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Elementary School: Our Approach
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There’s a powerful moment that just about every FSC student experiences. The moment when they realize they’ve done something they never thought they could do. For some, it’s long division. For others, it’s playing their first song on the recorder, for others, it’s simply raising their hand to answer a question in class. Regardless of what that moment is, it brings with it a newfound self-confidence, and the desire to learn more, do more and challenge themselves again.

At FSC, when this moment occurs, it’s inevitably the culmination of the one-on-one relationship the student has developed with a teacher. Our 9-to-1 student-teacher ratio allows teachers to get to know and understand each student, and find the way to tap into his/her innate curiosity. Teachers find what captures a students’ imaginations and what inspires them to push themselves, to take intellectual and social risks and to achieve beyond their own expectations.

It’s an approach which begins by embracing the whole child – cognitively, socially and emotionally. If one of these three aspects of the child’s development is hindered, the other two inevitably suffer as well. So we spend time to make sure each child feels welcome, safe, and valued as part of a community. And we make learning a non-competitive activity – something that comes from working with classmates, rather than against them for grades.

Our curriculum has a strong academic grounding, with instruction in math, language arts, life sciences, music, art – all centered around social studies. We weave into the classroom the opportunity for hands-on learning. Students don’t just read about doing things – they do things themselves. We encourage children to identify problems and solve them. For the younger students, it’s as simple as selecting the menu for an all-school lunch. For older students, it might be redecorating the kids’ restrooms. And once they achieve their goal, they get a sense of accomplishment and reinforcement to take new risks and learn even more.

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