EDUCATION MATTERS—SANFORD SCHOOL'S PRIVATE SCHOOL BLOG

When a child turns five it’s time to start kindergarten, but many parents are looking for opportunities that start even earlier. When exploring various programs, some parents may be torn between choosing a daycare setting or a school-based early childhood program. At Sanford we believe there is a tangible difference between a Preschool and/or PreKindergarten classroom and a daycare center. Below we will make the CASE that participating in a formal early childhood program benefits families in four main areas: Community, Attention, Specials, and Education.

The holiday season often brings with it feelings of immense gratitude. We make lists of the people in our lives that mean the most to us and find ways to show our appreciation for them. Whether it’s a holiday card, quality time spent together, or a classically wrapped present, the holiday season is filled with the giving spirit. This year, consider adding your child’s school or alma mater to your gratitude list.

Gifts to a private school’s annual fund are used to support elements that make it even better equipped to meet the needs and talents of each student. Tuition provides a great percentage–but not all–of the income necessary to meet a school’s expenses. Charitable contributions from parents, alumni, past parents, grandparents, and others who believe in the school’s mission help to complete the equation. Here are three reasons why philanthropy is important for private schools:

When families are searching for schools for their children, they often look for the right “feel” of the school asking questions like:

• Does this school offer a balanced curriculum?
• Do the students and faculty look engaged and happy as they go about their day?
• What experiences are available to students?
• Will my children, and my family, feel like they belong?

Tuning into Sanford’s performing arts program will provide you with insight into each of these questions. Not only does a strong performing arts curriculum offer balance to a robust academic environment, but it also offers a chance for children to be creative, expressive, and learn about different cultures and backgrounds. Performing arts are essential to a well-rounded education.

How do you keep a school community strong in a school year caught between virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning? It starts with school leaders and parents who have a shared vision of success. Your support and participation make a difference. Whether you choose to engage on a personal, informal, or formal level, here are a few opportunities to stay engaged in your school community during the pandemic.

For more than a year, children across the country have been learning in atypical school settings. Faced with remote, hybrid, and in-person teaching and learning options along with major changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, some students have fallen behind academically. In addition, many miss their typical routines, others are suffering from Zoom fatigue, and the majority are longing for social interaction.

As your family prepares to wrap up this school year and makes plans for next year, consider enrolling your child in a summer enrichment program. Strong enrichment programs, even during a traditional school year, offer many benefits for PreKindergarten through high school students. Learn about five ways a summer enrichment program can help your child:

At Sanford, we understand that private school tuition costs may cause families to not consider this educational opportunity. This video offers a brief, clear explanation of how tuition assistance works at Sanford School. We approach tuition assistance in a personalized way —if your child is the right fit for our school, we want to help make a Sanford education affordable. Check out the video. You can't afford to miss it!

Private school students are deeply involved in their schools through extracurriculars and service. Why should that end at graduation? Read about why getting alumni involved in their former schools is essential to providing a top-notch education.

If you know Sanford School, you know the natural beauty and roaming hills of the campus that lent the school its original namesake—Sunny Hills. While it is the work of Sanford faculty that provides the quality education Sanford aims to deliver, it is often what lies outside of the campus’s academic buildings that comes to mind when one thinks of what makes Sanford unique. Teachers have always found ways to incorporate the larger campus into students’ learning experiences, but now, for the first time in Sanford’s ninety-year history will its outdoor spaces be used as a safer alternative to the traditional classroom setting.

The summer slide is the learning loss that some students have at the beginning of the school year after the summer break. Studies have shown that there is a loss of about one to three months of knowledge from the end of the school year to the start. To avoid the summer slide, students need to be actively involved in educational opportunities so they can return to school ready to learn.

Impending graduation at any institution fills its students with a variety of emotions: excitement at the idea of carving a new path independent of everything they have ever known, uncertainty about what their future may hold, and often the melancholy sadness that comes with having to leave friends who have become family over the last four years. These are their people. As graduates leave to start the next chapters of their lives, they will remember so much about their friends–their contagious laughter, their lengthy list of inside jokes, their support during times of impossible difficulty, and their shared experience of growing up at a school they’ll remember forever.