About Us

Reach is modeled after Sudbury Valley School, which opened in New England in 1968.

When you walk in, you might see little kids playing, older kids talking.  You might notice one kid stay focussed on the same thing the whole day, while another switches activities in a structured way, and another has no apparent plan.  Typical visitor comments are that Sudbury students are deeply engaged in what they do, whether it's the joy of living in the moment or the seriousness of investing in their future.

Play

Play has been getting good press lately.  Note that it's self-directed, open-ended play that is so valuable to children.  By creating worlds, exploring them, mastering them, kids gain tools to explore and master the larger, real world. 

Conversation

Is communication an important part of your job, your life?  Of course, and that's why humans are born with such a drive to talk.  An effective school must allow free (respectful) conversation.  At Reach, you'll hear focussed, vivid conversations throughout the day, about matters most important to kids' lives.  They're finding the words for what they have to say.  They're sharing their worldviews, expanding their worldviews.

"On a visit to Sudbury Valley School, I spent a morning in the 'crossroad' by the kitchen.  The conversation was active and fascinating.  I joined in banter about music lyrics, literature, political analysis, tricks involving hardboiled eggs.  I heard snippets from people passing through, discussing basketball, yearbook-editing, costumes for a movie little kids were making.  An 8-year-old explained to me the theory behind a case active in Judicial Committee [the school's mechanism for enforcing behaviour rules].  A simple morning hanging out talking, exposed to the riches of the world."

                                     -Ben, a co-founder of Reach

Transferable Skills

Success becomes a habit.  Master one thing, and you've developed the attitudes and habits needed to master anything.  And kids like to master things!  Just look at a toddler learning to walk:  Nothing will stop her until she's got it, and then she'll move on to mastering something else.  Mastery is a transferable skill that will come in handy in humanity's quickly-changing, unknown future.

Getting things done, doing real things in the real world, is a valuable, transferable skill.  And doing real things in the real world is what Sudbury students do all day, every day.  

Graduation

The clincher for choosing Reach is how well Sudbury students do in the real world.  They know throughout childhood (because they're asked about it constantly!) that without a traditional transcript, they'll have to forge their own path into the larger world.  

How will they get into university, or a training program, or a job in their area of interest?  Fortunately, so many Sudbury students and homeschoolers are doing it that it's part of contemporary culture.  Call your preferred university's admissions office and ask them how a student without a transcript might get in (common answers: start part-time.  take a standardized test.  talk your way in).  Ask a local (or global) employer if they are open to hiring someone self-taught (common answer: they would be delighted to interview someone with proven initiative and interest in their field).

Reach provides kids with the opportunity to grow into effective adults.  We're a school for the 21st century.