Cape Cod Academy Viewbook

your child’s education at

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Cape Cod stands out.

From a satellite view, you can see its flexed arm separating from the mainland, jutting out into the Atlantic. Set foot on Cape Cod— especially during the off-season—and you can feel you’re in a place defined by pride and loyalty, imbued with history and culture, and cherished by those who call it home.

Cape Cod Academy also stands out.

From a literal perspective, we’re the Cape’s only pre-K through grade 12 independent school. But like the Cape itself, it’s not just our outward features that define us—it’s who we teach, how we teach, and why we teach.

we’re

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As Cape Cod’s academy...

We’re designed for families seeking an inclusive and continuous school experience that welcomes students from all over the Cape and beyond, engenders meaningful relationships, energizes new learning, and results in high-level scholarship that readies graduates exceptionally well for college and beyond.

We teach to the individual, whether in pre-K or grade twelve, because only when we know a child’s mind and motivation can we truly engage her in a meaningful learning process that builds her confidence, refines her strengths, and helps her find her unique point of view.

We prepare purposeful and critical thinkers who go off to college not just with high test scores and impressive resumes, but with a clear sense of purpose and a strong desire to contribute to their community. Cape Cod Academy students take scholarship seriously; they’re also comfortable with who they are.

redefining pre-K through 12 education on the Cape

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We have a program called the Lower School Co-op where upper school students work regularly with lower school students. When second graders say, “Hi, how are you?” to a senior and that senior knows all their names, it’s great. It makes a very special environment.

–lower school teacher

lower school

Guiding each student through the years By the time your son completes Kindergarten, his current teacher has already met with his upcoming first-grade teacher to discuss his strengths and talents, where he may need some extra attention, how he interacts with groups, and how he directs his own learning.

He may have just started imagining himself in his new classroom come the following September, but his new teacher already knows him remarkably well.

This same scenario unfolds throughout your child’s progression at Cape Cod Academy.

Our unified team of teachers keeps careful watch over your child all the way through, from her first sentences to her first sonnets. We guide her according to who she is and how she learns, inserting new challenges at just the right moments, and inspiring the confidence that leads to sophisticated, independent learning in upper school.

When the time for college arrives, she knows herself as well as we’ve known her all these years.

As older students, we’re still involved with the lower school a lot. We know we’re the ones they look up to, so we set a good example. It’s one big family at this school.

–senior

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At my old school I didn’t want to answer questions for fear of being wrong. Here I don’t mind putting myself out there, because I know that people won’t judge me.

–junior

lower school

A trustworthy space for learning Safety at Cape Cod Academy means more than physical protection from potential harm.

It means that your curious second grader can bravely attempt karate or viola without worrying about being perfect the first time.

It means she can trust that her teachers will talk her through each new step and her friends will laugh affectionately along with her if she stumbles, and cheer for her when she finds her footing.

Our culture of safety means feeling supported in taking academic risks—a shy student speaking up in class even though his heart is pounding—and social risks—a dissenting girl being the bold outlier in a debate among her group of friends— at all grade levels. It means your young student can feel utterly secure and at ease around the “big kids,” who, in turn, inspire each other to be generous. It means an across-the-board culture of kindness and respect for other students’ diverse and brilliant ways of belonging.

And it means here, your child finds a home away from home.

When I think about my kids being safe at school, I feel like they’re safe to be themselves and to develop into who they really are. That’s what we want from an independent school.

–lower school parent

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A wide canvas of discovery There are some things a 46-acre campus makes easy. With forested school grounds just a short distance from Osterville’s Prince Cove and North Bay, we cordially invite your student to take up a little room of her own as she tries our spacious extracurricular offerings on for size.

Her out-of-class experiential learning might include soccer practice one fall afternoon—time slowing for a second as she smells the mowed grass of the field, takes in the clear crisp blue of the sky, and notices a patch of maple leaves has begun to change color, right before a teammate’s kick enters her line of vision and she’s instantly back in the game, her foot connecting with the ball.

