At Newtowne, we believe in the Rights of the Child.
Just as the people of Reggio Emilia set about reconstructing their schools after World War II with a strong desire for change and a world free from oppression, injustice, and inequality, we at Newtowne are committed to advancing social justice in our current world. We welcome families and faculty of different races, religions, nationalities, genders, family arrangements, sexual orientations, ages, and income levels, and we are inclusive of children with special rights who have diverse learning needs. Newtowne approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion work using a strengths-based approach, in which difference is viewed as something that enriches our community and society. The pillars of anti-bias education— identity, diversity, justice, and action— are embedded in our curricular approach. We also understand the need to address the systemic racism that impacts the structure of our society and believe our very youngest citizens should be engaged in dismantling it.
Anti-Bias Education
We use an anti-bias framework in our work as our students learn to build positive social identities, appreciate differences, understand the concept of justice, and take action in the face of unfairness. We are also committed to anti-racist education, so that children can begin to identify and understand the ideas and actions that contribute to and normalize racial inequities. Our faculty partake in specific training to enhance their anti-bias and anti-racist education practices. In the past two years, Newtowne School has been fortunate to receive generous donations that enabled us to offer special professional development opportunities for faculty and families, including workshops led by the Anti-Bias Leaders in Early Education group. As a cooperative program, we are particularly mindful of how teachers, administrators, and families must partner together to engage in anti-bias and anti-racist work and have dedicated family jobs to support community connection around these efforts.
“All children have all rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what language they speak, what their religion is, what they think, what they look like, if they are a boy or girl, if they have a disability, if they are rich or poor, and no matter who their parents or families are or what their parents or families believe or do.” - United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child”
Financial Aid
Research has demonstrated that access to high quality early education is key for supporting children’s learning and development and families’ well-being, and consequently, for bettering our society. Newtowne is committed to making our programming accessible for a variety of families in the greater-Cambridge area. Newtowne supports socioeconomic diversity in our community by providing financial support for approximately 20-25% of our students in a given year. We are committed to sustaining our financial aid fund and several of our community events are dedicated fundraisers for this specific purpose. We also partner with the City of Cambridge’s Birth to Third program, which offers preschool spaces to low-income families. For more information about financial aid options at Newtowne, please reach out to our director (director@newtowneschool.org) or the enrollment team (enrollment@newtowneschool.org). Click here to make a donation that supports our financial aid fund.
Children with Special Rights
At Newtowne, we believe that all students have the right to receive educational support that empowers them to demonstrate their talents and develop new skills at school, and therefore some students may need individualized scaffolding and support to access the curriculum. Our emergent curricular approach enables us to draw upon children’s interests and strengths in ways that best support their learning needs. Thanks to our large, unique building and our robust staffing structure, which includes a full-time Inclusion Specialist, we are able to offer a variety of supportive learning environments that can be adapted to meet children’s individual needs. As an inclusive school, we support many children with diverse learning needs across all four of our classrooms and often work with children who are receiving speech/language therapy, whether through Early Intervention, the local school district, or privately. Using observation and documentation of children’s activities at home and at school, teachers, families, and developmental specialists collaborate to determine how best to help the child succeed in the classroom, at home, and in the larger community.
