Local Engagement

Head-Royce School is passionately committed to driving deeper civic engagement and building authentic partnerships within Oakland and the local Bay Area—an institutional value that encourages our students’ political activism, social justice efforts, and collaborations with local groups. From kindergarten to senior year, our students connect with vibrant change-makers and impactful organizations throughout the East Bay for in-field learning, volunteering, and activism, approaching these community connections with critical self-awareness and cultural humility. Our commitment to challenging the status quo helps our students gain the insights, tools, and practice needed to create a more just and healthy world.

Hands-On Design

The Big Build is a beloved interdivisional project that takes place every spring. This project was created by alumn Miles Burton ’17 who spent four summers working with the Tinkering School where he brought hands-on design learning to kids of all ages. 

During the month of May, a dedicated group of Head-Royce Seniors leads full-day design-build challenges for our Lower Schoolers. Each class of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders has a day dedicated to them, where they journey with their Senior guides across the street to South Campus to learn the use of power tools and then build something big and exciting. This hands-on project offers our Lower Schoolers the chance to use machines and hand-skills while collaboratively solving a complex design challenge.

Curricular Connections

It is impossible to imagine the scope of Head-Royce’s community engagement work without a careful look at our curriculum and our ever-strengthening commitment to equity and inclusion. From our Kindergartners to our Seniors, every grade level at Head-Royce immerses students in curricula aiming to instill self-awareness, compassion for others, and purpose-driven action. Our goal is Mission-aligned and clear: to have the study and practice of equity, inclusion, and civic engagement suffuse every classroom.