Kirby Hall has always met and exceeded TEA requirements and has added its own special excellence.
When the school opened a Kindergarten, it taught reading with the phonics approach years before phonics became popular. Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers have been provided with refresher courses in Riggs-Spalding Phonics through the years. Diligent attention to its teaching method has produced successful Kindergarten readers by Christmas.
Teachers have been asked to select books which are in William Bennett's Book of Virtues and the school uses E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy series and a list of classics too. From Hirsch's initial volume, there followed a series of valuable and highly usable books, What a First Grader Should Know, What a Second Grader Should Know, beginning a series through sixth grade and adding individual books for Middle and Upper School.
Writing is begun as a part of the study of phonics. With computer being a part of the curriculum from Kindergarten up, children begin typing their projects and papers early in their academic careers.
Kirby Hall was the first school in Texas to use Saxon math. John Saxon had written only one book, Algebra 1/2, when we began to use his approach. It has succeeded through the years from a child's early math through Algebra. Some students have taken six years of secondary level math at Kirby Hall and some have gone to The University of Texas for college calculus and other advanced courses.
History, science, Spanish, computer, music, art, drama, physical education, health are required parts of Kirby Hall academics. Other courses are added depending on faculty talents and student requests. History of art has been taught for several years. Russian, French, psychology, philosophy, marine science, anatomy, mechanical drawing, and study skills are a few courses that have been given in addition to the required curriculum.
Since core courses in 10th, 11th and 12th grades are Advanced Placement courses, students decide at the end of the course whether or not to sit for the A.P. examination. Many college credits have been earned and many of the large freshman courses avoided by Kirby Hall students. One young lady had earned enough hours before Kirby Hall graduation to go from Kirby Hall to junior year honors sections in college, 53 college hours in all, 10 from attending university classes and the rest from A.P. courses. Alexi is now entering Oxford University in England for a masters program in history.
When learning can be fun, the business of excelling is expedited. Kirby Hall teachers try to make even the most difficult material satisfying to study. Then there are the parties and projects and interesting visitors and field trips. The very first year of the school, a Colorado ski trip was planned, and it became an annual event. Later there were more scuba trips, mostly to Belize. A weekend at the UT Marine Science Center in Port Aransas was a yearly trip for a number of years. Then there were trips to Mexico, Canada, Spain, France, England and one trip to major European cities. Sr. De La Llata has planned student trips to Guanajuato, Mexico over the Christmas and summer breaks, and Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Campbell took students to Italy over spring break.