Academics

For the Joy of Learning

 

Educational Philosophy

Waring School’s educational program is based on the premise that, in order to learn, students must be challenged with worthy intellectual material, exciting creative projects, and ample opportunities to display their talents and expand their ideas through meaningful interactions with peers and adults.

 

Framing the Waring Experience

"Limits create challenges, challenges beget creativity, creativity bestows gifts both unpredictable and limitless. These gifts are not always objects or ideas or connections to keep, but they move us forward, propel us towards the next – possibly wondrous – thing." - Waring Art Teacher KB Breiseth

An Introduction to Waring Academics


Waring believes simply creating a challenging academic program is not enough–the most powerful outcomes occur in a culture that reinforces the joy of learning. Creating this culture within a strong community is the primary mission of the School. 
 
Central to this goal are courses and experiences that stimulate and engage our students. Requirements for graduation include studies in humanities (an integrated literature and history course), French, mathematics, science, and writing.  Classes in visual and performing arts and participation in athletics, theater, and chorus are mandatory. Waring offers numerous elective and experiential options so that students may pursue areas of interest outside of the academic classroom, as well as travel locally and abroad. In all these offerings, students are encouraged to voice their ideas, see things in new ways, and show their best work. They are expected to ask questions, think critically, find answers, and defend their own ideas.
 
Our sense of community is promoted not only by a common curriculum but also through experiences that reach across traditional boundaries of age and grade level. Our All-School Meetings, the all-grade advising groups known as Tutorials, the Teaching Assistant Program for juniors and seniors, and the all-school Camping Trip at the beginning of the year are purposely designed to strengthen connections between students, their peers of all ages, and their teachers. In addition, humanities, mathematics, writing, and French classes have students from mixed grade levels.  
 
As Waring students are given the tools to learn, they are encouraged to connect their learning to their own lives. In so doing, Waring students develop the self-knowledge and authenticity they will need to be productive and successful in the twenty-first century.