Synergy School

2018-2019

Our mission is to nurture the intellectual, creative, and emotional potential of every child in a community dedicated to diversity, inclusion, and social justice.

Transitional Kindergarten - 8th Grade

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION

For more than 40 years, Synergy School has stayed deeply rooted to the tenets of progressive education. Our founding vision has been to empower our students and to provide the experiences and tools to develop critical thinking, creativity, empathy, and cultural and global awareness.

The Whole Child

Education at Synergy is student-centered and developmentally appropriate. We are focused and responsive to the needs of our students’ emotional, social, academic, cognitive, and physical development. We nurture and support their natural curiosity and desire to learn by differentiating curriculum. We encourage them to be active partners in their learning.

These values are woven into and embodied within our Agreement System, which is unique to Synergy. It fosters critical thinking, social responsibility, and respectful relationships.

Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Synergy School values the arts, sciences, and humanities equally and sees all subjects as important and integral to the development of children. Our curriculum is interdisciplinary and multi-sensory; themes and projects involve multiple strands.

Project Based Learning

Students engage in meaningful hands-on projects that require sustained inquiry, communication, collaboration, and problem solving. They make choices about how to work and what to create to demonstrate understanding and knowledge.

2018-2019

Assessments

Assessments are authentic, varied, and comprehensive to reflect each child’s learning experiences, including their social and emotional growth. These assessments include teacher observations and notes, discussions, portfolios, teacher-developed tests, and student self-reflections.

Technology

Technology is a means to support both teaching and learning. It is a tool to create content, solve problems, and enhance the educational experience. It allows students to access a range of resources and research and provides the digital literacy necessary for the 21st century.

Collaboration

We provide an environment for cooperative learning to give students a voice. They work together in small and large groups to achieve shared goals. They learn to make necessary compromises, to assume a shared responsibility for work, and to appreciate each individual’s contribution.

Community

We work to create an environment that reflects the values of good citizenship – empathy, compassion, respect for differences, and responsibility for one another. We encourage social awareness by asking children to think beyond themselves, their families, and their friends, and to engage with the community beyond school. We guide our students in developing cultural awareness and global competency, as well as a commitment to social justice and the agency to act upon their beliefs.

Connections

We give students opportunities to make real world connections by moving beyond the classroom. Field trips provide access to wider resources, allowing students to apply their skills and knowledge. Overnight trips provide room for exploration, expansion, and expression of who our students are as people. Experiences in the outdoors build community and foster stewardship of the natural world and its resources. They also inspire self-confidence and resiliency beyond pen, paper, and keyboard.

2018-2019

AGREEMENT SYSTEM

Synergy School was founded on the values of encouragement, cooperation, respect, and responsibility. We strive to provide an environment where children are respected and respectful, where they know they are responsible for themselves, and where they experience logical and natural consequences for their choices and behavior.

The Agreement System is a powerfully positive way of helping children grow and is unique to Synergy.

I agree to make Synergy a respectful learning community, free of bias, by…

• Keeping a safe place, without prejudices, for everyone’s body & feelings. • Respecting all property. • Participating academically. • Participating in all other school activities. • Being in a designated space. • Agreeing to leave quickly and quietly when waved out.*

*The wave out is a non-verbal tool to help students manage their own behavior. When waved out, a student walks quickly and quietly to the classroom door and touches it. This physical interruption of distracting or disruptive behavior allows them to reset and refocus without drawing attention away from class instruction, discussion, or activities. It is non-punitive.

2018-2019

CURRICULUM

Please refer to our website for detailed information about our curriculum.

2018-2019

FARM SCHOOL - OUTDOOR EDUCATION

Beginning in 4th grade, our students spend a week each year at River’s Bend Retreat Center in Philo. They learn first hand about creating community, the interactions of ecosystems, and the importance of sustainability. They create poetry and art inspired by nature. And they experience their growing maturity as they return year after year.

In 6th and 7th grade, the farm school curriculum alternates each fall. One year focuses on the humanities - creating cultures, governance structures, and traditions. The second year involves the sciences - investigating eco-systems and habitats, as well as the art of mapping.

