FAQ

The process of growing up and gathering rich, colorful, textured childhood experiences along the way is a fundamentally important one for becoming a balanced, well-educated child and adult. Many experiences that we have as children can hinder the healthy unfolding of such a process in the most varied of ways.

We see our task as teachers at the New Village School to do our utmost:

• Not to hinder this unfolding with any fixed philosophies
• No projection of what it means to be “successful”
• Not restrict learning approaches
• Not cause unnecessary stressful situations for the children...

...but rather in the observation of each unique individual child and the initiating and creating of a learning atmosphere, colorful and filled with sensory experiences, that allows each child to feel able and encouraged to explore his/her/their gifts, challenges, and potentialities, with an inner sense of ease and safety. It is the team of teachers gathered around the children:

• With whatever inspires them to engage with children in a healthy way
• In an ongoing process of observation and conversation with each other, that creates, fresh every day, the space and the relationships needed for the children to learn and develop an ever-expanding and deepening understanding of in which they are growing up

In that sense then, the philosophy of the school is not to have a fixed philosophy according to which children learn, but rather to be sensitive to, and strive to understand, each and every child’s ways of relating to and coming to an understanding of the phenomena of the world. In this way, each child feels acknowledged, seen, respected and loved in his/her/their very own growing unique individuality.

This means that each teacher has to be engaged in ongoing explorations of his/her/their biographical experiences, in order to prevent avoidable and unnecessary projections that can be a hindrance for a child. This ongoing biographical exploration also involves proofing one’s own perhaps still unconscious biases that would otherwise have remained hidden and would have affected others.

With a conscious, conscientious, sensitive and careful approach to:

• The use of language
• The choice of stories
• The way content is brought…

…we hope to offer the children the broadest and deepest picture of what it can mean to be a human being:

• Wherever we were born
• From whatever culture or religious background we come
• Whatever language we speak
• However we manifest our being human in physical form

A key element in this work is giving our children the opportunity to develop a vocabulary for speaking about themselves and others, for describing others, and resolving conflicts with others, should they arise. Alongside a rigorous academic life and the expectation for the highest quality work each student can achieve, our children leave the school prepared not just for high school, but for life, as they move into the next phases of their development.

The current annual tuition is $19,500 for preschool and $21,500 for kindergarten through 8th grade. Although kept deliberately low compared to other private schools, but still a large amount of money for so many, the New Village School has strived to keep tuition at a level that allows a broad spectrum of economic backgrounds to contemplate joining our school. We are always open to conversations about the financial aspect of joining our community.

At the New Village School we embrace the idea of a developmental curriculum initially developed by Rudolf Steiner, which we have updated to address the needs of children today. We facilitate this learning through experiences inside and out of the classroom, and by providing a nature-based, artistic education, in which children have time to explore and engage in the world with all their senses. We describe learning as an alternation of experiencing the world with our senses and reflecting on our experiences, making narratives, stories, and theories. Teachers are the facilitators of this process. They stand as passionate people worthy of imitation and natural authority, a bit like Renaissance artists with their apprentices. 

We work in thematic blocks of study of four to six weeks, like Waldorf schools do, and we cover a similar progression of subjects, with the life sciences in the middle grades and the hard sciences (physics, chemistry) beginning in middle school.

We don't call ourselves "Waldorf" because we don't want to be bound to a formula. We want the freedom to adapt and change the curriculum according to the needs of today's children in the here and now. The children are our lead in determining what works. We may draw ideas from other educational approaches like unschooling, project-based education, and forest schools, as we see the need. Examples of things we emphasize or where we differ from Waldorf: 

• We have deconstructed the role of the class teacher in favor of a team approach. This is because we find it healthier to not ask one individual to carry all responsibility for one group of children. We do have a morning lesson teacher up to fourth/fifth grade who carries most of the blocks, and we create continuity so the class is never starting completely anew with a teacher who doesn't have a relationship with them. We could say we want it all: the advantages of looping, continuity or relation, and the richness of many adults to be in relationship with and learn from.
• We call ourselves a village, a place where a number of adults are at work pursuing their passions and inspiring the children to do the same.
• We want our teachers to be inspired and to inspire in a variety of arts and crafts, music, and movement arts that enliven our curriculum.
• The Classroom Without Walls, with 2/3 of a day off campus every week
• The extensive travel program and integral fundraising work as a goal and milestone in the middle school
• The full school morning circles, where young and old come together regularly.

