Vermont Commons School

At Vermont Commons School, we believe in engagement; engagement in our school community, in academic classes, in the natural world, in our towns, our state, the country and the world at large. Through small classes and individualized curriculum, mini-buses and public transit, projects both local and international, we engage students in multi-disciplinary academics, in community service and action, and most importantly, in the journey of self-discovery. Our guiding principles:

• Scholarship is engagement with an academically rigorous curriculum fostering independent thinking and intellectual curiosity.
• Through direct interaction and application of skills and knowledge, the world is our classroom, lab, and studio.
• Our community values respect for self and others, honesty and integrity, and diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• Global responsibility emerges from the understanding that our choices and actions impact our communities and require a commitment to service.
• Environmental stewardship arises through experience and informed appreciation of the interdependence between oneself and the natural world.
• Health and wellness results from an intentional balance of one’s academics, activities, emotional needs, and social interactions.
• Leadership is cultivated through dedicated training and continuous opportunities.
• Collaboration between students and faculty forms the fabric of the Vermont Commons experience.

At Vermont Commons, we believe that engagement now—with one’s own hands, heart, and mind in conscientious, needed, and measurable ways—that contributes best to a future of doing good for the world, its environment, and its people. Whether learning winter survival skills, welcoming recently arrived refugees to their new home, or standing waist-deep in a stream studying aquatic ecology, we grow through a reflexive cycle of learning, thinking, and doing. Such hands-on experience isn’t an alternative to learning: it is the path to scholarship, that intrinsic commitment to intellectualism.

A world in great need needs Vermont Commons students: their capabilities, their articulateness, their belief in each individual’s ability to do well and to do good. Come visit us, meet our incredible faculty and students, and learn what a difference small class sizes and close, collaborative relationships make.

The academic program at Vermont Commons School is a dynamic educational experience. It incorporates the Guiding Principles and genuine life experiences. The basic skill areas provide the base for inquiry and construction of knowledge, while the field-based programs provide a laboratory for students to test these skills and interact with their community. Our 2017-18 Course Catalog describes our unique and integrated curriculum.

The central purpose of all academic activities is to provide students with the skills, knowledge, and experience to understand the interconnection of their local and global ecosystems and communities, to recognize their own roles in these systems, and to formulate a personal and spiritual investment in their natural and social worlds. The study of “place” affords the opportunity to discover and explore how one’s environment, community, and actions are interconnected with the rest of the world. In order to accomplish this goal, each discipline provides students with the opportunity to develop the skills to describe, understand, analyze, communicate, and interact within their local and global communities. The classroom study in Science, Art, English, Mathematics, Social Science, and World Languages allows students to form the base for observation, inquiry, analysis, and communication.

The field-based programs provide the opportunity to integrate the academic skills with real-world experience. Research & Service is a field-based program that integrates research, analysis, and communication skills with the goal of developing service projects that make a lasting, positive impact on the community or environment. The Research & Service Program enables students to learn about their community by experiencing their ability to have a positive impact on the lives of community members.

At Vermont Commons School we gather every morning to share stories and remind ourselves why community is valued. Students learn with faculty, and faculty learn with students. Parents, board members, and alumni are also engaged and valued as important members of our community.