How Children Learn Best

High standards and nurturing support

Children, essentially, need the right combination of two factors. First, they need a genuinely challenging, rich, deep, and relevant academic experience. Our job is to lay the foundation for future learning, shape the early character development of children, and prepare them for entry into excellent high schools. This is important and challenging work, and we ask a lot of our students. We do so, however, in an environment that acknowledges the second most important factor of N-8 success – children need a genuinely warm, nurturing, and supportive environment. This creates the conditions in which they will grow the most – as students and people. When this balance between high expectations and nurturing support is properly struck (and this balance looks much different in Kindergarten than it does in Eighth grade), truly exceptional growth occurs.

Let there be joy in learning

Our motto, Gaudeant Discentes, means, “Let there be joy in learning.” We believe that the pursuit of learning, especially when it comes to children, must be rooted in and driven by joy. Joy happens when work is challenging, when it is meaningful, when it stretches children to do and be their best. A joyful school is one where children are engaged and happy, where they are known and loved. This does not mean that the process of learning is always easy, that there are never difficulties to overcome or challenges to face. There are – and must be: this is how children learn and develop. But joyful learning is purposeful and meaningful, and children deserve – and respond best to – a school that acknowledges this simple reality.