The Trinity Way

Trinity students’ love for learning is apparent as they run into classrooms each day, looking forward to new experiences and challenges. Trinity School guides students to take charge of their learning, encouraging them to pursue their interests in a safe and nurturing environment. Trinity Teachers build upon students’ innate curiosity and design joyful learning experiences that are meaningful and memorable in the life of a child. We cherish the wonder of childhood, building confidence by having students try new things, cheering mightily when they triumph, and supporting and redirecting them when they struggle.

Trinity prepares its students for the future, helping them build the critical academic and character foundation needed for success and happiness in middle school and beyond. We layer knowledge, concepts, and strategies to grow intellect and empathy, strengthen reasoning and retention, and cultivate new learning cumulatively and patiently, day after day and year after year. Teachers utilize highly complex and systematic instruction in a language-rich environment that looks like play but is so much more. For elementary-aged children, this learning-to-play and playing-to-learn is essential to deep engagement and understanding. Playing with ideas, words, and numbers deepens academic comprehension and flexibility. Playing with friends develops social-emotional wellness, growing students’ sense of self and sincere care and concern for others.

We set high expectations for our students, both academically and socially. Trinity celebrates each student’s individuality and value and believes that differences and diverse perspectives enrich our community. Students know that they are loved, accepted, and included at Trinity, safe to take risks and make mistakes. They fulfill classroom responsibilities; collaborate in pairs, in small groups, and with their teachers; self-reflect; and develop their growth mindset. This awareness of community and belonging helps them learn at an early age what it means to be a classroom citizen, a grade-level citizen, a Trinity citizen, and ultimately citizens of the world.

Trinity Teachers meet students where they are and differentiate learning experiences to help them reach their unique potential. By building strong relationships with our students, we design intentional scaffolding to support and challenge them to further the development of their academic and social-emotional foundation. They have the freedom to become confident, curious learners who can assess where they are, ask questions to further their learning, and take action to deepen understanding. Results guide our decisions, and we design and use formal and informal assessments to determine what our students know and to plan next steps of instruction. As one measure of academic success, we use standardized tests to show that our students, individually and collectively, are achieving age-appropriate benchmarks, which they consistently exceed. Our students finish their Trinity journey prepared to flourish academically and socially.

A community in every sense of the word, Trinity embraces our students’ parents, who are invested and, like their children, appreciated, known, and loved. Crucial to our student and school success, our families are our greatest advocates. They support and promote the School’s mission, programming, and educational philosophy; they give of their time and their resources; and they participate in parent education and classroom events throughout the year.

Trinity graduates are known for being hard workers; self-advocates; academically prepared; and kind, compassionate, and empathetic individuals ready to improve the world around them.