Campus Life and Activities
Harvard-Westlake helps students develop the intellectual dexterity, creativity, and confidence to cultivate their authentic selves and build purposeful lives.
Students learn to analyze information and communicate their ideas clearly and thoughtfully—skills they can and will use in many contexts. They develop the confidence to face challenges and the resourcefulness to turn them into opportunities.
And they build the empathy and social responsibility to positively impact their communities and the wider world.
Students in grades 7, 8, and 9 attend the middle school, located at 700 North Faring Road in Holmby Hills, tucked into the neighborhood just north of Sunset Boulevard and east of Beverly Glen Boulevard.
Students in grades 10, 11, and 12 attend the upper school, located at 3700 Coldwater Canyon Avenue in Studio City, just south of Ventura Boulevard.
Harvard-Westlake does not require a uniform, but we do enforce a dress code. Students are expected to be appropriately and neatly attired. Clothing must be clean, in good repair, and in good taste.
No. Harvard-Westlake is a nondenominational independent institution. Reflecting the diversity of our community, students come from many different faith backgrounds and all walks of life. All are welcome.
At Harvard-Westlake, students work closely with deans to create and maintain a balanced academic schedule that leaves time for other activities, and the number of honors classes each student may take is capped. For more information on this, see the Academic Experience section.
Outside the classroom, Harvard-Westlake offers a vast array of opportunities to pursue interests, develop new skills, and have fun. The school offers more than 150 clubs including community service groups, entrepreneurship clubs, affinity groups, art clubs, speech and debate team, robotics team, and just-for-fun groups like the anime, board game clubs, and karaoke.
Two-thirds of students play on Harvard-Westlake's ninety sports teams. The school stages forty arts performances each year across dance, music, and theater, and students put on both a musical and a play every year on both campuses. Upper school students can also write and produce their own original works. In addition, many upper school students participate in Westflix, a film festival highlighting the best films from high school students across California, which was founded at Harvard-Westlake in 2004.
Harvard-Westlake students are curious and creative. They are eager to think critically about and engage with the world around them. They like trying new things. They enjoy making friends. And they love an adventure.
Rather than limit students to a one-size-fits-all experience, Harvard-Westlake deans, teachers, and staff work with students to design unique paths built around their individual interests, both inside and outside the classroom.
This gives students room to pursue existing passions and develop new ones without feeling overloaded or competitive against peers. Harvard-Westlake graduates overwhelmingly report that the friendships they form with peers, faculty, and staff endure long after graduation.
No, Harvard-Westlake students are not pressured to specialize. Some students choose to focus on one or two interests right away, while others will try many things over the course of their time at the school. There is no “right” path, and the role of the deans is to make sure that students are supported along the way.
Yes, girls thrive at Harvard-Westlake. They assume leadership positions across the school and student government. They consistently perform a level commensurate with boys. And they regularly report levels of satisfaction, happiness, and empowerment that are on par with the boys’, which they carry with them long after they leave Harvard-Westlake.
Schedule & Transportation
Middle School (Grades 7-9)
The middle school uses an eight-day rotating cycle of 55-minute class periods with a maximum of five classes daily. School begins at 8:00 am, and after-school activities, such as team sports and arts rehearsals, begin at 3:15 pm.
When designing the new schedule, which was implemented in the 2025-2026 school year, our overarching priorities were increased balance and wellness for students and faculty. Every day will provide moments for in-depth learning, community-building, and exploration.
View a sample middle school schedule for grade 7
View a sample middle school schedule for grade 9
Upper School (Grades 10-12)
The upper school uses a six-day rotating cycle (Monday-Friday), with school typically beginning at 8:00 am. A “late start day” occurs every Day 3 of the cycle. Classes meet for a 75-minute block every other day, and a common break and a common lunch occur daily. After-school activities, such as team sports and arts rehearsals, begin at 3:15 pm.
View a sample upper school schedule for grade 10
Our daily schedule and breadth of program allow students to explore numerous activities and discover their passions. There are more than 100 existing clubs to join, and creating a new one is easy. There is also at least one no-cut sport per season on each campus, so new and developing athletes can patricipate. As long as students manage their time well, they have many opportunities to get involved.
Students have a designated lunch period in their daily schedule, though they may choose to eat at other times, including during free periods and the activities/break period. Students may bring lunches or purchase hot food, sandwiches, salads, drinks, and snacks at the cafeteria from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Purchases are made with student ID cards, and charges are billed monthly.
Yes. Harvard-Westlake offers 27 distinct bus routes throughout the greater Los Angeles area. We serve all areas that generate ridership sufficient to cover costs (i.e., we operate at cost).
Pick-up and drop-off points are located on major arteries to minimize total ride time. Riders have a choice of two afternoon buses each day: the "early bus" departs after classes and the "late bus" departs at the conclusion of most after-school sports and activities. Some interscholastic games and events may end later, so students may occasionally need to arrange alternate transportation.
