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The Arts at Cushman

Dear Cushman Family,

This coming Monday, January 27th and Tuesday, January 28th,  I will be serving on a three-day school accreditation process in Tampa. I am proud to sit on the Board of the Florida Kindergarten Council that works closely with the Florida Council of Independent Schools (two premiere accreditation agencies for the state of Florida). As part of my responsibility, I serve on accreditation teams and have the pleasure of interacting with leading educators. These visits to other facilities are very enlightening, and I always take away information and many ideas to ensure The Cushman School remains at the forefront of academic excellence. Also, I’m always reminded of what a special place we share here at Cushman. Along with challenging academics, we infuse “the Arts” into our curriculum in so many relevant and unique ways, which is often a challenge for many other schools. 

Lately, you may have heard some discussion about our Middle School transition for the 2014-2015 school year. By matriculating sixth graders into Middle School rather than wait until seventh grade, we are able to offer much more to our students…including the arts. Not only will they enjoy a more personalized academic track, but also innovative S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, the arts and math) electives and the newly designed music and art courses through eighth grade. With only so many hours in the school day, we’ve had to work diligently to come up with solutions to provide this kind of comprehensive programming that addresses the WHOLE child… socially, emotionally, creatively, physically and intellectually. This comprehensive programming exposes students to a broad range of different subjects and ways of thinking in order to explore possible areas of high interest and talent.  Mrs. Geimer, our Middle School Director, and I will be sharing more about this with you very soon. 

When I return, I look forward to seeing you at our Gallery Walk on Friday, January 31st. It will be a morning that demonstrates the importance of the visual and performing arts programming at our School. Following All School Devotion, we will cross to the Cougar Courts for the official Dedication of our Mural completed by artist Daniel Fila via our week-long Artist-in-Residence program. Then, I encourage you to tour our campus walkways that will be filled with a variety of art projects and pieces completed by our students. Creativity and the use of design thinking are imperative to our children’s future success in all the fields they pursue. From the impressive works of art I’ve seen in preparation for Friday, our Cushman students are off to a great start. 

All my best,

Arvi