As regards our relationship with Rudolf Steiner, we recognize that he lived in a fraught, difficult time in European history between two world wars. He was part of a budding movement to bring together wisdom from different cultures and worldviews. His message centered on the sacredness of each individual and the balance between individual freedom and a community of brotherhood/sisterhood. He expounded that intellectual Europeans needed to maintain their focus on scientific thought while opening up to the spiritual wisdom shared by the esoteric traditions of the world. He believed in teaching two world languages to open the mind--the brain pathways--to understand different ways of thinking. 

The way we interpret this today is to cultivate the meeting of cultures. We have a very diverse teaching team, with five or more languages and cultures represented in our midst, four of which feature in our language program. We likewise cultivate connections, through visiting teachers and experiences, to the indigenous cultures of our area, the LGBTQ+ community and other target or minority groups that enrich and expand our understanding of human experience, and teach us to "stand with" and care for each and every human and their reality. 

Steiner-inspired educators follow a phenomenological approach to science, which implies a lot of time is devoted to the direct experience and observation of phenomena and to building the awareness that human narratives, models, and theories are constantly evolving and being debunked by new, more expansive ones. This approach to science and the scientific method celebrates currently revered theories but does not exalt them as ultimate truths; instead, it reveres the rigor and the love that goes into the process of acquiring knowledge. The same reverence imbues all discourse about cultures and the “moral truths” that come to the fore in each time and place making up the highest values shared in civil society. In middle school the students apply the rigorous methods of scientific inquiry. At the same time, they begin to realize that consensus on what is true and good is the only way humans can work together. Developing a rigorous critical mind gives us greater agency, and it must also give us a greater ability to work together with other fellow humans, and to serve and heal the world. 

An example of how scientific discourse serves a moral goal is in how Darwin's theory of evolution is taught. This theory tells us, among other things,  that there is a continuum in our development in relation to our fellow mammals. At the same time, it also points to radical differences that have made Sapiens the dominant species on the planet and the only one, as far as we know, to apply “collective learning” to the development of tools and the solving of moral dilemmas. The moral implications of holding both truths are enormous. Our capacity to act out of empathy, rather than impulse, is dependent on developing quiet reflection and moral imagination. We can pursue more than our immediate self-interest, and our highest self-interest can align with the needs of our fellow living beings. 

The realms of belief, particularly those beliefs that answer the big questions of life, are brought with respect for the different cultures in which they arise, their ways of life and geographic conditions. They are brought also with a great sense of reverence for those pearls of wisdom that appear in different parts of the world at given times forming the shared legacy of humanity. 

