Our Mission & History

Cold Spring School challenges children to become self-reliant, curious, and resourceful problem solvers with the academic and social skills to engage constructively and ethically in our diverse, changing world.

Core Founding Principles

The following are central to the mission of Cold Spring School:

• We create a sense of belonging for our diverse, inclusive community that welcomes children and families that represent different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, socio-economic statuses, neighborhoods, and more.
• We believe that empowering children to speak for themselves is important, and we do so by creating classroom environments where teachers value and encourage students to voice their questions and wonderings as integral partners in our research-based, project-centered curriculum
• With an emphasis on building grade-specific skills and the integration of disciplines, we preserve discovery joy, and wonder in learning
• The curriculum includes the teaching of social justice and environmental initiatives so children can experience the power and impact of their work
• Our teachers are learners, researchers and collaborators. They carefully observe and document each child’s individual learning path and create classroom experiences that support, challenge, and enhance this development.
• Through purposeful and intentional teaching, children learn to bounce back from setbacks in learning, develop courage, and adopt a problem-solving, growth mindset.
• In our mixed grades model, every child gets the opportunity to be the youngest and the oldest in any given year.