Highfields Preparatory and Kindergarten School

[EduCativ]

School visits are a rich encounter for families considering Highfields for their children, as there is a significance about the school that needs to be experienced and understood. We really cannot be compared to any other school and are proud of how often parents remark that Highfields feels very different from their schooling experience. When visitors come to Highfields, they are met, not by a rigid schooling system, but by an elegant web of overlapping, dynamic relationships, and work opportunities. Highfields is a school full of life, fun, and rich learning experiences for all.
Our educators intentionally design preschool and school experiences that sustain and support rich relationships and celebrate children's unique personalities, learning styles, interests, and passions in daily practice. We strongly believe that schools should be designed for children, not school children. We resist any learning model that would fit children into a 'one size fits all' educational box. Instead, we pride ourselves in offering an educational and community experience for children, families, and educators beyond comparison.
Since its beginnings in 1945, Highfields has been defined by its unique learning culture. Deeply embedded within this culture is uncompromising respect for young children's capacity to learn, think, and work together cooperatively and respectfully. Listening to children and giving them a voice and influence over their educational experience is at the heart of purpose. The importance of play and inquiry-based learning can also not be underestimated when I reflect on what makes our school such a special place for young learners.
Highfields School's fifth Principal, many have come before me and have invested richly in the school's story. An uninterrupted history of employing invested, passionate, and exceptional early childhood and primary educators and leaders have ensured Highfields stands out today as a brilliant light for what is possible in early learning.
Highfields attract families who are searching for something more. To choose Highfields is to make a distinct choice about the sort of schooling you want for your child. Highfields provides a bespoke experience for students, from our youngest preschoolers to our Year 2 leaders.
Choosing to limit our numbers has always been our strength in ensuring every child feels a sense of belonging and is able and expected to contribute meaningfully to our learning community. Small classes allow for rich and collaborative learning experiences and enable educators to design opportunities that support each child's strengths and the group as a whole. Our size enables a tight-knit parent community, with families enjoying a warm and welcoming experience within the school and beyond.
Aristotle made these words famous, highlighting early childhood's significance as a distinct stage of life, a stage not to be underestimated or squandered. Early childhood is a time of massive transformation and growth – a time when identity is forming, core values are established, and essential habits are developed. Because of this, the culture of schools is of paramount importance to young learners. At Highfields, we are very intentional about the learning culture and the expectations we have of children. We believe that setting high expectations in a context that encourages risk-taking, listening, experimentation, questioning, and perseverance leads to strong learning dispositions in young children. Having a rich and empowering experience of learning in the early years of schooling sets children up for life.
We want every Highfielder to develop an insatiable love of learning and confidence in their ability to learn. Creating a context that fosters this deep love of learning and self-confidence is our specialty. To do this, we design the educational experience around the learners themselves! Highfield's programs and plans are developed in response to young children's interests and honor children's deeply inquisitive approach to the world. Instead of encouraging children to follow and 'comply' within a system blindly, our programs are designed to motivate and equip children to lead the way, learn how to learn through self-driven commitment to make connections, ask questions and develop understanding.
Foundational to our approach is our emphasis on learning with others. We explicitly value alternate perspectives, encouraging our students to respect differences and celebrate different ways of knowing. Children at Highfields are encouraged to consider multiple points of view about their learning and their behavior. Instead of being rewarded for 'good behavior,' we encourage children to reflect on their choices (good and bad) to support the development of mindfulness and intrinsically motivated pro-social behaviors. We avoid traditions and systems that set up children in competition with one another, choosing to celebrate success in other ways that are intentionally non-competitive. We do not use stickers or other extrinsic rewards to motivate children. Children learn daily in small groups by getting their hands dirty, playing with materials and ideas, and sophisticated and reflective experimentation. Learning is contextualized in real life situations, and whenever possible, children's projects are positioned in real-life contexts.

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