The Leadership School

The Leadership School exists to grow our students’ leadership capacity through earnest engagement in an academically rigorous, culturally relevant, and relationship-oriented environment. This mission was derived from insights gathered through significant engagement with families in Normandy and surrounding municipalities. Through one-on-one interviews and small-group conversations with parents, as well as extensive research, our model aims to develop students who know themselves deeply and are poised to work with others to make a positive impact in the world. We envision a reality where our students lead transformational change for their communities and our world. They will be thoughtful citizens who understand the responsibility of leaders to shape and create equitable spaces. 

The Leadership School will launch in Fall 2021 with 180 kindergarten, first and second grade students, and grow to serve approximately 540 elementary and middle school students, within the boundaries of the Normandy Schools Collaborative. Our school couples a sense of belonging with a rigorous academic experience to lay the foundation for authentic student leadership.

Sense of belonging. We value the opinions and insights of young children. As a result, our students will learn and grow in a relationship-oriented community that both reflects and honors their ideas, experiences, and contributions.

Rigorous academic experiences. At The Leadership School, we believe that a focus on “deeper learning” is the best route for all students to reach the highest levels of academic success and be able to design and live a successful life. 

Authentic leadership. Our emphasis on leadership stems from our belief that we can trust students to drive their own learning and to make the best decisions about how they engage in the school community, accomplish goals, take responsibility for their own success and impact their community. 

As a result of their experiences at The Leadership School, our students will leave us prepared to leverage relationships by showing empathy and collaborating creatively with others. They will excel academically in high school, college and beyond by mastering rigorous content and navigating their own learning experiences. Most importantly, our students will demonstrate leadership knowing themselves and helping others.