Current routes include San Vicente/Sunset, Los Feliz/Hancock Park, Westchester/Ladera Heights/Cheviot Hills, West San Fernando Valley (Agoura/Calabasas), North San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth/Northridge), and East San Fernando Valley (Arcadia/Pasadena).
View Bus Routes >
Academic Experience
Although we are large for an independent school, the number of students in each classroom is small, usually no more than sixteen, and the student-teacher ratio is 7:1.
Our total enrollment is roughly 1,620 students (approximately 745 in the middle school and 875 in the upper school). This allows for a range of academic, athletic, artistic, and extracurricular opportunities that are only available because of our size and commitment to supporting the unique interests of each student.
In addition to benefiting from the close attention of teachers, Harvard-Westlake students are supported by nineteen deans. Deans serve as student advocates and help students academically, socially, and emotionally. They encourage and facilitate communication among peers, teachers, coaches, and parents/guardians.
When students join the school, they are assigned to a dean who stays with them for their entire time on that campus. At the upper school, all deans are also trained college counselors, which makes them especially well equipped to support students through the college admission process.
Learning Centers on both campuses house learning specialists, who guide students in developing executive functioning skills, and academic support staff, who help students progress in specific subject areas. Any student can access the resources in the Learning Centers, and some students just hang out there.
If a student needs or wants additional academic support, Learning Center staff will coordinate with the relevant teacher as well.
For more information on other student resources, please see the Academic Counseling and Support page.
Middle school
Middle school students are assigned no more than forty-five minutes of homework per academic subject per night. However, on most nights, teachers assign less. And because of the rotating block schedule, not every course meets every day.
Middle school students have a seventy-five-minute free period in the middle of the day called Whatever I Need, or WIN. This unstructured time, which includes lunch, gives students an opportunity to relax, hang out with friends, meet with teachers, or complete homework, minimizing the evening workload.
Upper school
The amount of homework for upper school students varies depending on their course load. To keep the academic experience enriching without becoming overwhelming, the number of honors courses permitted is capped at each grade level.
Just as in the middle school, the upper school’s rotating block schedule naturally distributes homework load because not every class meets every day. Upper school students work closely with their deans to build and maintain an academic path tailored to their strengths and goals.
Through the Kutler Center, students can pursue interdisciplinary research, including senior independent study projects; take part in leadership and entrepreneurship courses that give them genuine autonomy and decision-making authority; participate in global student exchange, fellowship, and gap year programs; and learn alongside notable Scholars in Residence.
HW Works, the school's career center, helps students build real-world skills through internships, jobs, and research programs and connects alumni with career opportunities after graduation.
The Kutler Center’s Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research department allows students to devise, plan, and execute research either within the subject of their choosing or across disciplines. This unique approach to coursework not only allows students to engage deeply with subject matter that they are excited about, but also empowers them to develop capstone capabilities such as research and presentation skills and ethical reasoning.
Additionally, all seniors in good academic standing may submit a proposal to pursue a senior independent study, a semester-long project focused on a topic of their choosing.
Don’t worry about it. Most students arrive at Harvard-Westlake not necessarily knowing where their interests and talents lie. And even the ones who do often change their areas of focus after experiencing something new.
You don’t need to have a superpower yet to thrive at Harvard-Westlake. You just need to have an interest in developing one and the curiosity to find out what it is.
The school’s teachers and staff are distinguished educators, passionate about helping students excel and love learning. Seventy-six percent of the school’s teachers hold an advanced degree.
Because most classes have no more than sixteen students, teachers are able to invest heavily in each student's success. Our average teacher tenure at Harvard-Westlake is ten years, which demonstrates how deeply rooted teachers are in our community.
Many of our teachers bring real-world expertise to their classes and programs. All our art teachers are professional working artists. On the athletics side, almost all program leaders are former professional or Division I athletes.
Student Support
Class deans serve as guidance counselors. They assist students with planning their academic and extracurricular paths at the school and serve as college counselors for upper school students. They also help students with day-to-day social issues and developing life skills.
Learning Centers on both campuses provide specialists who offer students additional academic and executive functioning support as needed.
For more information on both deans and Learning Centers, see the Academic Counseling and Support section.
Wellness Centers on both campuses are available for students seeking mental health or emotional support. Their staff members bring clinical expertise and collaborate closely with parents/guardians and relevant faculty and staff to provide comprehensive wellness resources.
Harvard-Westlake hosts a recommended but optional summer program called Fast Start for all seventh grade students and all newly enrolled ninth grade students in August before school begins. Students take mini-classes to get a feel for a typical school day. Fast Start also helps incoming students make friends, get to know their teachers and deans, and become comfortable with the campus before the school year begins.
The middle school (Grades 7–9) also takes a week off from school to attend grade-level retreats in October. Retreats encourage team building and class unity among the students and faculty.