The Quarry Lane School
The Quarry Lane School is a private college preparatory institution of acedemia and International Baccalaureate school in Dublin, that currently offers education for students from preschool to their senior year in high school. The Quarry Lane School was founded by Dr. Sabri Arac, who presides over the school as Head of School.
History
The Quarry Lane School was founded in 1991 by Dr. Sabri Arac as an infant/toddler preschool and was expanded into an elementary school at its original Pleasanton, California campus. In 2000, Dr. Arac opened a campus in Dublin, California to accommodate the elementary school that was rapidly growing. The Pleasanton campus was open only to preschool students, while elementary students studied at the Dublin campus. In 2004, Dr. Arac opened the second Pleasanton preschool campus, the Pleasanton West campus. In 2005, the Dublin Campus expanded to include an Upper School program, consisting of a middle school and high school, with its first graduating class being in 2010.The newest facilities include an indoor gym, four science labs, a computer lab, art studio, library, outdoor sports field, tennis court and 33 additional state-of-the-art instructional classrooms.
Quarry Lane School currently offers college preparatory, honors and AP classes. The Quarry Lane School offers East Bay’s only International Baccalaureate Programme in a private school setting, and offers an IB Diploma.
Awards and recognition
The Quarry Lane School has been accredited by NIPSA, WASC, and NCPSA, and is an IB World School. It was also voted to be the 2013 GOLD "Family Favorite" in Bay Area Parent magazine for Preschool, Elementary School, Middle School and High School. Students have won awards in the Exploravision contest, the Optimist Speech Contest, and the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge. Over 75% of students qualify as gifted and talented, and over half of the middle and high school students were on the honor roll, with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.Student involvement
The Quarry Lane School has some student involvement in the Upper School. Both the middle school and high school have their own student council, and leadership is a required class for the Upper School.Clubs and activities
Current Upper School clubs include Band, Jazz, Orchestra, Chess, Drama, Photography, Journalism, Economics, Environmental, Red Cross Club, Arts/Literary Journal, Improv Club, and Leadership. Clubs are student driven and formed based on interest throughout the year.Lower School students engage in a number of challenging enrichment courses outside core subjects. Courses include Engineering, Visual/ Fine Art, Spanish, and Music. Students can participate in a variety of after-school programs, including private music lessons, art workshops, and chess taught by the professionals at the Berkeley Chess School, and language courses in Hindi and Mandarin.
Robotics
Quarry Lane Robotics is offered after school for elementary through high school students. Elementary and middle school students discover robotics and develop their engineering skills using the LEGOs NXT robotics system. They plan to compete in a future FIRST LEGO League competition. Middle school and high school students enhance and challenge their robotics invention skills using the more challenging VEX robotics kit. In their first year, 2007, Quarry Lane Robotics Team 212 competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge in the Northern California Region. Team 212 placed 4th in the qualifiers with a record of 4-1-0, and finished as NorCal Championship Semi-Finalists. In addition, Quarry Lane participates in VEX IQ and EDR for the middle and high schools. The VEX EDR team finished in 49th place at the World Championships in 2016. In 2017, the team won the Design Award at the Northern California State Championships for the second year in a row, and 2017 is the third straight year that they qualified for the VEX World Championships.Chess
Quarry Lane's chess program was initiated by two high school students who, along with the team, earned state-level recognition from the Bay Area Chess League. After placing highly at the California State Tournament, the team looks forward to another season of success and good sportsmanship.Competitive sports
As of the 2012-2013 school year, the following athletics teams are available for the high school: boys' varsity soccer, girls' tennis, co-ed cross country, girls' volleyball, boys' junior varsity basketball, girls' junior varsity basketball, varsity basketball, varsity co-ed badminton, boys' tennis, co-ed swimming, co-ed track and girls' junior varsity soccer.As of the 2012-2013 school year, the following athletics teams are available for the middle school: co-ed cross country, boys' flag football, co-ed soccer, boys' basketball, girls' basketball, co-ed track and girls' volleyball.
Leadership
Leadership is optional for high school students. Leadership class is currently headed by Liz Paz-Rumore for the Upper School. Leadership, especially for the high school, is focused on improving one's self and college admissions. Students draft a version of their college application essay in this class, learn vocabulary for the SAT or ACT test, and also learn about what colleges look for in an application. In grades 6-8, Leadership class is mandatory and the goal is to develop critical thinking, teach organizational skills, and instill social and moral values. Leadership class also focuses on practicing Leadership skills by requiring every student to plan and run an event during the year, such as a school sponsored social event or a community service project.Leadership students work with Student Council to plan and organize some community outreach fundraisers. Every year during the holiday season, students in High School Leadership organize a collection to be donated to the McHenry House fundraiser. The goal of this project is to fulfill the wish lists of families in need. In addition to this annual fundraiser, the high school and middle school Leadership classes organize, plan and execute a few charitable causes throughout the year, including canned food drives, shoe drives, prescription eyewear drives, and a Halloween costume drive to make the holiday special for children in the community without access to costumes.