The 8th graders complete a Rites of Passage program. They set goals, reflect, meet challenges, exercise leadership, perform community service, and bond as a group. This is to ready them for a year of transformation culminating in graduation and high school.

2018-2019

COMBINATION CLASSES

One of our founding core values is the combination classroom where children are viewed as unique individuals and curriculum is differentiated. Combination classes allow teachers to deepen their understanding of students’ learning styles and developmental needs, while students learn to negotiate, compromise, and collaborate with others both younger and older.

Transitional Kindergarten - 5th Grade

Children generally spend two years in most classrooms, experiencing the role of a younger student one year and an older student the next. Curriculum is based on a two-year rotation.

Middle School

Humanities and science are taught in cross-aged classes of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The expectation for student work and grading are different according to grade level and ability. The curriculum is based on a three-year rotation.

STAR ROOM RAINBOW SUN ROOM EASTENDER SKYLIGHTS

TK & K 1st & 2nd Grades 2nd & 3rd Grades 4th & 5th Grades 4th & 5th Grades

HISTORY SCIENCE LANGUAGE ARTS

Ancient History Earth Science Creative Writing (Once a week)

Early Modern World History Life Science

American History Physical Science

2018-2019

TRANSITIONAL KINDERGARTEN

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What is Synergy’s Transitional Kindergarten Program?

It’s a two-year kindergarten experience for children with a fall birthday and those who would be well served by two years in kindergarten regardless of age. There are six TK students in a kindergarten class of 24 children with two teachers. They are fully integrated into the classroom and work at their own developmental levels. Big curricular themes are taught in a two-year rotation so that curriculum is not repeated for the TKs.

Who is eligible?

Students turning 5 in September, October or November. Other children sometimes benefit from two years in the kindergarten for a variety of reasons and we are happy to discuss your child’s needs prior to or during the application process.

What if my child has a fall birthday, but is academically advanced?

Your child would still need to be in the two-year program. This decision is based on educational research and our many years of experience with younger children as they pass through the higher grades.

Is the second year of kindergarten a repeat of the first year?

No. Our big curricular themes repeat every two years. The core curriculum in math, reading and writing remains in place and children progress at their own developmental level.

2018-2019

HIGH SCHOOLS

Our students typically receive multiple acceptances to various high schools. The schools listed below are the ones they have chosen to attend.

2018-2019

Class of 2018

College Prep - OaklandDrew GatewayImmaculate Conception Jewish CommunityLick WilmerdingLincolnLowellMid-PeninsulaMissionRedwood High - MarinSF School of the ArtsSacred HeartSt. IgnatiusWashington

Class of 2017

Archbishop Riordan Bay School ConventDrew GalileoLeadershipLincolnLowellMissionOakland School of the ArtsSF School of the ArtsSacred HeartSan Francisco WaldorfWashington

Class of 2016

Archbishop Riordan Bay School Bentley School - LayfayetteCollege Prep - OaklandCrystal Springs - HillsboroughDrew GalileoImmaculate ConceptionLick Wilmerding LowellMissionPiedmont - OaklandPunahou - Oahu, HawaiiSF School of the ArtsSacred Heart

ADMISSIONS TIMELINE

Application fee: $85Financial aid application fee: $43

September - December Register for and attend a parent tour

Friday, December 7 Sibling applications due

Friday, January 11 Submit an enrollment application no later than January 6, 2017

Friday, January 11 Financial aid online applications are due no later than January 6, 2017

Thursday, January 31 Teacher evaluations and student transcripts due

Saturday, February 2 Kindergarten play dates

Saturday, February 9 Kindergarten play dates

Mid-January Child visits and middle school shadow visits begin

Tuesday, March 12 TK decisions are emailed at 12:00 PM

Tuesday, March 19 TK acceptances are due by 10:00 AM

Thursday, March 21 K-7 decisions letters are emailed at 12:00 PM

Thursday, March 28 K-7 acceptances are due by 10:00 AM

2018-2019