Educational Philosophy
Wildwood School is a coeducational, independent day school encompassing grades K-12. Our multi-age primary classes provide young learners with a supportive learning environment that nurtures children's intellectual, social, and emotional abilities. The intermediate grades (3-5) build on this foundation through small classes in which attention is given to each student's progress in every area of development. Our middle and high school program further develops, in a small school environment, thoughtful learners and engaged citizens through a program of academic mastery, the arts, athletics, and community involvement. The school's 550 students come from economically, culturally, and racially diverse backgrounds. The governing body of Wildwood School is a 21-member Board of Trustees composed of parents and community members.
Wildwood School's goal is to develop lifelong learners who possess the skills, flexibility, and confidence to meet with enthusiasm the demands of a future in which the only certainty is the challenge of constant change. Wildwood's sound educational foundation prepares our students to be dynamic, caring adults who are literate in all media, who embrace challenges, who have an understanding of the interdependency of life, and who are responsible community members who possess the life skills necessary to be successful in a global society.
Wildwood School's program develops a student's intellectual, social/emotional, and physical well-being through a cohesively integrated curriculum and uses diverse teaching strategies to address the learning needs of each individual. Our approach is reinforced at the administrative level through policy, class configuration, hiring practices, teacher training, and ongoing curriculum development. Motivation for learning is fostered through encouraging each student to set goals and to do his/her personal best, rather than pitting classmates against each other in traditional competition. Wildwood emphasizes supportive, teacher-guided, self-directed learning. Students are encouraged to explore their world and make meaning of the information that they absorb to construct patterns of knowledge that will allow them to incorporate new learning throughout their lives.
