get stuck, explain their thinking, understand another perspective, and recognize what helps them learn. Each year builds on the one before it, with greater independence, depth, and ownership.
The WHPS Graduate
Our Graduate Profile grew from a review of 20 years of WHPS alumni, drawing on both measurable outcomes and the qualities we consistently observed in our graduates. What emerged reflected the goals that have guided our curriculum, teaching practices, and program design for years: students who think deeply, communicate confidently, approach unfamiliar problems, advocate for themselves and others, and reflect on their own growth.
Families visiting WHPS often tell us how impressed they are by the confidence, poise, and genuine engagement of our fourth and fifth graders who welcome guests and help lead campus tours. We encourage visitors to look for the qualities of our Graduate Profile in the students they meet. What makes us especially proud isn't that children demonstrate these qualities in the same way, but how distinctly they emerge through each child's personality, voice, interests, strengths, and aspirations. It's this combination of shared capabilities and individual expression that makes the Graduate Profile so meaningful.
They Read Beneath the Surface
Read increasingly complex texts, develop their own tastes and interests as readers, consider perspectives beyond their own, draw nuanced inferences, and support interpretations with evidence.
They Write With Voice and Purpose
Write across genres with sophistication, pursue ideas and subjects that matter to them, shape writing for audience and impact, revise substantially, and develop a voice that is recognizably their own.
They Solve Complex Problems
Approach complexity with confidence, break difficult problems into manageable parts, identify patterns and connections, test assumptions, compare strategies, and apply what they know when the path forward isn't obvious.
They Speak With Confidence
Express ideas with clarity and conviction, explain and defend their thinking, listen genuinely to others, disagree respectfully, and engage thoughtfully even when perspectives differ.
They Advocate for Themselves and Others
Recognize what matters to them and what they stand for, advocate for themselves and others, engage thoughtfully across differences, navigate conflict, and turn concern into constructive action.
They Own Their Growth
Know their strengths, challenges, interests, and emerging passions. They set meaningful goals, seek and use feedback, take pride in who they are, and understand what helps them keep growing.
Learning That Travels With Them
Learning has lasting value when children can use it beyond the lesson in which it was taught. Tests and quizzes provide important information, but demonstrating a skill once isn't the same as mastering it or knowing when to use it independently.
At WHPS, we design learning with future application in mind. Teachers continually assess what children understand and can do independently, while helping students recognize their learning goals, understand what mastery looks like, and reflect on their progress. Throughout lessons, children are encouraged to make connections between what they're learning and where they might use it again. A reading strategy becomes a tool for understanding a more challenging text. A mathematical approach helps solve an unfamiliar problem. Understanding perspective helps a child navigate a disagreement.
Prepared to Flourish Beyond WHPS
Middle school brings greater independence, new teachers, new friendships, and higher expectations. WHPS graduates arrive with strong academic foundations, confidence, independence, and a clear sense of themselves as learners. Over the years, leaders at other independent schools have told us they can often recognize students who attended WHPS by how they carry themselves, communicate, approach challenges, and take ownership of their learning. These are qualities that help our graduates stand out and thrive well beyond WHPS.
The Right Next Chapter for Each Child
Los Angeles offers families a remarkable range of schools for what comes next. We help each family find an environment that matches their child's strengths, interests, learning needs, and personality. Our graduates move on to an equally varied range of schools.
Independent & College-Preparatory
Archer · Buckley · Harvard-Westlake · Oakwood · Sierra Canyon · Viewpoint · Wesley · Wildwood
Small, Progressive & Individualized
Country School · Fusion Academy · Manzanita · Qualia · Woodcrest
Gifted & Specialized
Mirman · REVO Academy · Westmark
Independent Religious Schools
Berkeley Hall · Campbell Hall · Chaminade College Preparatory · Heschel Day School · Milken Community School · Oaks Christian
Public, Charter & Magnet
A.C. Stelle Middle School · A.E. Wright Middle School Gifted Magnet · CHIME Charter · Hale Charter Academy Gifted STEAM Magnet · Louis Armstrong Middle School · Medea Creek Middle School (GATE) · Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (SOCES) · Valley Charter Middle School · Woodland Hills Academy & Humanities Magnet
Knowing the Child Helps Us Find the Right Fit
By the time middle-school planning begins, we often have years of history with a child. Our Principal and Dean of Students work individually with each family, bringing that knowledge to the search for the right next school.
Individual Counseling & Interview Preparation
Families receive personalized guidance throughout the process. Each student also receives individual interview preparation, helping them talk comfortably and authentically about themselves, their interests, and what they hope to find in a new school.
Our Annual Alumni Parent & Student Panel
Each year, alumni students and parents return to share what the transition is really like, from academics and friendships to workload, independence, school culture, and what surprised them along the way.
What Comes Next Starts Long Before Fifth Grade
The confidence to tackle something unfamiliar. The strategy to keep going when they're stuck. The ability to understand another perspective, advocate for what they need, and know themselves as learners. These are built over years, one experience at a time.