The Benefits of K-8
Empowering Young Minds: Where Leadership and Friendship Flourish
VCS is proud to be a K–8 school. We consider ourselves specialists in childhood—the joys, the challenges, and the unique developmental characteristics of all our students’ ages. We also believe the K-8 years to be the most important years in a child’s education, when they have the opportunity to develop an unabashed love of learning and a strong sense of self that will serve them well for a lifetime.
We believe that the K-8 years in a student’s education play a fundamental role in shaping well-rounded individuals. VCS is focused on supporting students during these formative years, which are vital for building confidence and curiosity.
Our environment keeps our school community tight-knit. It encourages the cultivation of student friendships across age groups while allowing children to mature socially in keeping with their chronological age. Unburdened by the influence of older teenagers, VCS students retain their spontaneity and unselfconscious excitement about the learning process.
VCS recognizes children as deserving and capable of leadership well in advance of their high school years, and the K-8 model offers myriad opportunities for student leadership. As students move through their VCS careers, they are increasingly expected to serve as models and resources to younger children. In 8th Grade, our oldest students are officially regarded as the student leaders of the school—a responsibility that imbues their final year at VCS with greater meaning.
We believe students emerge from a K–8 experience better prepared for high school than their peers at K–12 schools. VCS graduates have had the unique opportunity to pursue academic excellence in an environment where they felt safe and known, were taken seriously as leaders, and gained confidence by expressing their authentic ideas, opinions, and emotions.
