Ambleside Schools are committed to providing a living education, where each child is guided and empowered to author a full and free life, a life rich in relationship to God, self, others, ideas, and all of creation. In order to fulfill this commitment, Ambleside Schools consistently and faithfully apply the pedagogical insights of the British educator Charlotte Mason.

The Ambleside Commitment

To maintain an optimal atmosphere for the cultivating of the hearts and minds of students.

Ambleside Schools will be characterized by:

• Reverence for God, confidence in His loving presence, and a commitment to obedience, according to the principles of Jesus Christ.
• Kindness and respect for all, with the proper submission to authority.
• Learning and growth in a multitude of spheres; intellectual, spiritual, physical, and relational.
• Ideas that engage the mind.
• Work that is fruitful, satisfying, and harmonized into a daily rhythm.
• Neatness, beauty, and general good order.

Ambleside Schools will not be characterized by:

• Exclusive relationships or cliques.
• Sarcasm, base humor, or demeaning language.
• Artificial incentives (stars, candy, grades, awards) and manipulative techniques (shame, wrongly expressed anger, excessive praise, and other forms of emotional manipulation).
• Labeling students in a way that limits or creates a false sense of inferiority or superiority.
• Trivial work, meaningless tasks, or superficial amusements.

To foster good habits regarding work, thought, self, and others.

Ambleside Schools will hold students to a high standard in their academic work.

• All students will be supported in the habit of doing good work (work that is completed punctually, accurate, neat, and demonstrates a high level of academic thought, mastery, and skillfulness).
• If a student’s work indicates lack of carefulness, focus, or effort, then teachers will use inspirational ideas and a proactive strategy to motivate the student toward the formation of the necessary habits.
• If a student’s work indicates lack of comprehension, then teachers will be available after school to provide additional assistance.
• If regular after-school work proves insufficient to bring the student to needed mastery, then the teacher and administration will work with the student and their parents to develop and implement a plan to foster the necessary habits, skills, and knowledge.

Ambleside Schools will hold students to a high standard of self-management and interpersonal relationships.

• All students will be supported in mastering the habits of:
  Focused attention
  Self-control of speech, hands, and posture
  Kindness and respect towards others
  Appropriate submission to authority (teachers, administrators, and school policies – including the dress code)
• If any student fails in one of the above, Ambleside staff will use inspirational ideas and a proactive strategy as the primary means for promoting student growth.
• If a severe lapse or a persistent pattern of lesser failures occurs, the teacher and administration will work with the student and their parents to implement a plan to foster the necessary personal and interpersonal habits.

To engage and nurture the students’ minds through a rigorous and rich curriculum.

• The Ambleside curriculum consists of “living books”, the best books, written in fine literary style by the best minds, rather than traditional textbooks.
• The Ambleside curriculum provides a broad array of foods for the mind, including Bible, math, science, history, literature, music, art, a second language, grammar, nature study, picture study, composer study, leadership, poetry, handwork, drama, and physical exercise.
• At Ambleside Schools, students are given the opportunity to grow in knowledge and skill through worthy work and worthy thought.