Academics
Lower School | Primary–Gr. 4
Director's Blog
The Importance of Community
What makes for a positive elementary school experience? Is it the chatter of a child who has just learned to read? Or the spontaneous counting by twos at the dinner table? Is it the spring in a little boy's step as he marches off to class on his own? Or the overheard game of "school" where the children are sitting quietly and listening attentively? I would say it is all of these things – but more important, I believe that the very best elementary school experience rests on the quality and strength of the school's community.
A strong community provides a secure space for learning, a place where our children can fall down and get back up successfully – whether in the classroom or at recess. Imagine going into an environment every day where you are expected not to know a good portion of what is going on? Where the most carefully planned and executed lesson is designed to build upon what you know and take you to a place where you understand something new? This is hard work, and we ask children to do this every day for a significant part of the day.
The warmth and security of the community is what makes this possible. When children know we care for them deeply and that we truly want them to be successful, they are willing to take risks, to enter into the discomfort of the unknown and work to gain understanding.
One could consider the school's community as the essential piece here, but I would argue that the school alone can only achieve so much. In fact, the greatest success and the most powerful outcomes are the result of a positive connection between home and school. When we create a partnership, build trust and navigate the journey of the elementary years together, our children can achieve amazing things.
Gill St. Bernard's School
Gill St. Bernard’s is a private, coeducational day school for students age three through grade 12, located in suburban New Jersey. Each of the three school divisions provides a vigorous, meaningful and age-appropriate curriculum, and all students benefit from the environmental learning opportunities that exist on our 208-acre campus.