Robert C. Parker School is dedicated to the first, most formative years of education. This is when caring teachers in small classes make education matter. When the excitement of learning is palpable. When children are open to the joy and challenges of exploring ideas in a community.

Parker students are active learners , engaged in big questions like: “What can stories teach us?” “What makes a person great?” and “What is culture?” They are readers, researchers, writers, debaters, presenters, scientists, mathematicians, artists, musicians, dancers, and actors.

At Parker School we bring social learning alive through active experiences of building community. We dedicate time to classroom Morning Meetings, weekly all school assemblies, class “family circles", buddies, and community responsibilities like composting, recycling, and cleaning rooms and hallways.

Program highlights:

• Buddies – Each younger grade is paired with an older grade for weekly activities.
• All School Assemblies – Every Friday the Eighth Grade leads the school in a truly student-centered assembly. Parents also attend these spirited gatherings of songs, jokes, readings, skits, stories, and fun.
• Family Circle – Younger, middle, and older grades meet regularly in groups to sing, read, hear stories, role-play, or discuss community issues.
• Friday Winter Activities – On Friday afternoons in January and February children can opt for a variety of fun activities including skiing, skating, drama, sports, photography and more.
• Shakespeare Residency – For a week in January, the whole school works towards a Shakespearean performance featuring Elizabethan acrobatics, playlets, and scenes with local artist, actor, and acrobat, Sean Fagan.
• Camp Chingachgook – In September, our students in grades 4 – 8 head out for three days of team building and fun on Lake George.
• Community Activism – Eighth graders organize an annual event highlighting world hunger, such as an Oxfam Hunger Banquet or an Empty Bowls program.
• Project Night – Each Spring, the whole school gathers to celebrate school projects and activities. These have included a coral reef installation, a mathematically scaled city creation, a media museum, electric biography quiz boards, the eighth grade thesis projects, and the Pre K slide show.
• Read Across America Day – We all dress up as our favorite literary figures and celebrate with authors, poets, illustrators, story tellers, a parade and songs.
• Video Yearbook – Middle School students edit and produce an annual video yearbook with soundtrack and narrative.

What sets Parker School apart is our culture of acceptance, of kindness, and of respect and the notion that it is cool to work hard and to like school.

From their strong beginnings at Parker, children emerge as self-directed and self-confident young men and women. They are eager and ready to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others.