MISSION STATEMENTRespect for children and trust in their inherent enthusiasm for learning are central to the design of Sparhawk School's educational processes and objectives. Our purpose is to provide a foundation of academic strength, to facilitate critical and creative thinking and to nurture qualities of character in our students that will sustain them throughout their lifetimes, whatever challenges and adventures may come.

SPARHAWK AT A GLANCESparhawk is an independent progressive school on Boston’s North Shore for students in grades PreK-12. As progressive educators, we recognize the ‘whole child’ by fostering the development of academic minds within a community that also shapes and advances the social and emotional well-being of our students.

First and foremost in our decision-making is the assessment of how our students will be benefited now and for the future. By both challenging and supporting learners, building community, encouraging collaboration, and respecting the uniqueness of each individual, we breathe life into our philosophy, honoring children, celebrating ideas. Valued above all else, students benefit from and have a responsibility to foster a culture of kindness. The interplay of these passionately-held values creates the signature Sparhawk experience, allowing students to flourish.

NUMBER OF ALL SCHOOL MEETINGS

EACH YEAR

OF OUR STUDENTSPERFORM COMMUNITY

SERVICE

We value formal and informal, traditional and non-traditional learning and teaching styles at Sparhawk School. Students gain a high level of understanding, remaining focused and interested in a subject, when it is offered in a variety of ways. Our applied experiential curriculum reinforces the classroom learning, extending past the Sparhawk habitat into our surrounding community.

Students take regular field trips to local habitats, partner with local historical institutions such as Lowell’s Boat Shop and perform community service regularly. We take great pride in knowing that we are helping students become good global citizens. At the Lower School, that begins with them being active members of the local community.

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SPARHAWK COMMUNITY

BEING A GOOD HUMAN

HUMANITIES

Pictured here: A colonial America reenactment

The primary focus of the history program at Sparhawk School is the study of human endeavor and achievement. People can be good; they can be industrious and they have not only survived, they have thrived. This alone would be incomplete, without the study of human foibles, including war and other examples of cruelty and intolerance. The investigation of human activity, where considerations of right and wrong occur, can be complex, sometimes contextual, or controversial, and in other cases, impossible to decide. We embrace the intellectual exercise these issues offer.

We wish our children to cultivate their emerging abilities to make sense of, even question, what they read and hear. In other words, we wish them to become knowledge generators. The “hands-on” aspect of our program serves this purpose well. Students participate in experiential and project-based learning, theatrical reenactments, presentations, and thematic field trips in order to begin to grasp the history and the culture of the people they are studying. To the left, you can see our students exploring archaeology by creating, studying and categorizing artifacts, as well as learning excavation practices and creating a Cartesian coordinate system to map the recovery of artifacts.

HISTORY COMES TO LIFE

Classes for our young students are highly interactive and incorporate artistic and musical curriculum. The four skills of listening, speaking and then reading and writing are emphasized in an organic fashion, e.g., in the way that a child learns their primary language. Thus, beginning students are encouraged to first hone their listening and speaking skills, and, as they progress, to read and write with ever-higher levels of ease and fluency.

Teachers present material through the lenses of the Multiple Intelligences and incorporate culture as context. In this way, students understand how ideas are expressed in the language they are studying. World language class is not just about language, it is another way in which our students learn to be good global citizens. Here they ponder different ways of living and looking at the world and broaden their understanding of their place in it.

OF OUR STUDENTS, BEGINNING IN PRE-K,

STUDY WORLD LANGUAGE

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ORLD LANGUAGE

The arts are an integral part of our curriculum. The mission of our visual art, music and theater program is to help students fulfill their inherent creative potential, develop confidence using their artistic voices, and make the arts a comprehensible language. Students learn in a variety of ways, including through independent and guided exploration, technical instruction, and the study of its role in reflecting and influencing culture throughout history.

The abstract, symbolic nature of the arts is a valid and powerful means of searching for and sharing fundamental questions and truths about the human experience. Participation in the arts inspires creativity, fosters the development of problem-solving, critical-thinking, and literacy skills, and builds self esteem and character.

We host several arts events throughout the year, bringing our community together to celebrate the accomplishments of our students. These include our fall play, arts nights, winter and spring concerts, spring art show and full-production musical.

