Lawrence Academy
Overview
Lawrence Academy embraces an individualized approach to learning in a highly collaborative community of 400 boarding and day students. LA features a balanced academic program of intellectual development, self-discovery, wellness, and a desire to serve the greater good. Our curriculum is supported by LA`s advisory program; daily meetings between adults and a group of 4-8 students. In the classroom, faculty teach students how to think, not what to think, and commit to recognizing, inspiring, supporting, and empowering students as learners and as people. For students seeking additional support, LA offers a Learning Support program to help students acquire the skills necessary to succeed in the LA classroom. Co-curricular activities are key to the LA experience. In our arts program, our Dance students are mainstays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, while the LA Singers frequently grace the stage at Carnegie Hall. Young performers have a variety of music-focused courses, several vocal and instrumental performance groups and lessons available to them at Lawrence Academy. In addition to these on-campus offerings, Spartans are also encouraged to venture off campus for instrumental music studies at the nearby Groton Hill Music Center. Athletically, LA Spartans compete in the Independent School League and our student-athletes often move on to compete on NCAA squads. Clubs, diversity groups, and leadership roles of nearly every ilk also encourage students to develop in confidence and character. Winterim, LA`s two-week experiential education program, takes students outside the classroom. Science excursions to the Galapagos Islands, volunteering at a refugee camp in Greece, or exploring the legal system in Boston and Washington, D.C., are just a few of Winterim`s opportunities.
Academics
Summary: Through its academic program, LA lives its mission to recognize students for who they are and inspire them to take responsibility for who they want to become. That student-centered, individualized approach to teaching and learning is an essential part of an LA education. Lawrence Academy’s faculty teach students how to think, not what to think: they’re focused on helping students develop essential skills that will help them be successful, both in learning and in life. To help each and every student be successful, teachers are constantly assessing students’ interests and needs, and adapting to them, creating exceptional connections in the process. At Lawrence Academy, students are not only asked to learn facts and retain knowledge, they’re also encouraged to do the work of artists, historians, linguists, mathematicians, and scientists. Throughout their time at LA, students study the traditional high school subjects — art, English, foreign language, history, math, and science — and will graduate having picked up important skills and with knowledge of key tenants within each subject. However, under the guidance of faculty, how they learn those skills and tenants is largely up to them. Lawrence Academy teachers get to know their students’ learning styles to understand how to best teach them, and learning is a collaborative process. Within LA’s classrooms, students are often using hands-on, research-based methods to master material. The faculty at Lawrence Academy design curriculum and implement pedagogy with the intent of helping students mature into confident, self-aware problem solvers who experience education as a means for realizing their individual potential as responsible citizens with the capacity to positively impact others and the environment.
Department Director 0035G00001aubePQAQ
Student/Teacher Ratio: 5:1
Average Class Size: 13
Summer Programs: Not Offered
Full Time Teachers: 64
Number of AP Courses Offered: 0
Teachers Holding Advanced Degrees: 65.0%
Number of IB Courses Offered: 0.0