• In First Grade ~ all nature is seen as speaking to humans. We don't deem it helpful for children to acquire the detached and conceptual approach to the world that comes with the scientific method until the twelve-year change, which marks the beginning of middle school. 
• In Second Grade ~ the emphasis is on the study of animals. The children learn about climate zones in relation to lifestyles. They hear about animals, plants, and resources that characterize each environment. 
• In Third Grade ~ the overarching theme is stewardship. The organism of the tribe, the farm, the ecosystem. Wild versus domestic animals. The rhythms of the sun and moon in relation to the calendar. Systems of measurement that aid accurate observation and the development of technologies. With farming, they hear specifically about domestic animals, about the cycle of the year and the growing seasons, about grains, and about fibers used for textiles.
• In Fourth Grade ~ Zoology, including classification of animals. Accurate drawing of maps, graphs, and charts for the recording of data.
• In Fifth Grade ~ Botany, including classification of plants. "Big history" of the universe, the planet and how we know what we know, paleontology, what is history. 
• In Sixth Grade ~ the study of the scientific method begins with Physics lab reports focusing on Mechanics, Optics, and Acoustics. Geology and Astronomy are also taught. Environmental studies is part of world geography - first, meteorology and climate studies. 
• In Seventh Grade ~ Mechanics, Acoustics, Optics, Thermodynamics, Electricity. Astronomy with emphasis on the Copernican system; Chemistry; climate studies; navigation and marine conservation.
• In Eighth Grade ~ Electricity and Magnetism, Inorganic Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, Meteorology and Climate Science. Scientific method in the study of the social sciences.

When we speak of Academics, we relate the word to its origin, the place, Akademeia, where Plato worked and taught his students. Academics, in its original sense then, have more to do with students in conversation with their teacher/s, walking, speaking and discussing, rather than with worksheets, tests, grades, and multiple choice questions. Often today, when the word “academics” is used, it is referring actually to a more theoretical way of learning, detached from ongoing conversations and the development of ideas with a teacher or group of teachers. What we mean by academics, is the ongoing work with teachers on meaningful content, while having one’s own experiences in a setting that is - the real world!

The New Village School approach to learning is more of a marriage between an Apollonian/Dionysian one. We allow the children to first dance, move, experience a phenomenon or phenomena or aspects of the world, before asking them to develop theories or hypotheses about these phenomena or aspects. Questions such as: Why do we have to do this? What does this have to do with real life? When will I ever have to do this in real life?, therefore, do not arise.

Everything that is presented as a “subject,” already exists in the realities of life. Depending on how we are guided into discovering these “subjects,” we will know that it is “in and from life” or not. If we do, we will be able to access and use our own intrinsic motivation to work on understanding the “subject” more easily.

On a daily basis, we see that our students do have the sense that everything they engage in is “life itself” and are thus able to access and use their own inner motivation to attend to the tasks they are guided towards. The idea that the world is our classroom, the first and foremost space in which discovery and learning take place, plays a fundamental role in our school. The curriculum then is the world and we walk with the students through aspects of the world that are appropriate and graspable to them at their age, grade by grade. The inner logic of the curriculum allows a sense of meaningfulness and wholeness for the children.

Everything begins for us as humans with the Geography of this planet. The study of Geography begins through experiences the students have through our Classroom Without Walls program, on walks, hikes and explorations in Sausalito and other beautiful landscapes of Marin County.

The name: Classroom Without Walls, that we use for the program that allows children these experiences in the world, has its name because being in life itself is the best classroom of all. They know the local area thoroughly and therefore, when the study of Local Geography is taken up more overtly in Fourth Grade, we are able to draw from inner pictures they have stored from actually being in the local geography of their more immediate surroundings. They will have hiked on Mount Tam, waded through the creeks, touched the Redwoods, had mud on their faces, felt the climate and weather, been on a boat on the bay and seen the coastline. When then, in the classroom with walls, they begin to draw maps, they are drawing something they have actually used all their senses to experience already.

Developmentally, giving students a sense of orientation in the area where they live, at this age, is a wonderful way to help them feel connected and rooted in where they physically find themselves. From this local beginning to this subject, we expand into the study of:

Similarly to Geography, the study of History, for example, begins in the early grades while they are out in the world. How local indigenous people lived in Marin County is part of the conversations during the Classroom Without Walls days.

Third Grade is the time when we begin to speak about the fact that humans began as ancient hunters and gatherers. They study this only after they have been in the places where ancient indigenous people hunted and gathered and made lives for themselves in and around where their school is located.

