‘We Teach Courage’
TLS Instills Self-Confidence
by Urging Students to Take Risks
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At The Lexington School, students receive the best of two worlds:

* A 50-year-old independent school steeped in the tradition of academic excellence

* Plus a cutting edge educational environment that reflects the latest advances in understanding how kids learn.

Over the past five decades, TLS -- a preschool through eighth-grade elementary school of more than 500 students -- has established a national reputation for academic success by fostering independent thought and honoring individual student learning styles.

At the same time, the school embraces progressive educational ideas that equip students with skills to meet the demands of the 21st Century.

Those values coalesced when TLS updated its school philosophy statement, courageously including the word “failure.”

The philosophy reads in part: “When children are confident, they will take risks. Because risk taking is inherent in learning, the possibility of failure exists… Our success is defined when our students have the life skills to make wise choices and overcome obstacles.”

From that evolved the school’s mantra: “We teach courage.”

“We want to teach kids to solve problems,” Head of School Chuck Baldecchi said.
“Education is not about rote memorization. We don’t want kids to be afraid to make a mistake.”

Echoing that sentiment is the school’s Director of Admission Beth Pride.

“What defines our students is their self-confidence, their willingness to raise their hand,” she said.

One of the ways the school fosters self-confidence is by emphasizing public speaking.

Show-and-tell in the early grades evolves into regular in-class presentations and culminates when each eighth-grader makes a presentation to the entire student body.

“These are great experiences for the students, and the topics can be anything from beef jerky to global warming,” Pride said.

Following its own mantra of teaching courage, TLS incorporates the latest educational research into its curriculum.

Special offerings include:

* Montessori and KinderKlasse programs in preschool
* Community service projects for all students
* Extracurricular Mandarin Chinese classes
* Weeklong team-building field trips for middle schoolers.
(On these ambitious, hands-on trips, sixth-graders spend a week on the Green River preserve in North Carolina, seventh-graders study marine biology off the Barrier Islands in South Carolina and eighth-graders spend a rugged week in Zion National Park in Utah.)
* “Engage the Right,” a school slogan that acknowledges the importance of right-brain (the creative side of the brain) stimulation.

TLS takes the extra step to bring area music teachers to the school so that students can study the piano, violin, guitar and other instruments as part of the school day.

This has produced a kind of “School of Rock” culture in which students as young as first-graders form their own bands and perform for classmates.

All of this is in addition to the rigorous in-class instruction provided by highly trained faculty in small classes. (Teacher-student ratio is 8 to 1.)