The Fayerweather School is a private school located in Cambridge, MA. The school serves students from the age of 3 to the 8th grade and uses an innovative integrated “whole child” approach combined with strong academics.
School’s Mission Statement
At Fayerweather Street School, we help young people develop the knowledge, skills, and awareness to flourish in a complex, diverse, and increasingly interdependent world. We believe that truly knowing each child is the heart of a great education. We strive to engage each child’s intellect, imagination, and awakening sense of social responsibility to help our students become confident, resourceful, and enthusiastic learners. We are committed to building a diverse and welcoming community in which compassion, humour, and respect are woven throughout the curriculum and spirit of the day.
Academics
The school’s curriculum is based on the concept of “progressive education,” which, according to the school, contains core elements of what children need to learn and thrive. This includes adults who know, understand, and care about them, a sense of security and consistency, high expectations, and a healthy self-image.
-
Important elements of the school’s academic approach are:
-
Encouraging project-based learning
-
Developing a sense of social justice among students
-
Focusing on the social-emotional health of the students
-
Providing multi-aged classrooms
-
Using a co-teaching model to provide a low teacher/student ratio
Arts
The arts are an important part of the school’s education and include studio art, music, theatre, and woodshops. In the upper classes, students can choose from a number of art electives, such as documentary film, instrumental/voice ensemble, oil painting, sculpture, and warm glass studio.
After-School Activities
The younger children are offered after-school activities like time outdoors and community-building projects in art, science, and nature studies. Other activities provided can be dress-up, manipulatives, games, writing or drawing tables, and quiet reading.
Activities for the older students include sports, drama, art, cooking, dance, or music.
In addition to after-school activities, here are a range of enrichment activities offered throughout the school year. These include sports teams and clubs, science, math, and engineering classes.
Physical Education and Athletics
The school offers many activities for physical education, including noncompetitive games and traditional team sports.
Upper grades play on interscholastic soccer, basketball, and Ultimate Frisbee teams that compete against other schools. The school also offers soccer and basketball clubs for younger children and parkour classes for all ages.