How did they build shelters? What did they eat? How did they hunt? How did they gather? In what relationship did they live with nature? These are some of the questions explored. When we talk about the transition to Settling and Farming we are very careful to look at this human activity in a way that shows respect for what that meant for other animals and plants. Not until the later part of middle school do we speak about the development from settling and farming and its immensely negative impact on animals that has come about as we industrialized farming more and more.

In Third Grade the emphasis is on the enormous responsibility we have towards animals if we choose to “domesticate” or more honestly said, subjugate them. Since we have a piece of land with gardens, fruit trees and animals, children studying this part of their history in third grade, have access to many “real” ways of experiencing these themes.

From this ancient time in Third Grade we continue with:

(Revolutions, political and economic systems, the horrors of the Third Reich, conflicts and events that have led to where we are today: slavery, religious differences, colonization and the consequences thereof that still remain in the 21st century).

Through the study of Geography and History in this way, the students by 8th grade, have had the opportunity to orientate in space and time. They have at least an initial understanding at this age, of why they are experiencing the world in the way they are through the news, the internet and all the sources of information they have at their disposal.

In Math, we begin in First Grade with questions such as:

What is a number? What is the quality of each number? Why did we begin to develop symbols for quantities? What did they look like when they began to be developed? What do ours look like? Where do the names we use for quantities come from? What do the signs + - x and ÷ and of course = mean? Why did we create those symbols? We also learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

We work with whole numbers until 4th Grade, when we begin to work with fractions. This is a very deliberate developmental choice.

All the fundamentals of Arithmetic are covered and in addition, work on Pre-Algebra begins in 6th Grade.

By the end of 8th Grade, each student will have had the chance to work through Algebra 1 and some will have advanced to the themes of Algebra 2. The progression then is again logical. From quantities in the “real world” to the more abstract realm of Algebra - “ Al jabr”.

The students also discover Geometry as an abstracted form of naturally occurring forms in nature. Fibonacci numbers, the Golden Ratio, for example, are introduced. Free hand geometry gives way to work with geometrical tools and the study of:

• Ancient Mathematicians such as Archimedes
• The circle and “pi” and areas of other forms, angles, volumes
• Platonic solids

Again, it is a matter of offering opportunities to see how humans have studied nature in which they live, and have quantified, calculated, and discovered complex and fascinating forms that nature itself creates. Thus they have a solid foundation in the understanding of what math is.

Even if then, a student is not yet able to be “good at math” in the more conventional sense, there can still be a great deal of enjoyment in the study of math as an aspect of human life.

Science begins in KG through the experiences they have in the garden, while cooking and playing.

Whereby to the highest degree possible, what the students learn through the observation of experiments and deduce from what they are experiencing in a science class, will be based in experiences they will have had over the years at school.

An example: Speaking theoretically about levers and pulleys is much easier if you have used them to move heavy objects on our land or in our garden at school!

Languages play an enormous role in our school. We want our children to know the predominant language of communication amongst themselves at school and for teaching, English, very well. English as a way of communication, its vocabulary and expressions, its grammar and its literature, is explored. We work from the experience to the consciousness and understanding of HOW it offers us its particular vehicle of expressing ourSELVES, our ideas, feelings and thoughts.

We also however, lay an emphasis on the learning of Spanish. We are after all live in California. Initially, the children sing, play and speak in Spanish. From Fourth Grade onwards, they begin to write and read in Spanish. Handwork is also taught through the medium of Spanish, thus giving the children an opportunity to hear and understand the language while creating beautiful handmade projects.

Our Japanese Kindergarten teacher speaks Japanese to the KG children. They experience that after hearing something a few times and associating that with things they have to do, such as putting shoes on, hanging coats up, getting ready to go out, eating…they assimilate the language and can understand everything that is being said! Our other KG teacher speaks English and thus the children experience what the world is like!!

From 1st through 8th grade, students study Spanish alongside a second foreign language—Punjabi, Japanese, or Russian—chosen in 1st grade. This dual-language approach fosters not only communication skills but also global awareness.

