Questions about Walden center and school
Hi
We are considering Walden Center and School for my daughter who will be
eligible for kindergarten in 2024. We visited the school today and really love it.
Things we like:
1. Small class size
2. School feels like a community
3. Lots of outdoor play time
4. During the tour, teachers treated the student with respect and kindness.
5. Engaging classes
6. Emphasis on Social justice
7. Art/Music/Drama program
The only thing we are not sure about is the academic rigor. What has your
experience been? Will they push the kids academically as well? Will they be
ready for a rigorous Middle school environment, say Head Royce or Bentley?
My other questions are:
1. What do you like most about the school?
2. What are some of their growth areas?
3. Will you get regular feedback/updates from teachers about your kid?
4.Our daughter is super slow to warm up, but loves to do art/craft and
read/write - would this be a right environment for her?
5. I know Walden is a collective and a lot of teachers has been there for a long time, but is there a lot of teacher turn over year over year?
Thanks so much :)
Parent Replies
Hi there,
My son is in kindergarten this year, and it has been an amazing experience. Like: full stop, amazing. He has learned so much—from Spanish to music—AND he is so happy. He literally says “Yey, it’s a school day.” And he never wants to leave at pickup time. (This is after a very challenging TK experience at another school which he never wanted to attend and refused to do the after school program.)
like you I wasn’t too sure about the academic rigor when I first visited, or even when he first enrolled. But I can now clearly say that the curriculum is extremely sophisticated and engaging. My kiddo has learned so much about not just literacy but also how to be a part of a community and develop a “perseverance”. Having lots of different arts and language teachers also seems particularly enriching for the kids through the day.
There’s lots of feedback and you can be as im touch and involved as you like to be. The teachers are wonderful to interact with. We just recently finished up a round of parent teacher conferences in which we met with each of our kiddo’s teachers and learned about their approach to teaching, and their tailored approach to teaching our kid. The music teacher uses stories with integrated songs and instruments, the art teacher teachers collaboration and perseverance through projects inspired by real artists the kids learn about, and the primary kindergarten teacher uses lots of imaginary play to organize several very well considered thematic “units”, etc etc. In total we met with 6 adults who had extensive and thoughtful comments to share about our boy and his progress.
Turnover is a good question. The school is 65 years old, and there have been some retirements recently, but as far as I can tell the teachers stick around for a long time. All the relatively recent hires (drama, music) are just excellent and much loved by my kid and me.
Happy to Connect if you have more questions