Wychwood School Philosophy

Wychwood School provides a strong liberal arts education for elementary school children in grades 1 to 8. At Wychwood, we don’t praise children for their intelligence or the ease with which they learn new concepts and skills. We praise them for their effort, commitment to practice, and tenacity in the face of academic or athletic challenges. We view mistakes as opportunities for learning and foster this attitude in our students. These foundational educational commitments allow us to help students develop a mastery-oriented mindset- a practice based upon well-substantiated psychological and pedagogical research findings – that nourishes the development of internal motivation and resilience in the face of challenging new material. This orientation allows us to deliver a particularly enriching program for children in science and math, areas in which children sometimes assume that they are less capable of excelling than they are.

The Wychwood program also nurtures childrens’ self-confidence through our structured and engaging sports development curriculum which is an important part of a classical liberal arts education. These student-empowering principles permeate every decision we make at Wychwood, because they lead to feelings of groundedness, self-acceptance, and freedom to enjoy the activities they take on. This mindset in turn contributes to students’ long-term academic and athletic achievement.

Students are also encouraged to pursue the Wychwood Award of Excellence, in Bronze (Grades 3-4), Silver (Grades 5-6), and Gold (Grades 7-8) during their years at Wychwood. Working toward the award engages students in personally meaningful activities in the local school community and in the larger community. The award is pursued through activities in the domains of Skill, Service, Nature Trek, and Sport that develop students’ self-confidence, leadership skills, good habits, and care for self, others, and community.

Finally, parent involvement is very important to the Wychwood School philosophy. Parents are their children’s first point of orientation and understanding of their world and of the relationships they are developing with others. We welcome parental input, and likewise, we report frequently to parents concerning student achievement, learning habits, school involvement, and social adjustment.