Sewickley Academy Viewbook

EDUCATING LEADERS

TOMORROW’S

MISSION

Sewickley Academy inspires and educates students to engage their hearts minds and hands

to cultivate their full individual and collective potential in the service of a greater good.

CORE VALUES

CHARACTER

Sewickley Academy upholds the highest ideals of honor, integrity, responsibility, respect, empathy, and kindness and the actions that flow from them.

EDUCATIONAL VIGOR

Sewickley Academy is committed to the highest standards and expectations in academics, while recognizing the essential contribution of athletics and the arts, and the maintenance of an appropriate balance among the three.

DIVERSITY

Sewickley Academy is dedicated to being a community that represents and celebrates different backgrounds, talents, interests, and divergent yet informed opinions.

COMMUNITY

Sewickley Academy seeks to foster a deep understanding and appreciation of our connections with one another and those beyond our borders, as well as our obligation and responsibility to serve and lead inherent in these bonds.

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We couldn’t be more pleased to see how our daughter is progressing — both academically and emotionally — and this is a testament to the environment Sewickley Academy is building. We are so very grateful to have found a place that is such a strong partner in instilling a lifelong love of learning.

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– Liz, Lower School Parent

CHILDHOOD

HERE’S TO

New Beginnings

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten ensure that the earliest learning experiences are empowering ones. After all, the beginning is where you learn that it is okay to ask questions, make discoveries, be yourself, and appreciate others.

A delicate balance of nurturing and adventure, intellectual challenges, and heartfelt celebration give joyful purpose to early learning.

INDIVIDUAL GROWTH

Every child’s learning journey is unique. We encourage our students to take risks and walk on new paths with bravery, as they learn that success is the result of both mistakes and practice. Children grow into inventors and problem solvers as they develop confidence in themselves as learners.

A PLAYFUL APPROACH

Our Early Childhood program is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy in its pedagogy. This educational approach is rooted in the idea that learning should be play-based and student-centered.

Rich, purposeful play prepares our students for future learning by developing the senses, small and large motor skills, communication skills, thinking skills, and self-regulation skills. Early Childhood teachers thoughtfully plan the classroom play environment and learning “provocations’’ to give each student the opportunity to define their pace, express themselves, and develop academic confidence.

OBSERVE QUESTION EXPLORE REFLECT

SEIZE THE DAY

At the Academy, every day presents its own adventure and chance to learn.

The day begins in a comfortably familiar way. Upon arrival, the students gather in a circle for Morning Meeting. This is where students greet each classmate, sing songs, respond to the Morning Message, and set their intentions for the day as one. Community building at this early age helps develop lifelong social and emotional skills, such as learning the power of your words, respecting others’ space, and finding your own voice.

In our teaching practice, the physical learning space is critically important. The classroom is carefully designed to provoke and inspire meaningful exploration. The outdoors is considered an extension of our classroom.

Students explore our natural habitat by going for adventures in Sewickley Heights Park, hiking through Fern Hollow Nature Center, wading through Little Sewickley Creek, and taking advantage of our own Secret Garden, Greenway, and wooded ravine for outdoor classroom space.

On and off campus, both indoors and outdoors, our students are taught to observe, question, explore, and reflect. They internalize the habits of mind that empower them to investigate, hypothesize, and construct knowledge as lifelong learners.

THE WORLD IS OUR CLASSROOM

The Early Childhood program at Sewickley Academy embraces families’ unique identities. We celebrate global and cultural connections through language, literature, the arts, and our classroom family.

Lower School students don’t just passively receive knowledge — they ask questions, investigate, create, and collaborate. This is the foundation that empowers them to be active, engaged, and independent learners for the rest of their lives. When they develop the skills and attitudes of passionate learners as children, they go on to do amazing things.

– Jerilyn, Head of Lower School

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LOWER

Making Connections ALONG THE WAY

Learning is a journey and, at Sewickley Academy, students are engaged in every step, eagerly anticipating what lies around the bend.

Making connections makes the difference. When students experience learning that is relevant, they are more interested, more involved, and more likely to make authentic connections to the concepts and the world around them.

TOMORROW’S LEADERS, INNOVATORS, ARTISTS, AND GLOBAL CITIZENS

In the Lower School, we build the skills, attitudes, and habits of mind that prepare children to thrive as they pursue their passions. Our globally informed curriculum provides the foundation for cultural competence, while our faculty create an environment that encourages each child’s social and emotional development as well as academic excellence. As students rise from one year to the next, their increasing independence empowers them to pursue their intellectual curiosity and passion for learning in meaningful and innovative ways.

THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY

Every grade in the Lower School selects a service project to pursue each year. The project may grow from a curriculum topic or from student interest, and can be different every year. Together the students look for a need or opportunity in the community, identify a way to help, and invest themselves in a meaningful service project that may extend over weeks or months. Our commitment to globally aware experiential learning allows students to live out our Mission and Core Values as an integral part of their Lower School experience.

LIFELONG READERS

Reading is a lifelong gift; it stirs the imagination, broadens perspectives, and quickens minds. Through workshops designed to create enthusiastic readers and writers, Lower School students develop independence, stamina, and skill. Our teachers build lessons around topics and titles chosen by students. Immersed in books that arouse curiosity and excitement, students develop a true — not forced — love of reading.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Movement flows through every aspect of the Lower School. Starting in Pre-K, students practice fluidity, balance, flexibility, rhythm, and spatial awareness through formal dance instruction. Dance is taught not only as a personal expression of emotion, but of culture as well. Students also enjoy physical education, encouraging healthy exercise habits and preparing future athletes. Adventurous, unstructured outdoor play further encourages a love of movement and confidence in physical skills.

HI, TECH!

Technology is embedded throughout our curriculum, giving children the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Computer science classes give Lower School students hands-on experience in engineering design process, coding, and robotics. Grade 5 students, under the guidance of the Computer Science teacher, teach their Early Childhood buddies to program Finch and Kibo robots. By Grade 1 they are using Scratch and Scratch Junior to explore coding. Students may explore how circuits work, create inventions based on the principles of universal design, or create research presentations using augmented reality. Lower School students learn to be not only consumers of technology, but creators.

I MATTER, YOU MATTER

Sewickley Academy provides an extraordinary academic environment, but it’s our holistic approach that makes a lifelong difference. The Lower School fosters a culture of self-respect, pride in accomplishment, and an appreciation of different cultures, opinions, and values. Through learning journals, design presentations, video portfolios, and self-evaluations, we encourage self-reflection and “learning how to learn,” while guided peer feedback provides real-life experience in authentic collaboration and constructive criticism.

LOWER SCHOOL, HIGHER FOCUS

Sewickley Academy has an eye on the future and a vision for the role our students will play as tomorrow’s leaders.

Our faculty, curriculum, and academic approach guide each child to develop their strengths and passions; expand their thinking; and see the world from a more global, more connected perspective.

Our students leave Sewickley Academy equipped and empowered to change the world.

I was honored to be a student in the Middle School. I had an exceptional relationship with all of my teachers, and the school felt like home. It pumped up my curiosity, got me excited to learn, and always allowed me to have fun during the day. The Academy engages me in a way that is helpful, creative, ethical, active, and useful.

– Jordan, Senior School student reflecting on his Middle School experiencee

Young Adult FROM YOUNG CHILD TO

During the middle school years, students begin the transition from the dependence of childhood to the independence of young adulthood. This is the ideal place for such a delicate evolution. The Middle School faculty have a deep understanding of preadolescence; through an individualized approach, they create an environment that encourages social and emotional maturity, abstract thinking, and accountability to others.

A BIGGER WORLD AWAITS

As our students progress, their perspectives expand. Over these pivotal years, Middle School students learn what it means to take care of themselves, each other, and the world around them. They develop interpersonal strength, intercultural skills, a commitment to the greater good, and a belief in their ability to effect positive change.

WALKING THE WALK

Character education and empowering students with the skills to navigate social experiences — online and offline — are part of the curriculum at Sewickley Academy. Students learn, practice, receive feedback, and are evaluated on the development of mission skills such as resilience, teamwork, and self-advocacy.

Students develop their passion and enhance competition and communication skills through clubs in Middle School. Clubs are embedded in the school day schedule,

allowing all students to participate in leadership, competition, or “explore an interest” categories. Current clubs include: Robopathers Robotics Team, Shakespeare Theater Competition, Introduction to Engineering, and Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Competition.

At the end of the day, Sewickley Academy Middle School students discover that abstract terms like character and leadership become tangible and powerful in their own lives.

Our Middle School students do more than simply reading, writing, and mathematics. They are encouraged to inquire, investigate, collaborate, research, and formulate arguments at every turn as they build the dynamic skills essential to success in school, college, and life.

For example, each spring, Grade 6 students are assigned a country and an environmental challenge. They begin with the research phase, evaluating sources in their history, science, and English classes. Students are asked to consider their findings while keeping in mind the cultures, economies, and the geography of each place. The project

culminates in a presentation in which students apply their communication skills at the Environmental Summit with their peers.

In the Grade 8 Capstone, “Citizen Action Project,” students identify a historical social issue of their choice and conduct research to identify ways that real citizens took action to positively influence their communities. By identifying solutions for contemporary manifestations of these issues, both in the real world and literature, students work in service of a greater good.

