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INDEPENDENT FILE PHOTO An independent day school serving children pre-school through 6th grade, the Nantucket Lighthouse School celebrates 10 years of honoring the spirit of childhood through a comprehensive curriculum that imaginatively engages and inspires children in the process of learning.

Lighthouse School's unique and integrated curriculum educates the head, hand and heart. We teach traditional academic subjects imaginatively, building upon what a child knows in a meaningful and systematic sequence and challenging his or her emerging skills and abilities. Writing and art are integrated throughout the curriculum. Lighthouse students receive a great deal of individual attention and thrive in a warm and caring community. Through the social component of our curriculum, children learn to communicate honestly and respectfully while developing a sense of empathy and personal responsibility.

We recognize that human growth and development unfolds in a series of developmental stages. Each stage represents the assimilation of past learning and a new way of perceiving the world. Learning might be represented as climbing the steps of a ladder but, as parents and teachers can confirm, the human learning process does not take place in such regular and incremental steps.

Sometimes the concept of developmental readiness is often confused with the notion of waiting until a child feels like it. In a developmentally appropriate practice, academic and social expectations are based upon the ever-expanding capacities and skill levels of a given age group, while recognizing those of the particular individual. For instance, a child's seventh year is characterized by significant changes in his or her cognitive, emotional and physical makeup. The change of teeth and bodily proportions are physical indicators. The child is newly able to consciously draw upon the working memory and to employ mental imagery. What has been called the "age of reason" has arrived. Thus, the first grade has traditionally been the year in which children are "ready" to be formally introduced to academic skills, such as reading and can view the world (and ideas) from a less egocentric perspective.

We consider each child as an individual. Developmental research informs us that, while children tend to progress through a common sequence of developmental stages, the rate at which they journey through these stages differs. By not assigning our classes by numerical grade, we create more flexibility in terms of meeting each individual's actual needs. Without an emphasis on climbing the numerical ladder of grades, and with the one and only intention of meeting the individual's academic, social, and emotional needs, we can place a child in the class that is most appropriate.

A Lighthouse class is designed as a two- year program, within which the relationship between child and teacher deepens and the child gains valuable experience as a younger and then an older student. Naturally, there are different academic expectations for younger and older students within any given academic task. Where appropriate, teachers will design parallel lessons for the two groups, such as in the subjects of math and spelling. Social studies and unit studies topics alternate from year to year. Despite the unconventional class names, the basic curriculum of each Lighthouse class will be found to correspond with a traditional grade's curriculum when that curriculum is developmentally appropriate to the age group.

Most importantly, we inspire, develop and exercise the most essential human creative faculty: the imagination. The imagination is fundamental to the ability to think, to empathize, to problem solve, and to give form to that which does not yet exist. Magical thinking and the playful imagination remain a child's most precious birthrights and house the seeds that will flower into creative and profound thought. At Lighthouse, we remain committed to honoring the spirit and magic of childhood and to taking the time to introduce children to abstract academic ideas in a timely and meaningful way.

Welcome back to school. I