Our Program
Brightworks reimagines school as a joyful, inclusive and antiracist learning community where students expand their curiosity and co-author their education through meaningful engagement.
Our school is based on the principle that everything is interesting. We trust that children are instinctual learners, and we honor their leadership and partnership in their educational path.
The school frames topics for exploration and encourages children to take on projects they are passionate about, while also fostering the development of a multitude of skills. Students are full partners in their own education, and every child is known and understood by their collaborators and the staff. Collaborators strive to build bonds with the students, challenge them, support them, and create with them so each can find their most beautiful version of themselves. Brightworks has influenced countless schools around the world and continues to be a model for what a child-driven, partnership-based, future-ready learning community looks like. Since it was founded in 2011, our school has been known for its unique project-based curriculum.
The events during and as a result of the pandemic have highlighted to us that the traditional model of learning does not serve learners who will become the leaders of the future.
With all the issues that we are facing as a society, from the worldwide pandemic, continued political unrest, the lasting impacts of systemic racism, and the damages of climate change, our children need learning communities that foster their sense of agency, community, critical thinking, and possibility. And our world needs voracious, self-directed learners who see tough problems as puzzles.
Our Programs
Early Years
At, Brightworks, we create a safe, joyful space to foster and nourish the curiosity, playfulness, and excitement for learning that every early elementary child brings to school.
Elementary School
Every kid is an expert explorer. It is our job as collaborators to help kids to build the skills to extend those explorations into projects. In elementary school, our role is to expand students’ ideas about what they are capable of.
Middle School
Our middle school culture honors changing adolescents as whole people with vibrant ideas, nuanced emotions, and engaged minds. We meet each child where they are and encourage them to continue to be brave by showing their true, wild, wacky, vulnerable selves to the world.
High School
Students in high school are ready for more independence and in-depth projects both inside and outside the classroom that prepare them for life after graduation.