There is much more to say about other hugely important subjects such as: Woodwork, Movement, Painting, Drawing, Sculpting, Music, Theater, Anatomy, Physiology, Meteorology, Astronomy, and our Classroom Without Walls program…but suffice it to say that our goal is to offer the students a broad and deep educational experience that allows them to:

• Retain their curiosity
• Retain their interest and passion for their lives and the lives of all other living organisms.

Classroom Without Walls trips that children undertake are:

We hope this gives some insight into our curriculum but of course, more questions can be answered in conversation.

The short answer is most definitely yes and not only for High School but for life.

The students are very prepared for a more traditional high school after the New Village School because: they have grown up in the world, we have worked preventatively with questions such as relationships to one’s own body, to the health of the body, and relationships in general. They will have experience with all the “academic” subjects that you will find in any high school. Every student needs at least a short period of adjustment when entering a new school. Our students are agile and are able to adapt while retaining their own inner integrity. Through the meaningfulness and logic of the curriculum. Our students are more than prepared for the themes, whether academic, emotional, psychological or physical that await them from the ages of 14 onwards. Through the Classroom Without Walls Program, the trips, speaking to the various guests that have visited the school over the years.

New Village School grads are:

• Articulate
• Have spoken to others whose first language is not theirs
• Have taken trains, buses, planes, ferries to all sort of places, including to refugee camps on Lesvos, Greece. Know therefore how others live
• Have interacted with children and young people of all ages
• Have had close relationships with all their teachers and know how to ask for help when they need to
• Have been allowed to be honest and not pretend to know something if they do not
• Have not been judged with grades but encouraged and supported through conversations about their work
• Know what reasonable risks are and take them if it is necessary
• Know their bodies and respect their own and those of others
• They are well educated and also of course ready for what a high school curriculum entails.

Below is a list of the most common High Schools our students have attended after graduating from the New Village School including where last year's 8th graders are attending, underlined. 

Local Public High Schools:

• Archie Williams High School, Marin
• Credo High School, Rohnert Park, CA
• George Washington High School, San Francisco
• Lowell High School, San Francisco
• Redwood High School, Marin
• Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, San Francisco
• Tamalpais High School, Marin
• Terra Linda High School, Marin

Local Independent High Schools:

• Bay School, San Francisco
• Branson School, Marin
• Drew School, San Francisco
• Marin Academy, Marin
• Marin School, Marin
• San Domenico School, Marin
• San Francisco Waldorf, San Francisco

Boarding Schools:

• American School of Paris, France
• High Mowing School, Wilton, NH
• Midland School, Los Olivos, CA
• Northfield Mt. Hermon, Gill, MA
• Proctor Academy, Andover, NH
• Stevenson School, Del Monte Forest, CA
• Thacher School, Ojai, CA
• Verde Valley School, Sedona, AZ

• All of us, but especially children, need to be allowed to move and not be constrained in a room for an unhealthy amount of time. Movement, therefore, is essential.
• Breathing and being allowed to breathe is essential for health and should not be constricted by avoidable and unnecessary stress factors.
• Music and singing lifts the spirits and is a way of expression that is innate in all of us as humans and in other animals too! That all our senses are engaged during the day. It helps to make life “make sense”.
• We all, especially children, need to be surrounded by beauty, through the colors and textures inside the school but especially by having the chance to experience the beauty of the natural world.
• Being allowed to develop a love and respect of the natural world is essential.
• A clear path to the ability to think clearly, constructively, critically, and sharply but a thinking that is always imbued with a deep sense of a situational morality that is innate in us but is often hidden or lost through our biographies.

The first answer to this question is a series of questions: Differently from whom? Is there truly an objective standard against which everyone else can be measured? What does it mean to a child if he/she/they is assessed and seen to be learning “differently”? Of course it is true that a “norm” has evolved over the years that education for the general public has been available and there are certain capacities and skills that a child can develop by a certain age in general.

