Parent Testimonials
We found TNS four years ago after moving to Holly Springs. We initially planned on having our three young boys attend through preschool and then move on to public schools. But we quickly fell in love, and here we are, four years later, with children in children’s house and elementary.
Their days typically start with a smile and a hug and a friendly hello from teachers who know my and my husband’s first names. The days are run smoothly and the classrooms are led by skillful, loving, attentive teachers who know how to maintain calm order while meeting the individual needs of all children in their care. Then the magic begins! Our children are developing a love of learning while simultaneously excelling above grade level in all subjects, with only one homework assignment per week and no grades.
In addition to nourishing their brains, TNS nourishes our children’s bodies and souls with reminders to eat healthy food, take care of the Earth, treat one another with kindness, and spend time outdoors being active every day. It takes a lot of faith to turn your children over to a school for seven hours a day, five days a week. But we do this with joy and confidence at TNS.
My daughter has been going to The New School for four years, and I have to say it is so worth it. The education is excellent, and the method is perfect for creating an independent, self-thinking child. The environment is a caring small community of teachers and students that take the time to nurture and care for each other.
I send my child to The New School with the confidence that she will continue to love learning and enjoy going to school with friends and teachers that will positively influence her future.
Enrolling our daughter at The New School was one of the best parenting decisions we’ve ever made. We knew what we wanted for her when it came to her education: a school that would foster independence, creativity, and love of learning, and provide a warm and nurturing environment. We visited many schools, both Montessori and traditional, as we researched the educational path we wanted for our children, and it was immediately obvious to us that the opportunities, quality of teaching, and resources available at TNS were unique and exactly what we were looking for.
It has been amazing to see Zoe blossom and grow during her time at TNS–even within her first few weeks of attendance, we saw a distinct increase in her independence and strength of character! She loves going to school, can’t stop talking about how much she loves her teachers and classmates, and constantly regales us with happy stories of what she’s working on in class and in her after-school clubs.
The love of learning that her teachers have instilled in her carries over to what she does at home–she’s inquisitive and insatiable in her desire to always know more. The New School and the Montessori teaching method have taken our daughter’s wonderful qualities and enhanced them and have brought out in her others we didn’t even know she had. We couldn’t have asked for anything better for our girl. We love TNS!
Our family has been at The New School since 2009; currently, 3 of our children are in attendance. Over the years we have had placement in 8 of the 10 classrooms and are on a first-name basis with the teachers in the two classrooms we haven’t experienced. The school is very family oriented, and we feel as though the staff members are extended members of our family.
The teaching staff is AMAZING! They are compassionate, understanding and inspirational. Every year I’m blown away by the progress my children make. Whether it’s toilet training, learning division, or contemplating quantum mechanics, across the board the teachers know just how to get the greatest performance out of each child.
At the same time, the children are never shamed, discouraged or falling behind when they are slower to learn a concept; the children aren’t even aware of any differences.
Part of what makes The New School so wonderful is the Montessori method—the children spend three years with the same teachers. This is great because it builds strong relationships between the teachers and the students, allows for leadership opportunities for the older students, and prevents the younger students from being overwhelmed as they acclimate to a new situation with the aid of the older students. The New School takes this concept a step further by having older age groups participate with and mentor younger age groups.
Integral to the Montessori method is the promotion of independence in the child. This is accomplished in many ways in the classroom, but the unique way The New School encourages independence in the elementary and adolescent programs is through overnight field trips. For the youngest of these students, the parents usually accompany the children, but as they progress from year to year, the parents play less and less of a supervisory role. It is both astounding and enchanting to watch the children develop into responsible, capable people with the aid of these opportunities.
While the Montessori method is a wonderful foundation for education, the benefits of attending The New School go beyond the method. The small family atmosphere is by far its greatest strength, followed closely by the patience, engagement, and professionalism of the staff. I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about our school; my only complaint is that there isn’t a high school yet and sadly one of my children will be aging out soon. Given the opportunity, we would never leave.
We started at TNS in November 2013 and our experiences have been great. The teachers we have encountered at each education level have taken the time to understand our child and evaluate the optimal approaches for motivating her to learn. Each child is different and requires different methods for educating them. For this reason, we are very happy that Sofia is not only in Montessori-based education but specifically at TNS.
In addition to the day-to-day benefits TNS has provided for our daughter, the school also provides opportunities for parents to listen in on various aspects of Montessori education, in general, and how TNS specifically implements its philosophies. For example, they provide a session on the three-year cycle, an approach which has proven beneficial as it has provided our daughter with the opportunity to learn at the beginning, and then teach towards the end of the cycle. There are also Montessori math education sessions, Montessori Adolescent Program sessions, and so on.