THE ARTS AT SPARHAWK

‘‘A truly inspiring school where teachers love teaching and children are part of a community surrounded by respect and encouragement. My son is highly motivated in part because his teachers never fail to challenge him or encourage him to take risks.’’~ Sparhawk Parent

ART, MUSIC & THEATER

Sparhawk School’s academically and artistically rich approach to reading, literary analysis, critical thinking, writing, speaking and listening is the keystone to our interdisciplinary humanities curriculum. Language skills are the primary means to which students gain access to the world’s great stores of knowledge.

Skills learned in language arts transfer to every domain of the students’ lives and stay with them forever. As the students’ language arts skills improve, confidence grows, and they apply the writing process effectively in their other classes. They express their knowledge concisely and accurately in science, synthesize information and form their own opinions based on research in history, express sensory, emotional and metaphysical experiences in poetry, and articulate proofs, principles, and conceptual understanding in math.

LANGUAGE ARTS

LANGUAGE ARTS

EXPERIENTIAL SCIENCEScience classes at Sparhawk Elementary School are designed to enthrall and inspire students with the wonders of the natural world. Students are naturally inclined toward questioning and discovery. Driven by curiosity, our young adventurers find hands-on and minds-on scientific investigations irresistible.

Students use their existing knowledge along with scientific facts, vocabulary, tools, and processes that are used by professional scientists in their continual quests for information and understanding. Science is a grand adventure because it is a discipline that uses what we know, so far, to investigate what we do not know yet - a natural for young minds because everything can–and should—be questioned. When taught joyously, students learn that it is a domain for explorers and its frontier is endless in scope and time. Our goal is to initiate students into what is possible in this fascinating field of study.

‘‘The thing that impresses me most about Sparhawk School is the happiness on the kids’ faces, the kindness they show one another, and the trust and respect they have for each other. It's a true reflection on the staff and how the kids are treated at the school.’’~ Sparhawk Parent

MATH AT SPARHAWK

‘‘My three children have attended Sparhawk over the past eleven years. Each has been nurtured as a student and a person. They have learned to love learning, make good friends, and want to engage with big ideas.’’~ Sparhawk Parent

MATHEM

ATICS

Math is foreign language, in the sense that few students have much explicit experience of it before coming to school. Counting, is not math, it is memorization. One-to-one correspondence is a foundational skill that does occur naturally: One cookie for you and one for me; two cats and one dog, but beyond that, for most children, the foreign language of math starts once they begin school. It is an abstract, ordered, logical and convergent language that, in the earliest years, requires a connection to the real world; it needs reference to real objects. Otherwise, math is intangible and mysterious, abstract and untouchable at a time of life when much of experience and understanding is concrete rather than abstract, and in the absence of experience, meaningless.

At Sparhawk, students of all ages are given the opportunity to solve practical, real-life problems as well as those found in math books. In other words, we combine traditional skill- development and practical applications. The applications, often called “hands-on” or “experiential” learning, allow students to use and practice their emerging toolbox of skills, in context, and in ways that are intrinsically interesting and make sense to them. The result is greater enthusiasm, sustained interest and, ultimately, comprehension.

The first step in the admissions process is to schedule a tour with our Admissions Department to explore our campus, engage with teachers and meet our current students. After the tour, interested families may schedule a full day visit.

Following the day visit, you may request an application packet in person or by calling the Admissions Department at 978.388.5354.

MAKING SPARHAWK A REALITY

ADMISSIONS PROCESS

‘‘Finding the proper educational fit is a defining moment in each family’s life. No letter, conversation or brochure can say as much as the feeling of peering into a classroom that feels like home..’’

We are committed to making independent progressive education a reality for as many students as possible. Our financial aid program is aligned completely with our vision as a school: We seek kind & compassionate students with academic excellence who are active in their school and global community. Financial aid forms may be requested from the Admissions Department.

~ Louise Stilphen, Headmaster & Founder

ADMISSIONS

Sparhawk Lower School 259 Elm Street | Amesbury, MA 01913

Admissions@SparhawkSchool.comSparhawkSchool.com978.388.5354

Sparhawk Admissions Department4 Noel Street | Amesbury, MA 01913