The Shipley Lower School program starts with the natural curiosity of the young child and seeks to develop children’s innate capacity to explore and learn.  Accordingly, the classroom is a happy, productive laboratory in which children are challenged to think and are encouraged to accumulate knowledge from independent exploration and discovery as well as from guided learning.  Teachers are intelligent, creative and active as they function as facilitators, mediators, observers and participants in the classroom.  Throughout the day determination and persistence are supported in an atmosphere of warmth and attention; students grow in self-confidence and self-esteem as they successfully master increasingly difficult concepts.

The Lower School curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies, the base on which subsequent education is built.  The lively classroom atmosphere stimulates student initiative, and a high level of academic performance is promoted.  Students acquire a foundation for critical thinking and informed decision-making and an understanding that the gaining of knowledge is a pleasurable and lifelong pursuit.

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