• The advantages of a small school environment

• Informational Video

• Who are you running with? - Life lessons from Zach Theatre's the Turtoise & the Hare

• 2nd Annual Children's Business Fair - Saturday, April 27, 2019, 10.30am - 12.30pm!

• Afterschool Programs - open to the community
  

• 4PA Open House - January 15th, Feb 13th, 2019, March 13th

Bruce Barker's article discusses some of the advantages of a small school environment. Our experience at 4PA is supportive of some of the points raised in the article. Over the next three newsletters we will highlight some of the key points raised by Mr. Barker and how they relate to us at 4PA.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

The size of the school does not inhibit personal interaction; it encourages it. Small schools typically serve a community nucleus.

• We have observed a community develop among our student body. The older kids interact well with the younger kids and the kids all participate in their game/play time. There is a genuine effort to make sure that everyone is included in some way and no one is left out.

STUDENT BODY

Morale among students tends to be higher in small schools... Often, literally everyone must participate in order to make a project a success. This promotes among students a sense of belonging, of pride in their community, their school, and themselves. As a result, students are likely to have better attitudes toward school and less likely to create discipline problems.

• We can definitely attest to this. The students at 4PA are more relaxed and focused on their work. There is less stress about trying to fit in and more focus on getting the work done in order to accomplish their individual academic goals.

TEACHERS

Teachers are more apt to know their students as individuals and to be familiar with the family backgrounds from which they come. This enables teachers to more knowledgeably make special provisions for student individual needs and talents and to receive better cooperation from parents in resolving problems that may arise.

• In our environment, teachers are able to observe each student and notice when something is not right. It does not take weeks or months for our teachers to make this observation. The observations occur daily because the teachers work so closely with each child. We are then able to communicate to the parents about their child and quickly work collaboratively to address any issue.

Click here to read the full article

4PA is a community that is passionate about learning!

This week in our circle time we discussed with the kids the importance of respecting themselves and others, whether it be their siblings, teachers or others. The discussion reminded me of the play we recently saw - Tortoise and the Hare at the Zach Theatre. The play finale ended with the saying, "It's not what you're running from. It's not what you're running to, ... It's who you're running with that's all that matters." Who are you running with? It is so true that who we surround ourselves will in large part dictates our path and who we are or who we become. We encourage our students to chose wisely and to run with those who uplift and make them a better person.

For more information about the Tortoise and the Hare at Zach Theatre, click to check out the Zach Theatre website

The play ends on January 27th!

To learn more about our Business Fair Click Here

• Mindquest - after school care with homework help and enrichment classes
  
• Enrichment classes - Singapore Math, Mandarin, Spanish, Art
  
• Tutoring - Language arts and math (elementary thru middle school)