The Quarry Lane School

Current Upper School clubs include Band, Jazz, Orchestra, Chess, Drama, Photography, Journalism, Economics, Environmental, Red Cross Club, Arts/Literary Journal, Improv Club, and Leadership. Clubs are student driven and formed based on interest throughout the year.

Lower School students engage in a number of challenging enrichment courses outside core subjects. Courses include Engineering, Visual/ Fine Art, Spanish, and Music (including violin and windband). Students can participate in a variety of after-school programs, including private music lessons, art workshops, and chess taught by the professionals at the Berkeley Chess School, and language courses in Hindi and Mandarin.

Quarry Lane Robotics is offered after school for elementary through high school students. Elementary and middle school students discover robotics and develop their engineering skills using the LEGOs NXT robotics system. They plan to compete in a future FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition. Middle school and high school students enhance and challenge their robotics invention skills using the more challenging VEX robotics kit. In their first year, 2007, Quarry Lane Robotics Team 212 competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge in the Northern California Region. Team 212 placed 4th in the qualifiers with a record of 4-1-0, and finished as NorCal Championship Semi-Finalists. In addition, Quarry Lane participates in VEX IQ and EDR for the middle and high schools. The VEX EDR team finished in 49th place at the World Championships in 2016. In 2017, the team won the Design Award at the Northern California State Championships for the second year in a row, and 2017 is the third straight year that they qualified for the VEX World Championships.

Quarry Lane's chess program was initiated by two high school students who, along with the team, earned state-level recognition from the Bay Area Chess League. After placing highly at the California State Tournament, the team looks forward to another season of success and good sportsmanship.

As of the 2012-2013 school year, the following athletics teams are available for the high school: boys' varsity soccer, girls' tennis, co-ed cross country, girls' volleyball, boys' junior varsity basketball, girls' junior varsity basketball, varsity basketball, varsity co-ed badminton, boys' tennis, co-ed swimming, co-ed track and girls' junior varsity soccer.

As of the 2012-2013 school year, the following athletics teams are available for the middle school: co-ed cross country, boys' flag football, co-ed soccer, boys' basketball, girls' basketball, co-ed track and girls' volleyball.

Leadership is optional for high school students. Leadership class is currently headed by Liz Paz-Rumore for the Upper School. Leadership, especially for the high school, is focused on improving one's self and college admissions. Students draft a version of their college application essay in this class, learn vocabulary for the SAT or ACT test, and also learn about what colleges look for in an application. In grades 6-8, Leadership class is mandatory and the goal is to develop critical thinking, teach organizational skills, and instill social and moral values. Leadership class also focuses on practicing Leadership skills by requiring every student to plan and run an event during the year, such as a school sponsored social event or a community service project.

Leadership students work with Student Council to plan and organize some community outreach fundraisers. Every year during the holiday season, students in High School Leadership organize a collection to be donated to the McHenry House fundraiser. The goal of this project is to fulfill the wish lists of families in need. In addition to this annual fundraiser, the high school and middle school Leadership classes organize, plan and execute a few charitable causes throughout the year, including canned food drives, shoe drives, prescription eyewear drives, and a Halloween costume drive to make the holiday special for children in the community without access to costumes.

Student council is an element of the Quarry Lane Upper School. The student council was designed by students to communicate with the faculty about issues that are bothering them.