ACADEMICS
Looking Ahead:
The New Lower School Building This summer, the activity on the Red Gables Campus has been a bit atypical. Instead of lines of cars, backhoes and forklifts have occupied the hookup lanes. The playground has become a quiet field - a blank canvas awaiting new equipment. The halls that would usually house groups of summer campers have been filled with generators and scaffolding. Soon, however, the sounds of drills and saws will be replaced with the sounds of students’ joy and delight.
beautiful new and remodeled spaces for our K-5 students and their teachers. Our goal is to create a flexible and adaptable environment that inspires community while attending to individual learning styles. We’ve selected furniture that will give teachers the freedom to re-arrange the classroom depending on the lesson or project of the day, whether that requires collaboration in a group or independent work.”
When teachers can facilitate multiple learning activities that When school starts this fall, students in kindergarten and offer students different experiences and perspectives on a first grade will walk into renovated and refreshed classrooms subject, each child is able to discover the pathway to learning that will be outfitted with modular furniture that makes the most sense to them. Under designed for flexibility and creativity. Then, this model, students maximize their potential “Our goal is to at the end of the first semester, students in at their own pace and have ownership in the create a flexible Grades 3-5 will be able to move into their learning process. Grade 3 teacher Jennifer and adaptable home in the new Lower School building. McGee notes, “The new building will be a environment that modern use of space to meet the needs of The plan for the Lower School building and inspires community our modern curriculum. Small groups of additional campus updates was informed students can work with ease, teachers can while attending by a facility-needs assessment performed create interactive lessons, and teachers can by Blanchard Group, an architectural conference with students while other students to individual firm that specializes in master planning are productively working.” learning styles.” for independent schools. Administrators also traveled to other independent schools The new K-3 science lab and expansive across the country to observe the synergy of math/science classrooms for Grades 4 and Heather Caponi their facilities and programs. The resulting 5 will enable enhancements to the current blueprint includes 40% larger classrooms curriculum and allow students to do a deeper with maker areas, new modern science labs, immersive World dive into concepts with more comprehensive experiments. K-3 Language classrooms, expanded Aftercare space, a new Science teacher Andrew Bond is looking forward to the new playground, and the completion of the loop road. The plan opportunities the larger labs will provide. “As the Lower School offers dynamic and flexible spaces designed to augment the science lab moves toward project-based learning, a larger implementation of our curriculum, inspire collaboration, and classroom space will allow students to learn about and research enrich the community as a whole. a topic in one area of the classroom and build their creations in a makerspace area in another part of the same classroom. In my Head of Lower School Heather Caponi shares, “The current classroom, there isn’t enough space for the students to construction of the Lower School building will offer us have two separate areas to learn and create.” 8 | ENSWORTH ENSIGHTS
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