Answer: At Red Fox Community School, literacy is tailored to different age levels but focuses on essential concepts like active reading, effective communication, and storytelling. Students engage in weekly library sessions and integrate social studies into their literacy curriculum.

Kindergarten: Focuses on emergent reading skills, listening, phonemic awareness, and oral language. Students use storytelling techniques to write and perform their own stories.

First and Second Grade: Guided instruction with texts like Explode-the-Code and Wordly Wise to develop sight words, phonological patterns, and reading comprehension. Writing includes narratives, informational texts, playwriting, and poetry.

Third through Fifth Grade: Students move to reading to learn and writing to teach. They engage with complex texts, make connections, and present research orally and in writing. Cursive writing begins in 3rd grade and is expected in 4th and 5th grades.

Answer: At Red Fox Community School we teach children how to learn. Children learn to understand themselves as learners and to advocate for what they need in order to learn best. By placing an emphasis on the process of learning, students become life-long learners and stewards of their own education. This progressive approach to teaching and learning values the whole child, giving each student the space and time to learn and grow as an individual both social-emotionally and academically.

Answer: Children are natural problem solvers. Though math looks different across the different ages and stages of learning – finding and trying out effective strategies, constructing conceptual frameworks, and applying mathematics to everyday situations remains true for all. In math we explore essential questions like; What does it mean to be an effective problem solver? How can shapes be broken into similar parts? How do numbers make patterns? and How can we use math to solve everyday problems? Math is integrated into our social studies curriculum.

Red Fox Community School emphasizes teaching kindness and respect. Students are encouraged to support each other daily. We also expect families to actively engage in the school community by hosting events, chaperoning field trips, volunteering in classrooms, and more.

At Red Fox Community School, classes run from Monday to Thursday, starting at 8:15 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Students can arrive as early as 8 a.m. On Fridays, students are dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Fridays are dedicated to projects, outdoor education, community service, and field trips.

Yes, we offer after-school programs from Monday to Friday, including activities like art, baking, outdoor time, creative play, and visits to the Manchester Rec Park. Students need to bring their own snacks. The cost is additional to tuition, and sign-up is monthly.

Each class at Red Fox Community School is capped at 12 students. We have three multi-age classes, allowing for a broader range of progression in both social-emotional and academic studies while maintaining small class sizes.

The name 'Red Fox Community School' was inspired by Wendell Berry's poem 'Mad Farmer Liberation Front.' The poem's last two lines serve as a metaphor for learning, emphasizing the importance of mistakes and diverse directions.

You can contact our Head of School, Karen O'Neill Thomson, via email at karen@redfoxschool.org.

At Red Fox Community School, social and emotional growth is integral to learning. Students work in various group settings to develop cooperation and problem-solving skills. They use kind, clear, and respectful language, establish their own rules, and learn to use “I” statements. Active listening, democracy, and compassion are emphasized. Students also take on roles as classroom stewards, fostering pride and ownership of their environment.

Absolutely! At Red Fox Community School, children are encouraged to play outside even during winter. Outdoor play is a key part of our curriculum, promoting physical activity and connection with nature.

Social and emotional growth is at the heart of learning. Life demands of us the ability to cooperate and work together, therefore RFCS students work in partnerships, small groups, whole class groups, and do some independent work. Grouping is flexible so that each member of the class gets to directly experience working with somebody different on various projects. Children are expected to use kind, clear, and respectful language when solving problems and working collaboratively. Students learn how to use “I” statements, establish their own rules and logical consequences, and use empowering language (say what you mean and mean what you say).  In problem solving we move beyond the “I don’t like it when…” to include “And I hear that you felt or you thought…” which furthers active listening, democracy and compassion.  Students learn to recognize each other as teachers in our morning meetings and in all curricular and social areas.  Children act as stewards of their classroom, school, and community.  As classroom community members, students each have their own cleaning and organization job in order to instill a sense of pride and ownership of their classroom.

Yes, all students must be fully vaccinated to attend Red Fox Community School, unless they have a medical exemption.