The Kew Forest School

Mission statement

Their mission statement is:

The Kew-Forest School is an intimate early childhood through 12th grade learning community that is small by design, inclusive, and globally representative. Kew-Forest provides a safe, nurturing, and intellectually vigorous environment that inspires every student to explore and expand creative interests, to apply courageous and innovative thinking, and to become an ethical contributor to ever-widening communities. Kew-Forest students develop the skills necessary for pursuing higher education and for acquiring the essential competencies of a responsible citizen.

Student Council

The Student Council candidates campaign, make speeches, debate, and then ultimately must be elected by popular vote. The Student Council meets on a weekly basis to bring ideas on how to enhance their school experience, as well as how to improve their community. The Student Council has a variety of responsibilities, ranging from School dances and events, to projects such as food drives and fund-raising efforts. They also participate in the Youth Services Opportunities Project, YSOP, an overnight community service event that allows students to help those in need.

Spirit Committee

Created under Student Council in 2014. Spirit Committee creates fun fundraising ideas for big events for the school. They create candy grams and spirit among many other fundraisers.

Mock Trial

The Mock Trial Team went to the State and City Finals in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Model United Nations

Since the Model UN Club was founded 8 years ago, the school has been to over 15 conferences such as ILMUNC, RUMUN, JHUMUNC, and several more. There have been several 'Best Delegate' Awards given to Kew-Forest Students as well as Honorable Mentions and Verbal Commendations. The club is run by two club officers and one teacher.

Community Service

Kew-Forest requires all students in the Upper School, grades 7-12, to complete a designated amount of community service hours each year. Students are able to earn hours volunteering outside of school as well as through school-sponsored events. Seniors are required to complete community service hours for graduation.

The Forester

The school's publication which provides students with information about what is going on in the school and the community around, new events coming up, and stories about past events. The Forester is led by the Editor in Chief, who is helped by two co-editors. Currently, the Forester has approximately 30 students writing for it from grades 7 through 12.

Sports

Kew-Forest competes in the IPPSAL league and has won several championships over the past decade. Most notably, the Girls Varsity Volleyball team has won championships in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The Boys and Girls tennis teams both won championships in 2011 and 2012. The Varsity Soccer team also placed second in 2012 and won the championship in 2013. The Cross Country team has also won several events in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Other clubs

Kew-Forest offers a variety of after school clubs for the Upper School, including Poetry Writing, Book Club, and Foreign Language club.

The Lower School has a structured AfterCare Program where students can stay at school til 6pm. Students are supervised by school administration and teachers who administer a daily snack, help with homework, and entertain the students until they are picked up. The Lower School students can also register for after-school Mini-Courses at an additional fee, which are offered on a rotating basis throughout the year. Mini-Courses include activities such as chess, band, Lego building, soccer, tennis, and chorus.

Academic divisions

Kew-Forest has two distinct divisions for grades Early Childhood-6 (Lower) and grades 7-12 (Upper) with a division head for each.

Lower School

The Kew-Forest School's Lower School believes that the school's primary function is to educate children so they can become a responsible member of society, able to recognize the obligations of an individual in a community. The Lower School strives to work closely with parents and children towards discovering and developing each child's potential.

The Lower School embraces the belief that all children can learn and want to succeed. Its comprehensive and academically rigorous curriculum promotes mastery of basic skills—reading, writing, and mathematics—while offering additional enrichment and integration of core programs with foreign language instruction, library skills, technology, science, drama, art, music, and physical education.

All the grades are highlighted by field trips that are integrated into the core program. Sixth grade students engage in overnight, experiential outdoor education trips that stress cooperation and social development through off-campus study in a natural environment.

Kew-Forest introduced the Early Childhood program as part of their curriculum in the 2012-2013 school year. Students must turn three years of age by the end of October to enroll in this program.

Upper School

The Kew-Forest Upper School marks a period of personal and academic growth. The Upper Division offers a traditional college preparatory program with a carefully designed core curriculum. Students are able to do more, understand more, and achieve more each year. The Kew-Forest curriculum also fosters independence and self-responsibility. Students are expected to stretch their intellect, hold themselves to high personal and academic standards, ask questions, take risks and learn to express themselves clearly in both writing and speaking.

The Upper School offers several AP courses, including Latin, English, Physics, History, French, Spanish, Biology, and Calculus. Creative arts classes such as Journalism, Film, Studio Art, Philosophy, and International Relations are also offered.

The Upper School has a full complement of extracurricular activities including the school newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, French and Spanish clubs, Model UN, Mock trial, music and drama ensembles, theater productions and a full-scale community service program.

Notable alumni