Bertschi School

North Capitol Hill at 10th and E Lynn, PreK-5
www.bertschi.org

You’d get grief from the environmentally conscious students of Bertschi if you walked around with a plastic water bottle. They are concerned about the environment.

Mission

Educates children to become compassion, confident, and creative learners in
a global community.

Values: Integrity, inclusiveness, respect and a commitment to sustainable practices.

Unique features

• Dynamic and evolving:
  Much of what happens in a room depends on the specific teacher and group
  of children.

• Integrated

• Hands-on

• Collaborative and
  project-based

• Differentiated:
  Addresses unique learning needs of individual children.

• Drama program:
  Significant drama program that involves all children or all ages.

• Dance: One of the few
  schools with a dance program with one class a week.

• Whole-child focus:
  Based on curricular pieces such as those from The Virtues project which
  involves having children pick out the virtues that most align with them
  and explore what they mean.

• Sustainability focus:
  Various threads of sustainability weaves into various parts of the
  curriculum. While an obvious tie into science is apparent, consider also
  visual art created more from “waste materials”. A recent offering included
  an exploration of the impact of Plastics on the environment (insert link
  to PPT).

Classroom
teachers and specialists

• Pre-k class with 2
  teachers

• K with 2 teachers

• ½ time additional
  teacher in 1st grade

• Two classrooms each
  for 1st-5th grade each with its own teacher

• Specialists for Art,
  Drama, Language, Science, Technology, Library, Music, PE and Dance

• Cross-gender
  curricular offering that includes a male dance teacher

Classroom feel (based on observations in 4th grade and Kindergarten classrooms)

Bertschi teachers all go by first names. It is clear that Bertschi teachers and students share a special bond of mutual respect and admiration. They joke during the 4th grade Math class. They hug in the Kindergarten room. Everyone is at home in classrooms that feel relaxed and easy-going. Students transition in and out of classes to work with specialists. The transitions are smooth, lessons move on, good work gets done. 

Student art work decorates the walls, shared laptops sit stacked on a charging rack, books, music players, CDs, games, all make this a rich and diverse learning space. Creative teacher-generated lessons define the curriculum.

Site
and space

What
started out as a school in a North Capitol Hill house (picture arched windows,
high ceilings and wood paneled walls) has now mushroomed to occupy a whole
block. The north-end of the campus includes several houses that have over the
years been remodeled and finished very appropriately to house a school. Several
of the buildings are connected or so one feels as you walk through the campus.
The south-end of the campus consists of a single large LEED certified building
that houses an indoor play space and individual rooms for drama, art and music.
The indoor playground connects to the outdoor play area that lies at the center
of the school. In fact, one of the unique features of the school is that other
than a few walkways, all outside, open space of the school is play-space and
includes challenging climbing structures for Pre-K children and a basketball
hoop in an alcove. Such warming features make this a welcoming campus.

Committees

The school has several committees including one focused on Diversity and
another one focused on Sustainability. The one focused on Diversity considers
deep value-based ramifications of how diversity is fostered at the school in
the midst of championing school-wide efforts on the topic. The Sustainability
committee is responsible for school-wide sustainability practices that teachers
then tie into the curriculum.

Current
and upcoming changes

The
founder/director, Brigitte Bertschi will be retiring in 3 years.

Ideal
student

• Open to learning from
  a variety of experts. This is particularly important given the number of
  specialists that Bertschi children learn from.

• Comfortable with
  transitions, going between spaces and facilitators.

• Bertschi is truly focused on diversity and so welcomes and nurtures children of varying temperaments. Children who are comfortable with
  social interactions and even leadership might get more out of the program but that is not to say that this is a requirement of the school nor does it mean that a shy child will not blossom into their best being at this school.

Ideal
family

• Collaborative

• Open to sharing time
  and efforts with school

• Open and very
  respectful of diverse family backgrounds

The
numbers and other must-knows

• Established 1975

• 228 students

• 30 teachers

• 8:1 student-teacher
  ratio

• Extended-day program
  available as drop-in or continual

Alumni

• Tend to go to college

• Move onto independent
  and public schools in Seattle

• Tend to excel at what
  they do

Final
word(s): Bertschi is a school based on clear values that encompass diversity,
sustainability and global citizenship. While the development of essential
academic skills lies at the heart of the Bertschi program what distinguishes
the school from most other premier Seattle schools is its unique focus on
environmental sustainability, diversity and the arts. The focus on
sustainability infuses the curriculum and also places the school in a
leadership position for fostering sustainable practices in education throughout
the city. A significant number of Bertschi families have diverse backgrounds,
its north Capitol Hill location being one to draw such a largely diverse crowd.

Based
on my visit and conversations at the school, I expect that bright-eyed, motivated children who are open to learning from a large array
of experts through a large number of media will get the most of the school.
Families of diverse backgrounds and that carry sustainability at the heart of
their living practices will connect most with the school community.

Information
source and research method: Based on an in-person meeting with Assistant Head
of School Brenda Cram, school tour and web research.

Disclaimer:
This is an independent review of Bertschi School. It is not a statement by the
school or its officials.