Nurturing Joyful Learners 

The following principles are our philosophical foundation for the Susan Odell Taylor School.   In embracing these ideas, we form a community that supports and enriches children’s lives.

• The development of a steadfast sense of self is paramount to each child’s educational experience.    Through their experiences, the children will come to know and understand themselves in ways that are personal and unique. Each child will be encouraged to develop a sense of trust, a sense of competence, and a sense of initiative.   Positive self-esteem and self-confidence will be nurtured within each student.
  
• How the children learn is as important as what they learn.    The process of learning holds as much value as the specific content being learned.   It is through a thoughtful learning process that children develop strategies and skills to apply to understanding new content and gaining new knowledge.

• Knowing the children we teach individually, culturally and developmentally is as important as knowing the content we teach.   We strive to understand the children as individuals, recognizing that all children have personal strengths, challenges, and circumstances that affect who they are and how they learn.   The better we know the children, the more we can do to support them in their daily lives.  

• Each child will have the opportunity to reach her/his highest potential within a safe and nurturing environment.    Each child will be guided socially, emotionally and academically toward greater accomplishments. The environment will be such that children feel secure and supported as they take the risks necessary for the development of new understandings about themselves and the world in which they live.

• The learning environment will be experiential, fostering curiosity and creativity, while instilling a love of learning in the children.    Children will be actively engaged in their learning, with an emphasis on hands-on experiences, stimulating situations and collaborative learning.    Learning will be purposeful, exciting, enjoyable and satisfying.

• Emphasis will be placed on academic rigor within the friendly atmosphere of a caring community of learners.   Our emphasis is on fostering children’s creativity and curiosity while enabling them to become highly literate students with strong mathematical, scientific, and social understandings that will in turn give them the ability to pursue any future course of study.   An important goal of our curriculum is to work on deeper understandings of the subject areas rather than attempting to cover a large amount of content in a superficial manner.  

• Parental and community interaction will be an integral part of the school’s success.    The school will value parents and the community, recognizing that cultivating partnerships with each will serve to enrich our students’ lives. We will welcome parents and community members into our school environment and strive to reach out and be a part of the community at large.   Because learning can and should occur beyond the academic walls, we believe the children will benefit in many ways from their experiences outside of the school environment.