Jim Handlin

Woodstock Day School

WDS is a community of learners, students and teachers alike, actively dedicated to the acquisition and application of knowledge, insight and understanding. We honor every student and their unique dispositions, styles, and unique set of attributes as learners. There is no uniform or lockstep model. There is only the insatiable desire to continue learning. The linchpin to community life is built on a foundation of respect and regard for individual and collective responsibility. We are a school that breeds civility, goodness, a profound regard for humanity, and the dignity of every individual. Aligned with becoming educated is cultivating civility, generosity, caring, and compassion. Collaboration is the thread that runs through the fabric of the community. From adults to students to parents, we are an interdependent community; the ecology of relationships and effectiveness is based on a learned capacity to share, to delegate, to cooperate, and to work together. We learn to do by doing. Knowledge takes root when it's planted in experience. We believe children are natural-born learners. We believe that an educator's greatest challenge isn't to teach children, but rather to create an environment that keeps their inherent curiosity intact. The classroom serves as an ideal place for children to explore, experiment, fail, learn and grow, both as individuals and as a group. In an atmosphere of intellectual discipline and creativity, we believe that meaningful learning requires diligence, dedication, perseverance, and resilience in the face of challenges. This growth mindset is both a skill and disposition which can be taught and reinforced. We educate integrated human beings. As such, the holistic perspective undergirds a learning environment that balances the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive lives of all students.