STUDENT LIFE
The Simon School Difference
At the Simon School we take every opportunity to make learning fun. We make the world our classroom as much as possible. We start the year with a school-wide retreat where we can challenge ourselves, set goals for the year ahead, and reconnect with each other after our summer break. We are a community, a family and as such we recognize that we need to nurture and strengthen relationships not just academics.
We also have weekly activities via our Fun Friday (done in a day) that include inspiring guest speakers, field trips, cultural enrichment, and meaningful community service. This allows students to welcome the weekend and engage with an aspect of what they were learning that week in an interactive manner. Our students also engage in outdoor Socratic Seminars, and several academic competitions and cultural appreciation events and activities throughout the year.
In addition to our academics and our beginning and end of year retreats, we have school wide community service projects, holiday events, field trips out of area such as to Washington DC or Europe (when possible) and Parent's Weekend and Family Field Day.
Our 21st century schoolhouse
We believe that our environment directly and significantly affects our mood, motivation, and inspiration. For that reason we have consciously designed our learning spaces to be inviting, warm, relaxing, and functional. Students are able to sit at round tables, casual seating or at high top tables. Our cafe lounge is equipped with a full size refrigerator and microwave for student use as well as a snack bar equipped with fresh fruit, snack bars, and an electric kettle for tea or hot chocolate that students may enjoy at their leisure during our mid-morning spiritual break or in the afternoons after lunch. Students enjoy a significant level of independence at The Simon School, and have ample opportunities to move freely from one space to the other choosing which space best suits their needs at that moment. It is important to us that our students feel at home and embrace their independent student-led educational environment.
