From the Director of Learning and Instruction

Welcome! What do passion, joy, and caring have to do with excellence and academic rigor? Everything! 

When you ask our oldest students about what they have come to deeply appreciate about Atrium, the answers are telling:

• “It's the community.”  

• “I feel heard.”

• “When you have a problem, teachers are there.”

• “I can be myself.”

• “I’ve made lifelong friends.”

In other words, in this place, where I’m learning and growing, sometimes making mistakes, I belong. When that is true in a school, as it is here at Atrium, extraordinary things can happen.

Surely, we see that the unique tenets of progressive education are at work. Children pursue their own passions and questions here. They experience a demanding approach to learning that meaningfully integrates academic disciplines. They take on relevant, world-related projects of consequence. At Atrium, children are inspired to be attentive and explore, to make connections and connect, to see multiple perspectives and to imagine multiple possibilities. This is true academic rigor. This is the kind of excellence that happens at Atrium every day. It is both ordinary and extraordinary.

Still more, because children feel a sense of community here and are known well, they are open to the love of learning. They feel the courage to grapple with a new problem or to firmly defend a singular point of view. They feel brave enough to make mistakes and ask bold questions. They care deeply about big ideas, the people around them, and themselves and when that happens, they become confident and caring creators. They find that they are resilient collaborators. They discover what they are meant to be. 

Please, take a moment and see what excellence and joy looks like. You will sense it as soon as you walk in the door.

Kathy Hanson
Director of Learning and Instruction