positively Pike

Lower & Middle SchoolsAndover, Massachusetts • pikeschool.org

Our promise:

We will surround your child with positive energy.It’s in the air. Along the hallways. Throughout every classroom. And on every child’s face.

Because of it, our students believe they can do anything.

Lower SchooL: Pre-K through Grade 2

Making learning the most natural thing in the world.That’s the power of the positive energy that flows through the Pike School. It originates, of course, with our teachers. They model the behaviors we want even our youngest students to know (communicating, problem-solving), while helping students understand they are active participants in the learning process: it’s not something that happens to them, it’s something they engage in with others.

In Lower School, every interaction contributes to creating a truly cooperative learning environment. The Open Circle curriculum provides a forum for addressing interpersonal issues and building positive relationships. And through the Buddies program, Lower School students are paired with eighth and ninth grade “buddies” who serve as mentors and friends, orienting the younger students in the Pike experience.

Be kind. Be safe. Try your hardest. Those are some of the tenets of the Lower School Community Rules, created by Pike students themselves. The idea is to help students identify their hopes and dreams and then pinpoint the behaviors that will best achieve them.

Positive energy in action. It starts with cultivating an intense excitement around learning. As one parent said recently, “Learning is fun for our kids. They come home talking about school. Their eyes light up!” The Lower School curriculum is rooted in activities that develop essential skills while fostering confidence and creativity, from puppets and puzzles in Pre-K language class to reenacting the Ellis Island experience in second grade social studies.

Art, music, library, and physical education classes greatly enrich the learning experience and build on core academic themes, providing a concrete – and hands-on – method of exploring the subject matter.

Connecting to other cultures. As part of the Japan unit, Pike first graders learn origami, create their own Haiku, and discover the fine art of the tea ceremony. They also visit the Japanese house at the Children’s Museum in Boston.

Lower SchooL

The joy of movement.Running, jumping, throwing, skipping, climbing! In Lower School, physical education is an exercise in exuberance, with an emphasis on collaborative play. And this joyful spirit extends to intellectual and social development as well: children use all their senses while outside and are naturally inclined to interact with others (through inventing games and characters and acting out scenarios).

Lower School students also have plenty of opportunities to experience the wider world, with excursions to Hammond Castle, the Peabody Museum, and the Phillips Academy Observatory. Lower School is about enjoying the journey – every experience is designed to instill genuine wonder. These are the years to learn to love learning!

Lower SchooL

Positively thrilling. Campus visitors are always a highlight for Lower School students. Musicians, artists, and animal experts are just some of the people who come to campus to inform and delight.

Nurturing passionate learners. Respect for the natural world is a running theme at Pike. A fifth grade science unit on vernal and tide pools investigates how ecosystems work and how human activity impacts those systems.

middLe SchooL:Grades 3–5

Positively empowering.In Middle School, we continue to build on everything that has been introduced in the lower grades – in profound and personal ways. Students begin to develop more self-awareness and to see the connectivity among all the things they’re studying. In third grade, that might mean combining math and science skills to identify and chart birds spotted on campus.

In fourth grade, students undertake a major research project on their favorite artist. They write letters and journal entries, developing their artists’ voices, then paint masterpieces and present to their classmates and parents – dressed to the hilt. And in fifth? Technology takes center stage. Pike fifth graders put on their engineering hats to design and build “taskbots” that are able to navigate an obstacle-filled landscape.

It’s okay to be invested. In fact, it’s a cornerstone of the Pike culture. A positively infectious enthusiasm for the topic at hand is something that students and faculty share. In Middle School, the curriculum adds complexity, without losing any of the engagement of applied learning from the lower grades. A unit on forensics demonstrates how scientists use observation to make inferences and create a narrative, with students conducting their own experiments and then writing a crime report.

In language arts, students work to refine their writing skills by honing in on the mechanics of voice, style, and organization. They also engage with increasingly more complex texts – in a wide variety of formats – and are introduced to keyboarding instruction to begin to develop word processing skills.

Positively well-read. In third grade, Pike students stage a Caldecott Mock Election, learning about the illustrator (and the award) and evaluating eligible texts with criteria similar to that used by the Caldecott committee.

middLe SchooL

Spreading positivity far and wide.As Middle School students become more and more attuned to their whole selves – as learners, artists, athletes, community members – they also broaden their understanding of the wider world. On campus, you’ll see them working in our organic garden as part of science class. Off campus, through the Middle School Service Club, they’re rolling up their sleeves to help local organizations such as the Methuen SPCA and Andover Conservation Committee.

Other clubs are “just” for fun – for exploring everything from cartooning to improv. No wonder Pike students are so excited to come to school. Every. Single. Day.

middLe SchooL

Into the woods. Each October, Pike fifth graders head to Camp Merrowvista in New Hampshire for three days of learning about leadership, the environment, and themselves.

“It’s not our small classes; it’s what happens in those small classes.”— John “Muddy” Waters, Head of School

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Learn m

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Call 978-475-1197 or visit pikeschool.org for inform

ation about the adm

ission process, visiting campus, tuition

and financial aid, or to apply online.

