Excellent Teaching
We insist on rigorous standards for academic and personal achievement to ensure our students are ready to compete and succeed at the highest level. Excellent teaching drives mastery in every classroom. We develop our team to be master practitioners and leaders in education through an unwavering commitment to professional learning and continuous improvement. Our approach to teaching and learning is grounded in the principles of cognitive science and we continuously expand our knowledge and enhance our practice to maximize achievement for all students.
Optimal Learning Conditions
To set the optimal conditions for learning, we create a focused, purposeful, and immaculate learning environment. We are minimalist in our design and send the message, without saying a word, that excellence is expected. Our learning environment is free of the non-essentials that can be distracting to students, and instead neat and organized to foster a calm and focused environment in which students are stimulated by teaching and learning. We implement shared systems – and high and consistent standards for student conduct and engagement – to maximize focus and build strong habits.
Knowledge-Rich Curriculum
Knowledge powers all learning and thinking. Research shows that content knowledge is a key driver of reading comprehension and learning in all subject areas. Our challenging, knowledge-rich curriculum builds the knowledge students need to achieve academic mastery and understand the broad range of human experience. Proficient and voracious reading and writing is at the core of our approach as it equips students with the knowledge that powers critical thinking and clear communication.
Our curriculum is rigorous by design to ensure every student’s readiness for selective colleges and careers, regardless of the path they choose. The curriculum requires high levels of effort and resilience and challenges students to achieve their highest potential. Challenge is embedded within a culture of individualized support to ensure all students, regardless of their starting point, grow and excel.
The curriculum is designed to develop mastery of core academic subjects and to inspire students to discover passions and pursue them with distinction. Our program includes a range of learning opportunities that expand breadth of knowledge and develop the curiosity, independence, confidence, and teamwork that create the foundation for a life of ongoing learning and achievement.
Instructional Model
An explicit, direct instruction model is used to deliver rigorous and engaging lessons. Teachers deliver structured lessons that include activation of prior knowledge, clear explanations and engagement strategies, practice and feedback, and frequent checks for understanding to track student progress, address misconceptions, and solidify learning. We believe the best way to motivate students is to enable them to experience success, which we achieve through excellent teaching, high expectations, purposeful recognition, and intentional support.
Exemplary Character
Exemplary character is the foundation of realizing your highest potential and living a purposeful life. We develop exemplary character by setting high standards for student conduct and explicitly teaching, modeling, practicing, and reinforcing our shared values. These high standards, applied consistently across the school, develop empowering habits and create a focused, purposeful environment where every student maximizes their learning. We expect nothing less than 100% focus.
The benefits of our approach is that students are never assumed to just know the meaning of concepts like care, effort, or personal responsibility. Students are provided with daily opportunities to practice these concepts in multiple contexts, rewards and recognition when values are embodied, and fair and responsive consequences when expectations are not met. These responses include questions to prompt students to reflect on their actions, their impact on others, and the replacement actions they can take to improve. This creates a purpose-driven culture in which students are not simply complying with expectations, but building enduring habits.
Life-Changing Partnerships
Graduating students with the knowledge and character to realize their highest potential and lead purposeful lives is achieved in partnership with families.
While we care deeply about our students’ success, we will never care more than their families, and we recognize this through our intentional focus on building strong, collaborative partnerships. From the point at which families first learn about Bold, we clearly communicate our goals, align on expectations, and identify the supports that will ensure every student achieves their highest potential.
We work closely with families to uphold the high standards we have for our students, which means we expect families to ensure their child is ready to learn every day by: bringing their child to school on time and in full uniform; ensuring homework is completed consistently; responding to communication from the school as soon as possible and within 24 hours; and being present for events and to celebrate their child’s growth and achievement.
Investing and supporting all families to achieve our shared goals is one of our most fundamental responsibilities. We work closely with families to monitor progress toward goals and ensure consistent and clear communication to drive continuous improvement.