What People Are Saying

Appreciations from parents and students

Families were asked what they appreciate about the New School. Following are their responses:

The thing I like the most about the New School is the journals each student writes and the amount of time spend on reading! —Parent
I appreciate the individualized instruction. —Parent
I appreciate the multi-age interactions. —Parent
It is a wonderful feeling knowing that when our child is off to school, he’s going to be with the loving, caring, and incredibly patient teachers and be surrounding by all the great kids in the New School. —Parent
I appreciate the forgiveness for being late. —Parent
I appreciate the New School because you don’t have to sit at your desk all day. —5th grade Student
I deeply appreciate the New School’s commitment to community . . not only among the students, but among families. You all live by the maxim, “It takes a village . . .” I don’t know what I would do without you! —Parent
The New School leaves “no” student behind; rather it fosters an effective learning environment hand tailored to each student’s way of learning. —Parent
I appreciate the New School because the teachers read a book at the end of the day. —2nd grade student
I appreciate contract time because if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t learn anything. —1st grade student
I appreciate that students of different ages and abilities work together in the same room at the New School. —Parent
I appreciate the way contracts customize the curriculum for each student. I also appreciate the opportunity, as a parent, to have input into my child’s education. —Parent
I appreciate the New School because I like to go to Friendly’s and I like the questions they ask me. —1st grade student
I appreciate the New School because I like reading and we have a lot of time to read. Reading is fun. —1st grade student
I appreciate the way the interactions among kids define my standards for caring, support, and problem solving. I watched a small group empathize with and eventually bring around an unhappy child who could instead have been labeled a behavior problem. —Parent
My son is celebrated for what he CAN do and not criticized for what he can’t do. —Parent
I appreciate the New School because it is fast learning. I learned reading fast. —2nd grader
I appreciate the New School because of investigations. Investigations is a time that you choose something on a chart. —1st grader
I appreciate the school because it doesn’t have a lot of kids. —4th grader
The New School is the school I learned to read at. —4th grader
I appreciate the New School because it inspired me to like math. —4th grader
I appreciate the New School because they make learning fun and you don’t have to sit at you desk all the time and you call the teachers by their first names! —4th grader
I appreciate the New School because everybody is always doing something different and we play fun but challenging gym games. —4th grader
I appreciate the New School because the teachers are nice and do not give us much homework. —3rd grader
I appreciate the shared explorations, especially between older and younger kids. I was surprised to find that my 5 year old was reading aloud to a 9 year old, and I look forward to the day when she will be helping smaller children learn to read. —Parent
We appreciate the teachers and their respect for each child, the mixed grades and the way students help each other, the safe, encouraging environment that builds their self-esteem and the way in which the learning community helps kids develop strong communication and negotiation skills. —Parents
I appreciate the absence of comparisons among the kids. Nobody feels bad about what they aren’t yet capable of. —Parent
I appreciate the teachers. They know and love every kid and spend time trying to optimize one’s individual educational and social experience. —Parent
I like the way that the New School has helped my child to feel safe and confident in what he thinks and shares so he can see school as something that he wants to do and likes to do, not something he just has to do. He has become self motivated with the New School’s help! —Parent
I appreciate the New School because it is a good school. —Kindergartener
I appreciate the New School because they have visual spatial. You use blocks to make shapes. I like it because you have to build it. —Kindergartener
I appreciate the New School because the teachers help you on your contract. —Kindergartener
I appreciate the New School because its teachers work hard and care about every kid. —4th grader
I appreciate the New School because I learned things such as liquids and solids or 13 colonies or shapes and pieces. PS and fun too! —1st grader
I appreciate the New School because of the learning. I learned how to read and I learned my ABC’s. It was fun learning about the solar system. —1st grader
I appreciate the New School because they made me like reading better. —6th grader
I appreciate the school’s focus upon each child’s strengths and positive attributes. —Parent
I appreciate the New School because you can learn something every day. Today I learned about pioneers. —2nd grader
I appreciate the New School for having fun gym games. 6th grader
I appreciate the New School because they taught me how to read and I was learning about the solar system. —2nd grader
I appreciate the New School because its teachers teach good classes. —2nd grader