All of us experience the world in our unique way. Had these “norms” not been made into a standard, and if traditional education were not such an artificial construct in so many ways, children would not be seen to be learning “differently”...they would just be seen as learning at their own pace and in their own unique way. How freeing would that be!

If a child is stuck behind a hindrance, or finds it difficult to get over a hurdle, then of course, the teachers intervene. They do everything in their power to help the child. The moment we acknowledge that everyone learns differently or thinks differently and it is not the goal to standardize learning or to reduce the spectrum of differences, we allow each child the freedom to explore and understand the world in his/her/their unique way.

We introduce the children into the world of writing and reading in first grade and some children take to it like ducklings take to the water following their mother. The fact that some children are not yet ready to go into that water, does not mean that they never will. The question is: How long are we willing to support and help them individually or in the group before we insist that they now function “like everyone else”? Often, not long enough unfortunately.

So many of this world’s incredibly successful individuals are dyslexic. It took them a great deal of courage and inner strength to believe in themselves given the educational world many of them had to grow up in. When being able to read by a certain age is held up as a measure of a child’s potential academic success, there is the danger of losing many children, all of whom are gifted, to the idea that they are not up to par.

A highly developed sensitivity around these children is essential. We must avoid at all costs giving them the impression that there is something “wrong” with them or that they are inadequate in comparison to others. As teachers, we of course identify early on, even in KG sometimes, those who might potentially face challenges with certain tasks when they enter the grades. Never, however, would we make a prediction based on such observations about how they will succeed in their learning journey.

On the contrary, when a child has to struggle with something like writing, reading or math, that very same child is hugely gifted in equally important realms. It is essential that adults recognize each and every gift or challenge as equally important. Reducing a child to their ability to read by a certain age can be demoralizing and can cause a child to feel often deflated and even defeated.

Fortunately at our school, we are very subtle in our work to support children. We do not use textbooks, pre-prepared worksheets, or standardized materials, which means that we can create our classes based on the children that are in front of us. We can address each child’s way of learning and understanding and adjust our lessons accordingly. We can take more time with certain children in phases of the classes or after school in small groups. We work to find ways to allow a child to have the experience of being part of the peer group, gifted and challenged in his/her/their unique way.

The teachers are there every step of the way to observe, to acknowledge difficulties, to support and to help. Should there be a more severe manifestation of dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, then of course, through more intensive work with teachers, if needed, with support from outside the school, we help our children get to the place that they can get to when they are doing their best. More they cannot do.

Thankfully, since our lessons are based in conversation and much if not most of the writing in First and Second Grade emerges out of these conversations or stories, each child has the chance to be part of the class in his/her/their own way.

When more independent writing begins, the teachers, since they know all the students extremely well, can intervene, support and help as needed. When you ask a math question for example and get answers from students, then ask them how they got to the answer, you will find so many different paths that children took to get to the correct answer or to an interesting answer. Sometimes, the unusual but inventive and lively path even to the “wrong” answer can be truly impressive!

In summary then, we hope not to lose gifted and talented students to the idea that if you cannot do “x, y, or z” by a certain age, that your ability to succeed academically is in danger. We know from experience that with the right kind of support, and with helping children do their best, all children can succeed in the way they need to.

Each child's progress is characterized thoroughly in parent-teacher conferences and in a written report at the end of each school year. We do not give grades unless asked to do so for Private High School applications or when children move to another school that requires them. We give children constructive and honest feedback on their work, always based on the premise that if the child is working to his/her/their fullest capacity, then that is excellent. It is the development of stamina, inner motivation, resilience, a love of learning that is important.

If a child for whom math is challenging, gets 13 out of 30 questions correct and was doing his/her/their best, then that is excellent. If a child for whom math is not challenging, gets 26 out of 30 because he/she/they were not doing his/her/their best, that is not excellent. It is then urgently important to find out why the child was not able to be at his/her/their best! That matters more than the outcome of the test.

