The Compass School

About

We are a Reggio Emilia inspired early childhood school located in Naperville, Illinois serving children aged 6 weeks through 12 years old.

Story

Current research reveals that the human brain has an inborn desire to search for meaning through patterns and relationships. Children and adults learn best in environments that are intellectually and emotionally challenging without fear of ridicule or failure.

At The Compass School we follow a child-led project approach. The project is an investigation of topics and concepts over a period of time. Project work provides the kind of complex experiences rich in challenge, choice and meaning that respects the inquisitive mind of the child and the way children learn. The investigation follows a path created by the questions, interests and imaginations of children in contrast to a predetermined direction planned by the teacher.

The curriculum is a blend of a respectful environment, rich and provocative materials being readily available in the environment, and of teachers supporting the child’s choices of learning.

We highly value communication between the school and family and offer a variety of tools to facilitate continuous interaction including daily logs, highlights, lesson plans, newsletters, weekly take home journals and portfolios of your child's work.

Every detail inside and outside of The Compass School is created with children as the focus. Specialty classrooms are equipped with authentic materials to make the learning experience more “real-life”. A large and varied playground and landscaping are each designed to promote the learning process.

All teachers at The Compass School have experience and/or training in working with children. All teachers have received specialized training in the project approach to learning, the emergent curriculum, the RIE philosophy of infant/toddler interaction, and in The Compass School’s philosophy of promoting respect for children.

Mission

The mission of The Compass School is to provide an environment that integrates discovery and respect for children.

Learning is a journey we make together. To enable each child to optimally benefit from this journey, the vision of The Compass School includes the following goals:
- To respect each child as an individual.
- To help children learn by choosing projects.
- To provide an environment that allows learning to grow as much as the child and teachers’ imagination.
- To support learning as a collaboration (with their teachers, peers, parents and community).
- To offer children consistency and continuity, which, in turn, creates a safe and comfortable environment in which to try new things, increase risk-taking, and foster experimentation.