Or she might rush from a student newspaper meeting—sharing high fives with a friend on a creative brainstorming session successfully accomplished—to a musical theater rehearsal where she’s handed her costume for the first time and—finally dressed in the full ensemble, doing some final touches on her stage makeup—she smiles to see her character even more fully reflected in the mirror.

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My daughter knows she’s in an environment where she can put herself out there and take risks and express who she is.

This school, hands down, is a phenomenal place for that. –middle school parent

middle school

Creating our own curriculum At the end of a unit on cellular respiration, your son’s biology teacher might assess the class’s understanding of the material with an essay test.

Or assign oral presentations. Or collaborative group projects that employ classroom technology.

Or a take-home essay that draws from at least three scholarly sources to support an original argument.

The point: your son won’t be penciling his way through a Scantron exam or reciting memorized lines from a textbook. As an independent school, Cape Cod Academy needn’t follow prescriptive—and constraining—state guidelines.

That means our teachers possess the freedom to invent the curriculum that best engages each class, and adjust the material depending on the make-up of each class. It also means your son views learning not just as a set of requirements to meet, but as an exciting opportunity to understand the world around him and develop his own point of view through authentic assignments.

Our independent-school status frees all of us— teachers and students alike—to grow as fluid, independent thinkers.

What I’ve really been impressed with is how well the teachers know the students here.

My son’s teachers understand what’s going on in his life both in and out of school.

–upper school parent

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I hope that as the world changes around us, we maintain the character and integrity I see here. I know each day that my two children are in a safe, nurturing environment, surrounded by great teachers, staff members, and fellow students. –middle school parent

middle school

Honest inquiry and expression Our teachers and staff members build authentic relationships with students, beginning as early as pre-K, so by the time they reach middle school we have a good sense of their growing personalities, interests, and strengths. We know what great strides your son has made in reading this year, and why your daughter switched from clarinet to cello.

These real relationships mean that our students feel comfortable telling us, and each other, when something’s challenging—say, the sequence of instructions in a lab experiment. And we genuinely celebrate along with the student who finally gets a 100 on her algebra test, or masters her tennis serve.

Authenticity at Cape Cod Academy means your middle school student feels encouraged to choose a U.S. History research topic that deeply fascinates her, acquiring key study skills as a byproduct of real enthusiasm, never having to choose between meeting curriculum goals and staying true to her own personal learning style.

The teachers are honest with you. Your grade is never a guessing game—if you’re striving for an A but aren’t there yet, your teacher will tell you exactly what you need to do to get there.

–sophomore

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Learning where we live Your child’s sense of his unique place in the rhythms and mysteries of the Cape might arrive most vividly by sea: adventurous students on the varsity sailing team explore our coastline by hoisting the jib and guiding their boat across glistening water on small-breeze practice days or by holding it steady in a race through rollicking whitecaps.

Or he might find that he’s most rooted to his community when he’s engaged with his friends in service and outreach on dry land—finding his civic footing connecting local human rights to global ones with the People to People International Peace Chapter, writing for our literary journal, tutoring lower school students as part of the Lower School Cooperative, or serving hot meals at the NOAH homeless shelter in Hyannis.

For the past five years, concerned Cape Cod Academy students have combined creativity with tangible action in the form of a student-run benefit concert called “Shelter from the Storm.” Student musicians, poets, and other artists come together at this annual event to raise awareness and significant funds—most recently, four months’ worth of food for shelter clients—for community neighbors affected by hunger and homelessness.

Your child might connect best to her surroundings by singing, or selling tickets, or writing a poem; whatever her talents, there’s an opportunity here for her to learn what dwelling means, whether it’s serving behind the scenes or waving hello from the water to her neighbors on the Cape.

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We have high academic standards here, and we also ensure each student can meet their own individual standard. That takes knowing them as people, not just test takers. –upper school teacher

upper school

Engaging students’ minds Your son’s furrowed brow in AP U.S. History doesn’t mean he’s stressed. It means he’s thinking in ways he isn’t quite used to. Which event is a better analogue to the Occupy Wall Street movement: John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, or the Whiskey Rebellion? He can see parallels between all three, and lines of argument criss-cross his mind. Looking up from his desk for a moment, he realizes, I love this. He raises his hand, ready to offer his opinion.

