BI-CULTURAL HEBREW ACADEMY – UPPER SCHOOL
Quick Facts
What is the BCHA Upper School?
The BCHA Upper School was established in 2018 as the result of the merger between Bi-Cultural Day School and the Jewish High School of Connecticut (JHSC). JHSC was founded in 2010 as a school dedicated to bringing together students with diverse Jewish backgrounds and experiences both educationally and culturally.
What is the student body like?
In line with the BCHA mission to “make every student and family in our community feel welcome,” our Upper School continues to pride itself on its diverse yet cohesive student body. All Jewish students, regardless of affiliation or background, are welcome and encouraged to apply.
We strive to create a community of Jewish teens who learn together, who learn about one another, and who forge connections that will extend beyond the confines of our classrooms. Our student body—from 12 different communities throughout Connecticut and Westchester County—comes together to form a warm, inclusive, and supportive environment of friends and learners.
We are a small school, with no cliques or “in group”/”out group” issues. Students develop very strong friendships in addition to feeling part of a large family, with students from across grades sharing classes and free time.
What does the curriculum look like?
The BCHA Upper School offers a rigorous academic program with a focus on developing skills of critical reasoning and argumentation while engaging students in advanced academic content.
A dual curriculum of general and Judaic studies provides the ability to develop knowledge, skills, curiosity, and passion on both sides of the curriculum, and we provide numerous opportunities to deepen the academic experience through electives and broad offerings of honors, AP (Advanced Placement), and university-level courses (UConn Early College Experience).
What is the school's accreditation?
BCHA is accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC) and is a member of the Prizmah Jewish Day School Network, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC).
What are the qualifications of your faculty?
Within the faculty, teachers have rabbinical degrees, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees. The BCHA Upper School is proud of its teaching ratio of one faculty member for every three students. View our faculty and see what they teach.
What AP courses do you offer?
We currently offer:
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
English Language & Composition
English Literature & Composition
Environmental Science
Microeconomics
Psychology
U.S. Government and Politics
U.S. History
How do your students do on SAT/ACT?
Following are the mean scores for Class of 2019 (provided since 2020 & 2021 were test-optional years for many universities, due to COVID):
ACT Composite: 32
SAT Composite: 1560
We provide SAT/ACT courses to our students at a significantly-reduced cost. These courses are run by our own faculty members, who are SAT/ACT tutors. Because these faculty members know our students well, they are able to gear the courses to the needs of the participants.
What does the daily schedule look like?
The regular school day runs from 8:05 am to 3:45 pm (1:15 pm on Fridays). Students may opt for additional electives from 3:45 pm to 4:30 pm.
General studies courses meet seven times over 10 school days with class blocks are in 50-minute increments. Judaic studies and Hebrew language classes meet eight or nine times over 10 school days for 40–45 minutes each.
Tefillah (prayer) takes place at the start of each school day (with various options, including a traditional minyan and an explanatory/discussion-based group) and mid-afternoon.
Each day, students have a 45-minute lunch period and a 25-minute flex period, during which time teachers have office hours and students can collaborate with each other, do schoolwork, or participate in clubs and other ongoing programs and activities.
What are some notable student achievements?
Each year since 2014, at least one (and this past summer, two) of our students has been selected for an internship with Discovery to Cure—offered by Yale in collaboration with NIH, the leading center for women’s reproductive cancer research and treatment.
In the last four years, every single graduate of BCHA was accepted to one of their first choice universities and received some form of scholarship aid.
Four of our students have been recognized as National Merit Semifinalists.
Our students have been published in academia.edu, and their work has been cited by other papers nine times.
Where do your students go after graduation?
We are proud of our graduates and their stellar college acceptance records. In the last four years, every one of our graduates has been accepted to a top choice university, all with some form of scholarship.
Note: In addition to a robust program of college guidance, BCHA Upper School also has a gap year advisor to help guide students interested in spending a gap year studying in Israel before beginning university.
The 22 seniors in the Class of 2021 were accepted to 66 schools including Brown, Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, WashU, Berklee College of Music, Emory, Tulane, NYU, Northeastern, Michigan, Virginia, RISD (all in the top 100 most selective schools in the country)—and many more excellent universities, including UConn, UMass, Yeshiva University, and music and art schools.