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Pike students are. In Upper School, the Physical Education program works to build confidence and instill a lifelong love of fitness, with team sports, individual activities, and cooperative games. Ninety percent of Upper School students participate in at least one organized team sport.

Good sports.

FaLLSoccer — Boys VarsitySoccer — Boys JVSoccer — Boys 6th GradeSoccer — Girls VarsitySoccer — Girls JVCross CountryField Hockey — Girls VarsityIntramural Floor Hockey

WINTerBasketball — Boys VarsityBasketball — Boys JVBasketball — Boys 6th GradeBasketball — Girls VarsityBasketball — Girls JVBasketball — Girls 6th GradeIce Hockey — BoysIce Hockey — GirlsIntramural Team Handball

SPrINgLacrosse — Boys VarsityLacrosse — Boys JVLacrosse — Girls VarsityLacrosse — Girls JVSoftball — Girls VarsityBaseball — Boys VarsityBaseball — Boys JVTennis — VarsityTrack — Varsity

“The kid culture at Pike is curious, enthusiastic, and interested in learning. They WANT to learn and to go further. As a teacher, that feels great.”

— PIKE fACuLTy MEMBER

Positively award-winning. Pike’s speech team recently returned victorious from Nationals competition in Overland Park, Kansas. Since its first Nationals competition a decade ago, the team has garnered 12 individual National Championships as well as seven “School of Excellence” awards.

Positive energy creates endless possibilities. And a Pike education guarantees students are prepared to take advantage of every one. By the time they graduate, our students are master learners. They know how to manage their time, build meaningful relationships with adults, and advocate for themselves. They also know what it means to make a positive impact in the world.

In recent years, the majority of Pike graduates have enrolled at Brooks School, The Governor’s Academy, Phillips Academy, Pingree School, and St. John’s Prep. Pike students also matriculate to some of the area’s excellent public schools. In both cases, teachers who have the pleasure of interacting with our graduates all say the same thing: that Pike students “have it together.” They are organized, articulate, confident learners.

upper SchooL

Infinitely renewable, spreads like crazy.

Positive energy is like that – and there’s no greater example than Pike’s motto of non sibi solum (“not for oneself alone”). Developing a sense of citizenship is a key theme in Upper School, one that’s played out every day in student-run clubs like C.A.R.E, which seeks to better understand the challenges of living with cognitive disabilities, and Big Green, which tackles the ongoing issues of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

There are also ample opportunities for outdoor adventures in Upper School, with trips to Project Adventure in Beverly, Massachusetts, and the Appalachian Mountain Club’s “Mountain Classroom” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Outdoor trips not only strengthen bonds and build self-awareness but also provide a living laboratory for learning about the environment.

upper SchooL

Our very own nature trail. The roughly 1.5-mile course loops through Pike’s surrounding woodland acres. The trail serves as an outdoor classroom, enhancing students’ environmental literacy.

Who wouldn’t fit in at Pike?

“No one!”“A bully!”“An alien!”“An alien bully!”— Pike sixth graders

Balancing core capabilities with self-directed learning. It’s a positively powerful combination. In Upper School, every effort is made to balance academic rigor with creative exploration. Classes meet for 50 minutes each day with an additional 70-minute block for every academic class once during the rotation. And through the elective program, students have the opportunity to apply classroom learning to topics of their own choosing: current offerings include everything from Orienteering to Game Theory to Uta Hagen Acting.

All Upper School students own and use an iPad for homework and classroom work. The iPads serve as powerful creation tools and foster collaboration, communication, and other key 21st century skills.

Positively mind-growing. What makes a Pike education unlike any other? The depth and breadth of academic and creative opportunities: studying Latin, firing up the pottery kiln, using Garage Band software to arrange an original piece of music.

upper SchooL

UPPer SChOOLGrades 6–9

Combine support, encouragement, and inspiration, and the sky’s the limit. Sit in on an Upper School class, and you can’t help but notice the mutual respect that occurs between students and faculty. Pike teachers take their role as mentors very seriously. In weekly team meetings, faculty members essentially take the pulse – socially, academically, and emotionally – of every single student.

In small classes (average size: 16), students’ individual learning styles are recognized and appreciated. And a faculty advisor works closely with students and parents to track progress and ensure students stay challenged.

The result? Positively inspiring.

Building the skills for success at Pike and beyond. The upper School Advisory Program helps students become self-aware and self-directed (in school, and in life). Topics include healthy decision-making, communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

positiveHere’s what we know:

energywill take you places.

It’s hard to miss at Pike. In fact, positive energy fuels our campus.

In the Upper School, that means creating the kind of environment where it feels safe taking intellectual and creative risks, and where every student is really and truly “seen” (and known, and heard).

No wonder our students are happy, curious, confident kids.

and no wonder they grow up to be such successful adults.

positively Pike

Upper School Andover, Massachusetts • pikeschool.org