Oakwood School is a coeducational K-12 independent day school. It was founded in 1951 by a group of parents who wanted to provide their children with an educational experience that was rich in the arts, sciences, and humanities and challenging to their creative and intellectual capacities.
We intend an Oakwood Education:
- To guide students toward mastery in a wide variety of scholastic, artistic, and athletic endeavors. We want students to see and use relationships among disciplines; to develop intellectual integrity and curiosity, insight and imagination; to develop technological literacy, environmental stewardship, and global awareness; and to become independent and reflective thinkers who can express themselves fluently and who take delight in learning.
- To spark passion. We want young people to become wholeheartedly immersed in their work so that they are deeply and personally engaged and accountable. We believe that human intelligence and imagination extend to, and are developed through, all areas of human experience and that to involve a student passionately is to involve the whole person; therefore, we value a rich variety of forms of creation and modes of expression.
- To cultivate depth of character. We want students to develop empathy, imagination, and moral courage; a sense of responsibility informed by ethical values; a sense of humility; a habit of service; and a commitment to social justice. We intend for their intellectual and moral development to be intertwined, so that their choices are guided by internal controls and sensitivity to the needs of others.
- To help students gain self-knowledge. We want students to learn about their own strengths and weaknesses within a supportive environment that fosters open communication. To this end, we seek to accommodate and appreciate the unique qualities of each young person and to provide many opportunities for students to succeed and to take risks for the sake of learning.
- To foster a sense of community. We seek to create a vibrant public life in the school, where students learn to express their opinions effectively and responsibly, and to consider respectfully the opinions of others. We believe that an environment most conducive to learning and growth balances informality with rigorous expectations and seriousness of purpose with a sense of play. We strive for our school community to be a diverse and inclusive one that fosters understanding and appreciation of our differences and commonalities.
Finally, we recognize that the school can achieve its aims only when students experiences are predominantly positive and joyful, and when their relationships with teachers are affectionate and trusting.
