Meet Siddharth, Ragina, and their son Kiran! Kiran is in his first year at Peninsula in Rasha’s class.
Why did your family choose Peninsula School?
We fell in love with Peninsula School during our first visit because we realized the school puts joy, love, and play at the center of the learning environment and process. The teachers and the staff that we met through the application period struck us as authentic, talented, and passionate about the pillars that define the school. We felt that the focus on the whole child at Peninsula School would help our child develop the confidence to be who he wants to be, the ability to develop deep friendships and understanding of others, and the willingness to take risks and challenge himself. All of those things are so important in the context of a culture and a society that stresses an achievement and status mindset based on grades, incomes, and appearances. We also just loved the campus itself - the trees, the unpaved ground, the warm classrooms - all of it makes us happy to drop our child off there.
What is a pleasant memory that you have of your student(s) at Peninsula School involving your family?
While we were volunteering during a somewhat rainy Craft Fair, our child was running and splashing all around campus with friends, which was such an indication to us that he felt safe and at home on campus among his classmates and the Peninsula community.
What do you think Peninsula School does well to prepare your student to thrive and develop their full promise as a confident contributor in the world?
- Focusing on developing a love of learning, so that our child will seek to learn from an internal desire instead of primarily for external validation through test scores.
- The "Activities" process during kindergarten gives our child a choice in how he spends part of his day. He gets to try new things and discover activities that he didn't know he would like, such as woodshop and clay. He's also had to learn to be flexible when his top choice isn't available, and he's developed empathy for his classmates in terms of their having a chance to have a turn with it.
- Independence - learning how to walk around campus, go to the library - we think Peninsula's emphasis on freedom and responsibility will help our child on his path to independence, confidence, and mostly good choices (hopefully!).
What does your family love most about Peninsula School?
We love that Kiran loves going to school everyday; we love the attention, thoughtfulness, and skill that Rasha and Melissa bring to the classroom; we love that Kiran wants to stay a little longer when we come to pick him up at after care; we love how intentional the families are about building community among the parents and the kids.