The Nueva School

The Nueva School is a private school, with two campuses—the lower and middle school in Hillsborough, and the high school in San Mateo, California—serving gifted students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Nueva was founded in 1967 by Karen Stone McCown. Originally, the Nueva School only served younger students, but in 2013 it expanded to include a high school, and a new campus for it was built as part of the Bay Meadows development in San Mateo, opening in August 2014. Unique aspects of Nueva's curriculum include its focus on design thinking and social emotional learning. In his book That Used To Be Us, commentator Thomas Friedman lauded Nueva for its creativity-inspiring curriculum and overall philosophy. Nueva is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the California Association of Independent Schools. It has received the Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. Department of Education in 1988, 1997, and 2010. Nueva was rated the #3 private K-12 school and the #9 private high school in the United States by Niche in 2021. History In 1965, Karen Stone McCown started planning a school for gifted and talented students, funded by her father-in-law W. Clement Stone. She convened a group of 17 Nobel Prize winners to discuss what kind of school would have suited them in their childhoods. Based on the meeting, she planned a school that would emphasize creativity, independence, active learning, and social and emotional learning. A board with members including Ernest "Jack" Hilgard and Meredith Wilson helped to found the school. In 1967, the school was founded on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California, starting with students in kindergarten, first, and second grade, with the intention of adding one grade each year until the sixth grade. In 1971, it moved to Crocker Mansion in Hillsborough, California. In 2013, the school further expanded to the high school level.