Vaux Big Picture High School is an innovative neighborhood public high school developed and supported in partnership with Big Picture Philadelphia, the School District of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Vaux BPHS’s primary goal is to provide each student with the “hard” and “soft” skills through an educational pathway tailored to their career interests so that students have a solid plan upon graduation.
Key features of Vaux BPHS:
Highly personalized and individualized learning program for each student based on student needs, student interests and long term goals.
Applied learning in real-world contexts through Internships and authentic Project Based Learning.
Deep and sustained Relationships with parents and the community, and sustained Post-Secondary Transition programs.
Advisory and relationships: Advisory is the core organizational and relational structure at Vaux BPHS. Advisory is often described as a “second family” by students. At Vaux BPHS, we understand that the quality of the relationship between students and staff is one of the most important ingredients in assuring a student’s success. As such, there is one advisor (teacher) for every 18 students. As a result, every student is known well!
Restorative Justice and Resilience: Vaux BPHS utilizes Restorative Practices to build a culture of respect and accountability within the school. Vaux BPHS’s staff of Resilience Specialists help students build their own capacity to develop solutions for themselves, through one-on-one counseling support services and by connecting students and their families to an array of outside service partnerships.
Real World Learning / Learning through Interests: Perhaps most importantly, Vaux BPHS challenges students to develop their interests and passions. Vaux BPHS students intern with experts in their fields of interest, completing authentic projects and gaining experience and exposure in how their interests intersect with the real world.
Project-Based Learning: Vaux BPHS’s core pedagogical belief is that students learn best by doing - when they engage with real problems and real issues. The entire learning experience is student-centered, personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs.
Post-Secondary Supports: Vaux BPHS provides sustained postsecondary and career transition programs so that students and graduates have a solid post-secondary plan once they graduate. Students will acquire skills that will allow them to follow a path uniquely tailored to their individual interests, particularly career interests.
Vaux BPHS, located at 2300 W Master Street in the Sharswood region of Philadelphia, is a Big Picture Philadelphia school which is a part of the nationally-recognized Big Picture Learning network with over 70 student-centered, project-based schools nationwide.
Interested in joining our team? Please email Matt Prochnow, Director of School Systems and Supports, Big Picture Philadelphia: mprochnow@bigpicturephiladelphia.org.
Interested in participating in our Real World Learning programming? Please email Tia Hall, Director of Real World Learning, Vaux BPHS: thall@bigpicturephiladelphia.org.