In the spring of 2005, a group of parents and educators wanting an alternative choice from what is being offered for middle and high school in Santa Clara county envisioned a school of choice that would prepare all students for college. So began a process of bringing parents in the county together to determine exactly what that alternative would look like.

South Bay Preparatory and our mission and values were created during these community meetings. Our philosophy is based upon the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools, and our approach is to address the needs of our students as individuals who have a variety of learning styles. It was decided that we would create the school within the boundaries of the Campbell Union High School District (CUHSD). Between 2005 and now the process of defining the school and creating our charter has taken place.

In 2007 South Bay Prep found a partner in EdVisions, a nonprofit organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that creates and supports schools with an educational model that is based on the Coalition of Essential Schools principles. EdVisions philosophy and implementation of project-based, hands-on learning environments matches South Bay Prep’s philosophy and we are very excited to be partnering with an organization with dozens of successful schools around the country that have implemented the philosophy that SBP espouses.

Since our first community meetings our supporter base has grown from its original core group of Campbell parents to include parents from all over the county. We have been soliciting partnerships with companies and corporations throughout the county. SBP's curriculum emphasizes project-based learning, in which students learn by doing – by following their interests to learn from real-world, hands-on activities as well as from books and other media. These partnerships are an integral part of our curriculum.

Because of our unconventional curriculum, we expect our main source of feeder schools to be other schools with unconventional curriculum such as other charter schools, parent participation schools, and magnet or alternative public schools distributed around the county (e.g., McAuliffe - Cupertino, Village School - Campbell,  PACT - Mountain View, Discovery and Sherman Oaks - San Jose, Washington Open - Santa Clara, etc)

SBP will offer the only integrated middle school and high school choice to parents seeking college prep with more support, graduation requirements meeting or exceeding UC requirements, alternative measures and assessments, a small school, smaller classes, and more personalized learning.