Greenfield Center School
2006-07

Dear Parent,
Thank you for your interest in Greenfield Center School (GCS). The Center School is an independent day school for students in Kindergarten through Middle School (K-8). Our mission is to integrate a challenging curriculum with ethical decision-making to develop the skills and convictions for creating just communities. For more information, please contact the Director of Admissions (admit@centerschool.net).

Applications will be considered on a rolling admissions basis, space permitting. Children applying for kindergarten are usually five years old by September 1st of the year for which they are enrolling.

We have been providing exceptional educational opportunities for children for over 25 years.  Since 1981, we have developed and continue to articulate the practices of the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching. Responsive Classroom structures, such as Morning Meeting, Guided Discovery, and Academic Choice are implemented in all classrooms, K through 8th grade. To learn more about Responsive Classroom, please visit the website of our founding organization, The Northeast Foundation for Children, at http://www.responsiveclassroom.org.

GCS is affiliated with the Coalition of Essential Schools (http://www.essentialschools.org), a nationally recognized and federally funded school reform initiative. GCS is also an approved service provider for the Coalition Center for Essential School Reform (CCESR), http://www.keene.edu/ccesr/ of Keene State College and Antioch New England Graduate School.

GCS is collaborating with psychologist Dr. Ross Greene, author of The Explosive Child. GCS and Dr. Greene are co-authoring a new book that will refine Dr. Greene's techniques of collaborative problem solving from a focus on the clinical relationship to those most effective in a classroom. Dr. Ross Greene is Director of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology at the Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Here is what parents say about the Center School:

"GCS helps students believe in themselves."
"Students learn how to learn."
"My daughter no longer complains of boredom."
The school not only teaches ethics, but lives them."
"The individualized approach."
"The social curriculum."
" I heard about the school through children in my neighborhood - they are self-confident."
"Children own their own strengths and weaknesses."
"Talented staff."
"Teachers are extraordinarily caring."
"Each child feels known."
"The cohesiveness of the whole school."
"The community - I feel welcomed as into a family."
"Students are encouraged to take risks."

The best way to learn about the Center School, however, is to call our Admissions office and talk to a staff member. We very much welcome your questions. We look forward to getting to know you and your children!
admit@centerschool.net
413.773.1700

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