Mission Statement

Our mission is to foster a lifelong love of learning in each student. As an
innovative brain friendly elementary school, we integrate current brain friendly
practices in every aspect of our teaching and learning. Stillpoint School strives to
maintain a safe, caring, cooperative atmosphere where the whole child is
nourished, community spirit flourishes, and success for all is achieved.

Philosophy

We believe that all children have an innate desire to learn. Children’s brains
grow rapidly in the beginning years of life, forming dendrites at incredible rates
as the brain makes connections and builds an understanding of its surrounding
environment. At Stillpoint School, we use current brain research as a basis for
how we teach and learn. By connecting learning to children’s experiences, we
help dendrites thrive as our students constantly make new connections. We believe
that children learn much more effectively when they enjoy the subjects they are
studying and understand the learning process. As a result, we encourage hands-on
activities, discovery, exploration, and kinesthetic learning. We emphasize
creativity and imagination, and strongly support teamwork with a community
approach to solving problems. We downplay competition, believing that we
accomplish the most by working together.

Stillpoint School offers students instruction in both traditional content areas and
in all of the arts: drama, music, crafts, fine arts, and other creative forms which
allow children to express themselves as they learn. Our academically rich
environment is enhanced by the individualized attention we provide each student.
Recognizing that brains have different developmental patterns, we create open-
ended learning activities to ensure success for every child.

We teach and foster responsibility, cooperation, and compassion in every aspect
of our curriculum. Living on an island, our environment is particularly important
to our community, and many of our activities are inspired by nature. We nurture a
love of the natural world in our students, knowing that our children are the future
and will be responsible for our world. We lead by example, respecting ourselves
and our students as they learn to respect themselves, their peers, and their
community. At Stillpoint School, children come first. It is our mission and our
responsibility to ensure that our students leave with a lifelong love of learning.