Wellington The Magazine – June 2016                                                           Unique Curriculum Provides Students With A Stellar Education At       Wellington Preparatory School

By Deborah Welky

There are 500 students in the area getting a stellar education at Wellington Preparatory School, founded four years ago by Jeffrey Altschuler.

Wellington Prep is located on the same campus that houses its sister preschool program that has been in existence for 15 years. Although the prep school is now teaching kindergarten through fourth grade only, it has been designed to grow with its students and will add fifth grade classes in the fall.

New for the 2015-16 school year, there is also a one-on-one program for the high school grades that partners with the home schools of young equestrians while they train and compete in Wellington. Meanwhile, the preschool focuses on the development of children ages 6 months to 5 years.

“The entire school is accredited by AdvancED — formerly known as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools — and we’re very proud of that,” Altschuler said. “That’s the most prestigious accrediting body in the area. We’re accredited by the National Independent Private Schools Association, too. In addition, when our voluntary pre-kindergarten students are tested for kindergarten readiness, they score at the 97th percentile at both county and state levels, according to the Florida Department of Education.”

Part of this success is due to Altschuler’s approach to curriculum. Where other elementary schools reviewed and compared curricula offered by publishers, he sent a team of experts to universities that had done extensive research on the best way to teach elementary-school children a variety of subjects.

In the end, the Columbia University Reading and Writing Workshop was chosen based on test groups’ outstanding ability to comprehend the subjects; as was the University of Chicago’s Everyday Math, reflecting 30 years’ work by both the education and math colleges at UC and a curriculum that is continually refined.

“That’s the core,” Altschuler said. “We also have a science curriculum, a social studies curriculum and more. Using that core academic offering, our kids are taught a grade ahead. The first-graders use second-grade books; the second-graders use third-grade books. We are an accelerated school.”

With additional help available, and an average class size of 12 or 13 students, that quickened pace is possible.

Co-curricular classes are taught around that core. Starting in kindergarten, every student takes violin lessons twice a week.

“Violin was recommended by our music researchers because the math and logic required to read music has been proven to provide additional benefits to the brain, and putting their fingers on an unfretted instrument helps our students train their minds to know what music should sound like and how to deliver that sound,” Altschuler explained.

There’s also Spanish and “Meet the Masters” art twice a week, where younger grades take arts and crafts to another level by emulating the work of 10 masters throughout the year. Older grades learn about the artists’ lives and techniques as well. “By sixth grade, they’ve seen 10 masters six times and know why they’re unique, why people think they’re special, and they’ve tried to emulate them,” Altschuler said.

In addition to playground and outdoor time every day, a physical education class takes place twice a week. Section one is a karate class, while section two teaches a variety of sports from basketball to soccer. There are also iMacs and iPads throughout the school; robotics technology is taught once a week; and one of the after-school clubs is called Robotics Tech Discovery.

The school continues to grow, breaking ground within weeks on a 13,000-square-foot building that will house 13 classrooms, including specialty and academic rooms. Altschuler, together with Principal Sandy Montoya, is looking forward to a mid-2017 opening.

“The school has been so supported by the community,” Altschuler said. “We’re excited about this growth and progress. We believe that Wellington Preparatory School offers a really solid, advanced elementary-school education. When you graduate, we think you’re well-rounded and have been taught in the very best way.”

Wellington Prep is located at 9135 Lake Worth Road. For more information, visit www.wellingtonprep.org or call (561) 649-7900.