We’re far from a grind. Instead, Cape Cod Academy engages your child’s mind in ways that are both naturally interesting and that spur him toward new discoveries and different points of view. Our students take school seriously, at the same time that they joke around, have fun, and genuinely enjoy spending eight hours a day together.

It’s a healthy balance: college preparation that grows from high-order thinking, and life preparation that develops from relating to peers, collaborating, and understanding when to compromise.

Teachers here don’t just teach a subject, they teach us to be better students. That’s something I know I’ll carry with me to college.

–senior

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At the end of the day, the students are sometimes so engrossed, they don’t realize it’s time to go home.

–upper school teacher

upper school

Moving from inquiry to mastery Your intently concentrating student-turnedresearcher might arrive at her epiphany looking close to the ground in the Tulip Test Garden. Or her burst of inspiration might be made possible by a bird’s-eye-view of the Cape—that was true for a recent senior who developed a comparative aerial study visually analyzing how Cape Cod’s coastline has shifted over time.

We support especially driven upper school students in carrying out hands-on research and original creative work through our one-on-one Mastery Learning program. Participating students benefit from close faculty mentoring in a chosen area, and then confidently lead all of us into a deeper understanding of their topic, whether it’s new architectural plans for a house, composition and performance of a French aria, stock performance analysis, or narratives of Haiti as a homeland.

Our students find that this intensely focused program prepares them quite well for the self-directed demands of college life, but what’s most surprisingly magical is how deeply they immerse themselves in their scholarship— and how much they own who they are and what they know in the process.

Other recent Mastery Learning program topics Mural painting Constructing a working trebuchet Offbeat literature and experimental language Constructing a working Dobson telescope Pottery making Creation of character in fiction Longboarding Replicating a working Marconi wireless transmitter Writing a children’s book in French Study on voters’ motivations Design and construction of high-fashion clothing

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Culture of understanding On the playing field; at the front of the classroom; from the music stage; in the halls: friendliness, trust, and genuine respect abound here. We encourage our students to know themselves and to be curious about others, and we consistently turn out graduating seniors who impress admissions committees with both their college readiness and their compassion.

Connected curriculum Every grade offers a distinct array of academic topics and requirements, but the curricular priorities we hold as an academy are consistent across grade levels. As an upper school student your child practices core skills and delves into fundamental academic subjects first introduced in the lower school, with an end goal of mastery.

Confidence-building athletics Cape Cod Academy’s students have year-round opportunities for junior varsity and varsity involvement in baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, hockey, sailing, soccer, and tennis. Athletic facilities include an NCAA-size basketball court, indoor cross training and weight training space, eight outdoor tennis courts, athletic fields, and cross-country trails on our 46-acre campus.

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Independent scholarship As the Cape’s academy, we value autonomy. You can count on us to notice your child’s individual talents and curiosities, to meet him where he is in our teaching, and to offer him multiple opportunities for self-directed study, service, and leadership.

Imagination-stretching arts We extend a full pre-K through 12 art and music curriculum so our students can stretch their creativity all the way through their time here. Additionally, upper school students interested in visual arts can choose from drawing, sculpture, photography, film club, painting, ceramics, and graphic arts electives; performing artists have access to the chorale, drama club, theater arts class, the spring musical, jazz band, and private instrumental instruction.

Thoughtful college preparation Juniors and seniors meet regularly with their personal college counselor and in small groups throughout the admission process. Because we’re known for turning out highly prepared graduates, Cape Cod Academy is proud to be a prioritized destination for first-tier admission representatives who meet with upperclassmen each fall. Our curriculum also features honors courses in every subject and numerous AP courses so students can engage in college-level thinking before they get there.

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Your child stands out.

Here on the Cape, one independent school offers a pre-K through 12 education that stands beside him as he grows from curious explorer all the way to college-ready thinker.

Come see us, and see firsthand how we’re redefining pre-K through 12 education on the Cape.

redefining pre-K through 12 education on the Cape C A P E

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A C A D E M Y

508-428-5400 capecodacademy.org

50 Osterville-West Barnstable Road Osterville, MA 02655

capecodacademy.org 508-428-5400