A teacher of course is in the process of assessing how a child is experiencing the content of a class with every question the teacher asks, by seeing every look on a child’s face and with every answer a child gives. It is only in that way that a teacher can adjust, change, deepen, make more accessible to each child, the content the teacher is sharing. Any teacher worth his/her/their salt knows exactly how much a child is understanding or learning through observation.

Conventional testing of course is also introduced to students at the latest in the Middle School, so that they know how that looks and feels. However no conclusions are drawn about the future of a child based on such tests. They are a quick glimpse of how the child was able to answer under the circumstances of a test! It is the direct experience of the children in all the activities that they are engaged in at school that really matters. Knowing the child is what really matters, so that we can, as teachers, with great sensitivity and care, offer any support a student needs.

New Village students are engaged in the most varied activities during the days and weeks. Handwork, woodwork, math, singing, moving rocks, problem solving challenges, working individually, working in groups, working on projects alone, working in a group, doing theater, preparing for a concert...all the while being in or developing strong relationships with their peers, younger or older children and their teachers.

They are given the vocabulary to address conflict situations with their fellow students or teachers. They are supported by the teachers and can often at a very early age, address issues as they come up. If a child is doing something and you don’t like it, tell him/her/them kindly and clearly. We encourage and help develop the ability to speak without reproach but truthfully.

Often someone that you are having difficulties with has no idea that that is the case and it was not a deliberate act on their part. If they are not told, clearly but without reproach that you have a certain unpleasant response when something is done, then your counterpart cannot change his/her/their behavior!

• The practical work with wood, yarn, rocks, soil and so on
• The emotional work of learning how to live in a social group honestly and authentically
• The development of relationships
• The addressing of conflicts as they come up
• The rigorous demands on their intellect
• Their chances to interact with people from all over the world in the most varied of circumstances

….are just some of the ways that we give the students a chance to access and use their various intelligences.

All children can thrive at the New Village School even if he/she/they is not interested in relationships, getting to know the world, meeting people or doing any of the work we offer them to do. Sometimes a child just needs to be left alone until he/she/they is ready to interact and be open and active. However, it is not the school for all parents. Parents enjoy our school if they find importance in:

• Being out in nature like learning Astronomy under the stars
• Writing about themes that you truly care about
• Working with math, writing and reading at a pace that is healthy for each individual

Parents must be at peace with their child as a unique individual, but who, despite support, may need more time to learn certain skills. Or they can enjoy their child who is wonderful at math, but not yet so good at drawing or painting, and suddenly comes home with an incredible rendition of van Gogh’s Starry Night painting! Parents are happy if they know that it is healthy for their children to resonate with the world in a way that makes them feel buoyant and at home.

We like to have our classes to be at most 18 students. Some classes are smaller. 18 is a large enough group for children to have a good range of personalities in a class to relate to. We have one class per grade. On the practical level, since we go off campus regularly and have 9 seater vans, two of which are used for one grade, having a class of 18 is ideal. In the younger grades, when a child cannot sit in the front seat of our vans, we have three vehicles in action!

Parents create the adult community around the children at the school. Conversations at drop off and pick with one another and with teachers were always a very enjoyable part of our life at school. Strong supportive relationships amongst the parents support strong supportive relationships amongst the students!

Monthly evenings allow for interactions between parents and teachers, as well as parent teacher conferences twice a year or as the need arises. Parents are engaged in events such as Auctions, Fund Raising Events of all kinds, Grandparents’ Day, the Winter Fair to name a few of our main ones.

They are not engaged in the classrooms, whereby if a class is in a Meteorology Block or are studying Aerodynamics and we have a pilot or an engineer in the community, then obviously we would ask that parent to join us for certain phases of the blocks where their level of expertise would be invaluable.

