Cultivating belonging

The overall warmth of the community is palpable to anyone on campus. A prospective parent shared in the Kalix study the special feeling her family experienced when they visited campus, “Madeira has such a welcoming atmosphere with an overall sense of happiness among the students.”

Assessing our progress

At Madeira, we don’t just talk about building community, we assess how we are doing. Twice a year, Madeira administers a student Social-Emotional Learning survey designed by Panorama Education to help measure student competency and well-being in categories such as growth mindset, social awareness, and supportive relationships.

Every day, our students are immersed in a diverse learning community; 91% of students report that they regularly listen to and consider viewpoints that are different from their own and 88% said they demonstrated empathy when engaging with their peers. This is a key strength of our community, in that our students are willing to acknowledge that their individual perspective does not always reflect the experiences of their classmates.

Supportive community

The immersive nature of our community also builds strong connections amongst its members; at the time of the survey, 82% of our students said they had complimented a peer achievement sometime in the last month. Liv ing and learning together, coupled with Miss Madeira’s emphasis on pursuing everyone’s “personal best” creates this kind of supportive environment for our students.

Our students’ consideration for one another contributes to their sense of belonging on campus. This in turn makes it easier for them to build relationships and have a joyful experience; 89% of our students said that they have a friend from school who they can count on, while 93% reported that they have a friend from school with whom they can be authentically themselves.

Our goal is for each student to have a trusted adult at school; 77% of students report they have an adult on campus that they can count on and 71% report they have an adult they can be authentically themselves around.