Our Mission Statement
Nurturing the Gifts of Mind, Body & Spirit
Philosophy Statement
Community School utilizes an educational philosophy which:
- Fosters the growth of the whole child by providing a challenging academic curriculum in which students master basic skills and develop study habits. The program is enriched by fine arts, science, literature, physical development, woodworking, technology, and foreign language.
- Provides a warm, caring, family-like atmosphere where children of varying readiness and abilities can build self-confidence and make progress in their emotional, social, creative, ethical, and physical development.
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Teaches and models moral behavior, respect for others, independence of thought, ethical decision making, and a joy of lifelong learning.
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Promotes a program that is child-centered, developmentally based, and balanced between work and play.
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Prepares children for life in a global community by instilling greater understanding and respect for individual and group similarities and differences within a diverse school population.
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Unites the faculty and parents as integral partners in the pursuit of academic excellence.
The mission will be implemented by compassionate administrators and teachers who with skill, energy, and creativity unlock the gifts of mind, body and spirit in each child.
Guiding Principles
Community School's mission statement and educational philosophy flow from the ten educational principles upon which the School was founded in 1914. These principles have defined the ethos of the School for decades and the education of thousands of young children. Community School continues to believe in the educational values they represent. They are:
- The School should recognize the child as an individual with individual differences, and an inherent right to develop these differences.
- The School should set up the schedule with freedom to develop these differences. There should be freedom, but freedom with control.
- The School should see to it that the child must be trained to become an independent thinker, to express himself/herself freely and accurately, free of embarrassment or self consciousness, and to assume responsibility and carry it through to a successful end.
- The School should provide a classroom atmosphere of child-teacher cooperation, as opposed to teacher-dominated classroom. The teacher should be a source of informed assistance to whom a child can go for direction in his/her search for desired material.
- The School should have teachers sufficiently rich in background to enable them to provide classroom material that will spark a child's imagination, keep it alive, and encourage each child to want to know more.
- The School should make a child aware of his/her place in that environment, and his/her responsibility in global issues.
- The School should cultivate in each child a spirit of courtesy, an appreciation for individual differences, and respect for the opinions of others.
- The School should open a child's eyes to the wonders of nature, the stars, the universe, and the world around them.
- The student must be led to appreciate the beauty in literature and the fine arts and should be encouraged to create any or all of them.
- The child should be made to understand that the so-called tool subjects (reading, writing, and arithmetic) are means of securing the goals toward which one strives and to this end each child must become proficient.