Academics
In order to promote maximum learning, our teachers must know subject matter deeply, teaching materials broadly, and children intimately.
For children at various ages, there are many different paths to learning. Rather than follow one single dogma, we strive for a balanced approach that utilizes confirmed evidence from research about how children learn best. To develop their cognitive powers, young children need an array of sensory experiences as the foundation for words and concepts. Older children are capable of more abstract learning, but they continue to need a balance between conceptual, intellectual work and hands-on experiences to become good thinkers and problem solvers. Though children learn at different rates and in different styles, they are challenged to learn as much as they can in order to discipline and stretch their minds.
We know that children do not learn in neat steps. Our way of grouping children from kindergarten through the fifth grade puts together clusters of children, deliberately mixed in abilities and talents, with an age spread of eighteen months to two years.
The goal of this inter-aging is to provide optimum instruction and maximum learning for each child. It also encourages friendships with both older and younger children, providing a wider variety of social experiences.
As children mature into their adolescent years, they are ready for a departmentalized grade level program. In the sixth to eighth grades the program allows for small sections to provide the rigorous yet supportive setting that is appropriate for children of this age.
