More than 20 years into the 21st Century, education is at a crossroads. Knowledge is essential, but knowledge alone will not prepare students for success in life. As traditional careers evolve or disappear entirely and new careers emerge, the foundation of lifelong learning requires critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, communication, adaptability and collaboration as essential elements that we need to cultivate in our children.

Berkwood Hedge School has intuitively known this for more than 75 years, educating students to practice making thoughtful and just choices, to discover their passions, and to nurture meaningful relationships, while developing academic excellence and emotional intelligence, in preparation for life.

Our children’s journey will extend far beyond their formal education. However, early educational experiences profoundly shape the foundation of their being, greatly influencing their future experiences. At Berkwood Hedge School, we are not focused on preparing students to pass an assessment test. Instead, through a rich and relevant curriculum, we are preparing children for a life of active and engaged citizenship.

Our students engage in authentic discourse in which they are encouraged to respectfully and compassionately disagree and challenge one another’s ideas, as well as those of their teacher. The curriculum is a dynamic interaction in which students and teachers continuously reflect, define, refine, and redefine as they go beyond knowledge toward understanding– the teacher asks rather than tells, guides rather than instructs, and partners with students and colleagues as a learner.

Our safe and supportive learning community balances a high level of personal accountability with an equally high level of collective responsibility. Our curriculum is not a body of knowledge that our teachers transmit to our students. Instead, learning is approached as a dynamic process in which understanding is developed by experiencing, collaborating, making, and reflecting. This interdisciplinary approach cultivates critical thinking, creative problem solving, and self-expression.

Walk into any of our classrooms, and you will be struck by the attentiveness, trust, and affection among the students and teachers. All around you will see lively and innovative conversation. That is because Berkwood Hedge School is a loving and intentional learning community where children feel safe to take risks, make mistakes, and explore the world.

At Berkwood Hedge School children come to school excited about learning. We nurture this energy and enthusiasm throughout their journey here, and our children graduate with a strong academic foundation, a joy of learning, and a connection to community.

Handumanan - Photography by Angela Lim-Glasser