River East School

Educere At River East School, we embrace the principle of educere from the Latin root of the English words for education and community. In Latin, educere means to lead out or bring forth. We believe in the innate creativity, confidence and compassion of children. At River East, we aim to cultivate and bring forth the inherent qualities from within each child we serve. Ratios We believe that having small student to teacher ratios is an integral to ensuring we provide high-quality care and guidance for each child. At River East, our ratios are 1:4 meaning that as our number of children enrolled in the school increases, so does the number of teachers present to attend to them. Keeping small ratios enables each child to have attentive care while enabling our teachers to fully implement their individual capabilities and expertise. Communal Learning At River East, education is a journey we chart together. Therefore, we believe for education to happen organically, it must be communal and symbiotic. The underlying philosophy is that the children at our school learn and develop through their interaction with their teachers and fellow students while the teachers develop their methods through interacting with the children and fellow teachers. Wellness & Healthy Living We aim to foster a lifelong love of healthy living, and believe nutrition is at the core of overall wellness. We take great pride in serving gourmet food and snacks each day, from a menu which is co-created and inspired by our students. The meals we serve are primarily vegan, vegetarian and are prepared in-house with fresh, organic ingredients. We discuss the fruits, produce and spices we use to give the students a better understanding of where their food comes from and encourage their active involvement in preparing each meal. As a complement to our nutrition program, we place a strong emphasis on conscious awareness and physical activity. Throughout the week we set aside time for yoga, gymnastics, sports, dance and meditation. In line with these beliefs, we use "time-ins"rather than "time-outs" and promote deep breathing exercises to help the children recognize the connection between their internal emotions and their external behavior. We are consistently awed by the results of utilizing these research-backed methods, which have been scientifically proven to support physical, emotional and social human needs. With these tenets at River East's core, we experience each day as a profound journey filled with discovery, inspired learning, and radical breakthroughs.