Renaissance School

My kids are attending the Renaissance School right now. They love going to school each day and thoroughly respect and adore their teachers every year. Most days my kids come home excited about what they have learned and can't wait to share it with me. We are planning to stay as long as possible. The teachers are highly qualified and rarely is there only 1 teacher in the room. Support staff, owners of the school and the principal are often helping in the classroom. The Renaissance education is one of old fashioned Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, What sets this school apart are the farm chores, peace meetings and kindness in the school. I like how the teachers are preparing the students for a greater responsibility for their own success. Homework is given at the beginning of the week with assignments due daily, however they can work ahead if they have extracurricular activities after school. My daughter now learning how to plan her week for soccer practice and not have to be stressed out on that evening. Recess is held on a big open field where the kids play many games. The Parent group is also an active participant in the school for parents to be more involved.
—Submitted by a parent

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We can't say enough about Ren. Our family commuted 50 min. each way, each day, when our oldest began Kindergarten. It quickly became evident that this would be the path we would take for each of our children. We decided to leave our community, and our amazing friends just to be closer to this school. The founders of Ren have created a community where the sanctity of each individual is respected, where differences are embraced, and where no member of the community may demean, belittle or harm another. The school and its staff work to cultivate purposeful citizenship on local, national and global levels. They generate critical, creative and socially conscious thinkers. My husband and I have always said that if our children grow up to be kind, compassionate and self-confident adults, we will have done our job. Ren has helped us tremendously toward this mission. A friend of ours is the Dir. of Adm. at a Private School here in VT - one that many children from Ren go on to attend. She said, "You can walk into any classroom at our school and immediately pick out the children who went to Ren. They are the leaders and the most confident children in the classes." This sealed the deal for us!
—Submitted by a parent

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This school has such potential to be an amazing experience for young children, but falls short in many areas. The fact that it is located on a beautiful estate with a working farm makes it quite appealing to the upper class of parents that are looking for the prestigious, private school experience. Most parents are uninvolved however, and would be quite surprised at how different the actual classroom experience is from the school tours. The school tends to be a bit disorganized, unstable, indecisive, and at times inappropriate. The accelerated curriculum and lack of daily rhythm can be a bit heavy for the younger ages. It is nothing like the preschool atmosphere, and was quite the disappointment.
—Submitted by a parent

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Renaissance School does an acceptable job in the primary (K-2) grades, but their performance declines with each subsequent grade (3-6). Pros: small class size (<14), location on a working farm, strong foreign language program, 'flexible' curriculum designed to work with students at their level. Cons: many gaps in curriculum, lack of leadership and accountability, lack of knowledge about education in general, scarce resources despite being private, lack of involvement/engagement of parent community, very poor math outcomes, extremely high teacher turnover. And that 'flexible' curriculum they tout is just an excuse to be lazy and give the kids workbooks so they can work independently. It is really a shame, because the concept has so much potential, but it is not executed well. The public schools in this area are far superior in almost every way, but Ren can be a haven for the socially awkward.
—Submitted by a parent

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