A BALANCING ACT

The Middle School provides the pivotal balance of structure, options, and expanded freedoms. Our students have five course blocks built into their schedules, which meet five days in an eight-day cycle, plus separate periods for trimester elective classes. Access to a full range of fine arts, digital arts, music, theater, and athletics round out the picture — and the individual.

MAKERSPACE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

The Makerspace at Sewickley Academy consists of three unique rooms, each meant to foster intellectual curiosity, creativity, and confidence.

The Ideas Room offers everything students need to collaborate, ideate, and design, including whiteboard walls and tables, a projector, and video conferencing equipment.

The Maker Room is where ideas come to life with the help of 3D printers, laser cutters, doodle pens, power tools, sewing machines, workbenches, and computers.

The Production Room, with its professional green screen and high-tech audio/video equipment, provides real world experience in producing everything from public service announcements to podcasts.

UPWARDS AND ONWARDS

At the conclusion of Middle School, our students have grown in maturity, confidence, and academic prowess and each is ready for Senior School. They have embraced strong character, pursued passions, and set high standards for themselves in and out of the classroom as a pathway to becoming tomorrow’s leaders.

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I have attended the Academy since Pre-K, and have had the most fun on the athletic fields. The relationships that I’ve built through being on different teams are priceless. I have developed skills like leadership, patience, discipline, perseverance, and sportsmanship; and I’m still learning every single day. All grades in different divisions come together on teams. We are not only building intimate relationships but also a stronger community.

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– Mary Grace, Senior School Student

The Future

As a college preparatory school, the Senior School provides a forward-thinking environment and rigorous curriculum, as well as robust programs that offer ample opportunity for exploration and expression.

SELF-DISCOVERY MEETS UNLIMITED POTENTIAL Confidence, motivation, independence, critical thinking — these are the hallmarks of a successful individual. Within our nurturing community, students reach further and their talents and skills are challenged in new ways.

Self-discovery happens in the Makerspace, the Robotics Lab, on stage with studentdirected one-act plays, and behind the scenes with technical theater classes. It also happens on the field, court, and track, thanks to 14 varsity teams with a no-cut policy which allows students to pursue their athletic interests.

Ceramic students practice Raku firing in the Secret Garden.

A NEW WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES

To be successful in this global era, our students need a new set of educational experiences that help them expand their horizons from their neighborhood to the world.

Mandarin, French, Spanish, and Italian are offered in the World Languages Curriculum. Students also have the opportunity to initiate and lead trips to places like Haiti, Puerto Rico, Poland, Israel, Belize, and Quebec.

Global Studies courses are designed to reinforce that a global citizen has an understanding of how the world works economically, politically, socially, culturally, technologically, and environmentally.

THE FOLLOWING COURSES ARE OFFERED:

A CALL TO ACTION GLOBAL GAME

LATIN X EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S. WORLD HEALTH WORLD HUNGER COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION

FROM

A COMMUNITY OF BELONGING

At Sewickley Academy students learn to respect individuality and to celebrate our diversity.

Through fostering a sense of belonging in the community, our students, faculty, staff, and parents are better prepared for complex conversations and are able to improve their cultural competencies.

Members of the Student Diversity Leadership Club (SDLC) further the conversation by facilitating open discussions on equity and inclusion topics with a collective goal of sharing perspectives and developing understandings.

TOMORROW’S CHANGEMAKERS

At Sewickley Academy, our students experience firsthand what it feels like to make a difference. They are encouraged to leave their mark whenever inspiration strikes, resulting in truly impressive outcomes.

• Senior School Student Council proposed and reimagined the Senior School Commons, a community gathering space, resulting in a complete overhaul.

• Yearbook Editors-in-Chief wanted to turn their club into a class, so they petitioned the academic program committee and created a full-year curriculum, which is now housed in the English Department.

• After attending a New York Times conference, a Senior School student returned with a drive to revive the Academy’s online newspaper, The 7th Pillar. Working with faculty and administrators to ensure branding and funding, they did exactly that.

A DESTINATION WELL WITHIN REACH

Advisory Program

The decisions students make can impact their opportunities down the road. Experienced, insightful guidance is critical at this time. At Sewickley Academy, students are assigned an advisor who will be with them for all four years. An 8:1 student-to-advisor ratio makes for greater accessibility, focus, and trust.

College Counseling

Students start learning about the college selection process in Grade 9. At the beginning of the year in Grade 11, students work with a college counselor who will shepherd them and their family through the entire process. This dedicated counselor helps with everything from exploring college options and identifying best fit choices, to perfecting applications and making final decisions.

Graduates of Sewickley Academy are accepted to a broad range of competitive colleges and universities, and most are admitted to their top-choice school.