“Our vision was to foster an environment where each child’s individual learning styles and needs would be attended to, and where community was just as important as the individual.”
Our School
Mission Statement
The mission of Synergy School is to empower students to become self-confident, accomplished, and creative learners. Synergy empowers teachers to direct the school in its commitment to the highest standards of progressive education, global awareness, and social justice.
Principles & Values
The Synergy educational journey takes place in an environment based on encouragement, cooperation, mutual respect, and responsibility. We strive to inspire confidence and allow children to work and develop at their own pace. A low teacher-student ratio helps each child feel known and valued, and thus able to take personal risks.
Education at Synergy is both challenging and joyful. Active, hands-on learning fosters each child’s curiosity, critical thinking skills, and love of discovery. Strong conceptual foundations are built through challenging explorations in all academic subjects. A rich and varied curriculum is taught with the expectation that each child will strive for personal and academic excellence.
Encouragement
Encouragement is the process of imparting courage and confidence. At Synergy, encouragement, rather than reward and praise, is used to help children develop their views of self, others, and the world.
Cooperation
Two or more people working together with a common purpose are the sum and substance of Synergy.
Respect
Respect for all is a cornerstone of life and learning at Synergy. The nurturing of consideration and thoughtfulness occurs in many ways throughout the school.
Responsibility
Learning to take responsibility is a priority at Synergy. The Agreement System, used for both academic and social growth, is a tool we use to teach children this skill. In varying degrees in kindergarten through eighth grade, the development of responsibility is a part of daily life.
Logical and Natural Consequences
Logical and natural consequences encourage children to make responsible decisions and promote a cooperative working relationship with teachers and other students.
Agreement System
Synergy’s approach to children’s behavior is based on cooperation, logical and natural consequences, and the belief that we all have the ability to look at ourselves honestly, to change and to grow. The Agreement System is a vehicle through which our philosophy is expressed. It is a unifying force in the school and involves parents, staff, and children in a common goal: the creation of a supportive educational environment where children’s enthusiasm for learning is fostered.
The core tenets of encouragement, cooperation, respect, responsibility and logical and natural consequences are embodied in our Agreement System. This tool helps students develop as learners and members of the school community. The children and teachers agree to the following six agreements:
I agree to make Synergy a respectful learning community, free of bias, by...
- keeping a safe place, without prejudices, for everyone’s body and feelings.
- respecting all property.
- participating academically.
- participating in all other school activities.
- being in a designated space.
- agreeing to leave quickly and quietly when waved out.
Social Justice & Equity
At Synergy there is a commitment to developing global awareness and to learning to appreciate and honor differences both inside and outside the school community. We affirm the necessity of creating and sustaining a socially just, equitable environment, which actively works against racism and all forms of bias. We accomplish these goals through ongoing curriculum development, teacher selection and training, and by actively recruiting a diverse student population.