GFA’s Lower School students grow intellectually, realize personal creativity, develop self-confidence, build enthusiasm for excellence and achievement, and gain respect for the diversity of the world around them. Small group work, hands-on learning, personal challenge and responsibility, and an appreciation for the connections among all disciplines are integral components of our program.

The journey is the destination.

Each grade in Lower School is a step in a journey. Our teachers create an intentional, immersive experience that moves naturally from one week (and month, and year) to the next. We pay attention to fundamental skills and habits of mind, but we also practice leadership, develop social connections, and explore the outdoors. The result is a safe, fun, challenging education in cooperation and creative thinking, risk taking and resilience, identity and independence.

What leadership looks like.

Our fourth graders—the oldest students in the Lower School—take an active role in leading their community. Together, we organize committee groups (such as leading our weekly Assembly or planning a Spotlight guest speaker experience) which allows students to take an even greater responsibility for the well-being of the Lower School.

What it feels like to be here.

It’s spacious, light-filled classrooms. It’s family-style lunches and weekly assemblies. It’s a full gymnasium and an organic garden, a science lab and a robust service learning program. It’s dedicated classrooms for world languages and music and art and technology. It’s a salt marsh and Audubon trails. It’s a playground and a courtyard and a community assembly room. Most of all, it’s the warmth and spirit and brilliance of the inspiring people who want to be here.

A word about what we wear.

Lower Schoolers wear uniforms. Why? They make getting dressed in the morning super-simple, they keep everything equal, and they convey a general sense of respect for learning. Details matter. So does an inclusive, affirming community.

learning in action.

A little while ago, our PreK students built an exhibit at Earthplace, a nature center in Westport. The exhibit allows you to work through—and possibly help solve!—nitrogen pollution in Long Island Sound. Building it required hands-on work in specialized topics across disciplines: the biology of kelp and oysters, digital photography and computer applications, exhibit design and engineering, sculpting and painting and measuring. The result was a form of civic engagement, and the whole process was a blast for students! This project was a joyful example of the curiosity, collaboration, and hands-on learning that shape everyday experiences in the Lower School.