Welcome from the Head of School
The Whitfield School experience is about growth—in strength of character, scholarship, and citizenship—and our commitment is to provide your child with the best preparation for the challenges of the 21st century.
Dear Friends,
At Whitfield, we help our students grow into the best version of themselves.
In our classrooms and hallways, on the stage and in the studio, on the wrestling mat, basketball court, and playing field, we help students understand who they are—and discover the person they want to be.
We equip our students with the foundational understandings and critical skills they need to thrive in college. But just as important, we teach our students how to learn, fostering the 21st-century skills—creativity and collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication—they will need in the century ahead. We prepare our students to confront unforeseen challenges, to explore fields of study that are only now in their infancy, to thrive and succeed in careers that don’t yet exist.
At Whitfield, we challenge our students to try new things, to take risks and make mistakes, to grapple with difficult ideas—to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
But we also know that challenge must be balanced with support—that a child learns best in the context of a relationship with a caring and trusted adult. For students to persist in the face of their own uncertainty and confusion, they need teachers who will give them the scaffolding and support they need to succeed. With the right balance of challenge and support, students not only discover new skills and passions—they discover resilience and grit they didn’t know they had.
We believe in the limitless potential of all students: whether they are exploring a new subject or diving deeper into a life-long passion, we foster our students’ belief in themselves and in their capacity to learn and grow.
Finally, at Whitfield, we know that students learn best in classrooms where they work to develop their own understandings. In our diverse and inclusive school community, students learn with and from each other, learning not only to express their ideas and share their thinking, but also to listen carefully to others and consider a range of perspectives and experiences.
Through our Habits of Mind & Heart curriculum, we help our students to think critically and ask questions, to weigh evidence and arguments, to lead lives of integrity, to appreciate and embrace the complexity of the world in which they live.
I invite you to visit this extraordinary, close-knit community, where we help young people grow into the person they want to be and discover the life they want to lead.
How can we help your child grow?
Chris Cunningham, Ph.D.
Head of School