When you look up at the night sky, every star twinkles a little differently from its neighbor.

Those parents who have more than one child, you know that each child is incredibly unique in your family. Schools are places full of bright and uniquely shining stars. 

How do we help each child cultivate their own awareness of their talent?

Our school mission is to provide a holistic education that balances social, emotional, academic, and physical success through a challenging and learner-centered program, nurturing our learners to become skilled negotiators, collaborators, inquirers, and complex thinkers in a changing world.

At the center of our curriculum is the student.

Through inquiry-based learning, students ask questions and engage in discourse that impacts the path of discovery in their different subject areas.

Students make personal choices about what they will read during reader’s workshop, or what they will write about during writer’s workshop.

Yesterday, I watched second grade students explain the design and materials they chose for their Galimoto project in STEM class (a working toy car made of recycled materials).

Each child had a twinkle in their eye and a strong sense of accomplishment as they described their completed project and the choices they made along the way.

The Galimoto project is also a great example of how our Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) Map of Human Commonalities helps us to design learning experiences for students that are relevant and life-worthy.

During this project students are able to connect their understanding across different subject areas by considering the different perspectives of the human experience; our 6 human commonalities.

Our Co-curricular clubs, the After School Academy, has also matured to help students identify their own choices in terms of the human commonalities.

Students can consider different pathways as they pick an after school club, and have a stronger understanding of how this connects to their learning in other classes throughout the school day.

For example, students can choose a pathway that includes Individuals and Groups or Purpose and Balance if they enroll in team sports, or Patterns and Principles when they enroll in coding or robotics.

These pathways help them to build a well-rounded portfolio of experiences that they can be used in high school when students begin to research university programs and write application essays.

Our shining stars will be highly aware of the ways in which they have developed their personal strengths and interests, and how their own abilities will help them to contribute to humanity.

At the Immersion School, we are building experts in the domains of the human experience. With a coherent, connected curriculum that has student voice and choice at its center, our students become expert learners, who have deep conceptual knowledge, strong competencies, and positive moral character.

Head of school

Emily Cave