Private School in Colorado Springs, CO

Colorado Springs School, Colorado:
Located in Colorado Springs at the foot of the Rockie Mountains, Colorado Springs School is a private, nonprofit, college preparatory school pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. For nearly 50 years, it has been the aim of The Colorado Springs School to deliver a superior academic program in the context of uncommonly rich experiences and healthy relationships with peers and adults. Our goal is to coach young people with diverse backgrounds to become the kind of people who can provide leadership of integrity long into the future.

Educational Programs for Students in Pre-kindergarten to 12th Grade: 

The Colorado Springs School Curriculum:
CSS aspires to develop a strong, positive sense of self in all students who learn to be self-directed and willing to take risks. In all of the programs and activities at CSS, students learn to take pride in their accomplishments and respect those who are in their community including a respect for their environment. Not only are students excited and enthusiastic about new ideas, but they also learn to be empathetic and sensitive with one another in the caring community at CSS. They gain analytical thinking skills, which allow them to be creative problem solvers, giving them the "cutting edge" in facing the challenges of the future.

Subjects include:

Fine Arts:
The Fine Art Department believes arts experiences in students’ lives cannot be evaluated simply for their useful application, but are far more fundamentally important to an individual’s development and life. An education without the fine arts is an impoverished education. We consider our task to be to educate the whole child to form whole adults.

Experiential Education:

* Children's School: classes participate in school overnights, camping trips (fall, grades 2-5), and Spring Trips (grades 2-5).

* Middle School: Fall and Spring Seminars and Walkabout. In the fall and spring, Career Seminars are designed for each grade level. These classes are two-weeks long and immerse students in all aspects of various careers. Walkabout is a two-week trip for eighth graders. This extended experience is designed to initiate young people into the adult world.

* Upper School: Extended Field Experiences are offered are often part of regular coursework in the Upper School and provide our students with a wide variety of active learning opportunities. Experience-Centered Seminars are held during March. These three-to-four-week-long seminar courses are hands-on, interdisciplinary, academically-based, and often involve extended travel.

Foreign Languages:
Foreign language instruction at The Colorado Springs School focuses on accomplishing two main goals within a fourteen-year program. The first is to nurture an appreciation of different cultures and a desire to become involved in present and future experiences that require knowledge of a foreign culture and language.

Instructional Technology:
The Instructional Technology curriculum is designed to promote productive citizenship in a technological society and equip students with the ability to adapt to changing technology. Students need to be able to use computers flexibly, creatively and purposefully. They should be able to recognize what they need to accomplish, determine whether a computer will help them to do so, and then be able to use the computer as part of the process of completing the task.

Language Arts:
The Language Arts Department strives to prepare students as life-long readers and writers who use these skills to be resourceful, independent, and responsible thinkers. In each student, we aspire to cultivate an understanding and appreciation of literature and writing as an expression of human experience and an integral form of communication.

Mathematics:
The mathematics department at The Colorado Springs School educates students on how to use mathematics as a practical tool in a wide range of disciplines. The department believes students should use mathematical skills to gain insight and knowledge about disciplines such as economics, the natural sciences, political science, and the humanities.
Physical Education:
The Physical Education program at the Colorado Springs School centers on the students as individuals. Each student will be exposed to a variety of activities and sports that will cover the realms of individual, dual and team participation. The information that will be passed on to the students will enable them to make a more informed decision concerning lifetime activities, fitness, and health knowledge.

Science:
Science instruction at CSS is intended to accomplish three goals. The first is to nurture in the student an understanding and appreciation of science and the role of human culture in nature, and to teach questioning and formulating hypotheses at all levels.

Social Studies:
As a K-12 department, we employ a wide range of developmentally appropriate content and skills in our teaching of social studies in the Children's, Middle and Upper Schools. All of the diverse coursework detailed below is cumulative in scope and sequence and is united by the goal of instilling our students with both an intuitive and analytical appreciation for the struggles of groups and individuals in the past.

Interscholastic Sports:
Competitive Athletics is an integral component of our physical education program. At CSS, girls and boys have many opportunities to participate in team sports, and any student who wishes to participate may do so. In Middle and Upper School, athletic teams compete against other teams in the Pikes Peak region and along Colorado's Front Range. Our offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross-country, tennis, lacrosse, and golf.