- We strive to keep learning relevant and meaningful so students will experience the intrinsic value of learning. Teachers are responsive to the needs and abilities of their students and to emerging interests and themes.
- Our practice is informed by child development. We understand that at various points in their development, children perceive the world in fundamentally different ways.
- We believe that our role as educators is to support all aspects of a child’s development – social, emotional, cognitive and physical – and see them as interconnected.
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- We see children as natural learners. A key responsibility of our teachers is to nurture, support and encourage this desire to learn.
- We see students as individuals with unique abilities, challenges and interests, each with their own developmental timetable.
- We recognize giftedness in many realms, from academics to the arts.
- We understand that learning involves risk-taking and that in order to take risks, students must feel safe and secure in the classroom. Respectful, caring and trusting relationships between teachers and students are essential.
- We emphasize the child’s role in the learning process. Children construct knowledge by acting in the real world and reflecting on those actions in a supportive environment.
- We believe that school communities are important arenas for practicing democracy and seek ways to integrate democratic decision-making into all areas of institutional operations. We involve students, teachers and other community members in the decisions that affect them, and feel that this opportunity for social negotiation is a valuable learning opportunity.
- We believe that success can best be measured in terms of its relevance to the individual learner. In monitoring student growth and development, we value authentic individual assessment over that which is normative or standardized.