The Board consists of current and often former parents and two teacher representatives of the Management Team. There are ways to participate in such activities but only to the degree that the parent can remain healthy and happy doing so. The teachers of the school fully understand that parents have busy lives to lead and…children to look after!

Grade School Typical Day:

• School begins at 8.30 in the Big Circle. Arrival therefore early enough to be ready for the start of the day between 8:10-8:20am 
• Movement
• Two periods
• Snack ( 40 - 45 minutes) on a large field on the campus
• Two periods
• Lunch and recess ( 40-45 minutes) on the field
• Two periods
• End of classes: 3:10pm
• Clean up followed by a Circle to check in and make sure everyone understands any tasks they have been guided towards to do at home. (4th grade and up has a balanced amount of homework)
• End of day: 3:20pm

Kindergarten Typical Day:

• KG begins at 8:30, arrival therefore should be early enough to allow a child to settle and be ready for the start of the day between 8:10-8:20am 
• All KGs join the older children for the time we call Morning Circle. They sit with their older friends and join in singing, conversations, stories. They love this time and look forward to it very much
• After circle: Movement or getting ready for soup and baking bread or tortillas
• Snack in the KG outdoor space
• Recess. The KGs are joined by their friends from the grades on a large field on the campus. (40 - 45 minutes)
• Activities, depending on the day, such as free play, painting, handwork, sweeping, woodwork, drawing, working in the garden
• On the off campus day, the children leave after snack to go to places such as Clipper Harbor or Schoonmaker Beach in Sausalito and stay for the day
• Lunch in the KG room
• Recess with their Grades friends
• Rest
• Activities as mentioned above
• A story
• The day ends at 3:10pm

We live in a world where some fundamental things never change. Nature remains nature even though we have managed to damage so much, humans still have conflicts, still need to breathe, move and love. Children grow up, become more aware, or not as the case may be, we become adults if all goes well.

What is changing is how we live in the world, the technologies that we have continued to develop since the first stone that was thrown to kill an animal. We have always had the tendency to delegate the use of energy from ourselves onto other living beings or machines. We are doing that now to a degree that was impossible to imagine even a decade ago. With these changes that we have brought about, come changes in capabilities that children develop left to their own devices...as an idiom but also meant literally. So many are left not to but with their own devices! All of this has consequences.

At our school, we continually ask what capabilities do children fundamentally need in order to grow up into adults who can live well physically, emotionally, intellectually and even spiritually, in their presents and in their futures. What Zeitgeist is moving through our cultures and societies? What can we anticipate about the future our children are growing into? This question is extremely difficult to answer. The sudden onset of this current health situation demonstrates that clearly.

With all of that said, we, as a team of teachers, are constantly observing and asking these questions. We are adjusting, changing emphases, initiating, responding in the ways that the children in front of us at the moment, need us to. It would be neglectful and lazy of us as a school not to have been engaged in a constant creative metamorphosis over the years of being with children.

Teatime, or afterschool care, is available Monday-Thursday for children in kindergarten through 4th grade from 3:30-5:30 pm at $15/hr or $100 a week prepaid. Our Teatime lead, Ms. Kiki, will provide the children with a healthy snack and ample opportunities for outdoor activities (weather permitting).

A form is available if you know in advance which days in the month you would like your child(ren) to attend. You may contact Sam Wilder, if you need to place your child in Tea Time.

Any child in KG-4th grade who is not picked up at dismissal by 3:30 pm will be brought to Tea Time (located in and near the kindergarten classroom) by their last teacher of the day and billed accordingly.

We provide morning shuttle services for all San Francisco families who sign up. Our teachers drive our travel vans to Presidio at Stone St, San Francisco, CA 94129 every morning. They depart for school at 8:05 am. Booster seats are available if needed. The cost is $600 annually.

Health and Safety Protocols

The New Village School continues to be in close contact with the Department of Public Health and the Marin County Office of Education for the latest health and safety guidance regarding COVID-19. 

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