WELCOME TO THE WINSTON SCHOOL In the fall of 1981, The Winston School opened its doors to 10 children at the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chatham; one year later the school moved to a wing of the Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, across the street from the Public Library. In 1991, The Winston School moved to its present facility at the Christ Church “Education Building” in Short Hills. The pioneering founders of Winston were committed to ensuring that children with language-based learning challenges have the opportunity to realize their potential intellectually and emotionally in a warm and nurturing school setting. The founders also saw Winston as providing children throughout the surrounding communities with a learning environment that would enable them to develop essential learning and self-advocacy skills as well as self-respect, confidence and optimism for the future. This vision for Winston continues to be very much a part of the culture and abiding ethos of the school today—a school that has transformed the lives of scores of children and parents over its nearly three decades of existence. Indeed, The NJAIS (New Jersey Association of Independent Schools) Visiting Team commended Winston (after a successful accreditation visit in the spring of 2008) by highlighting the extraordinary commitment and dedication toward achieving the school’s mission and related goals on the part of all stakeholder groups—trustees, administrators, faculty and staff, and parents, and the many community supporters of Winston who have remained committed over the years to the ideals and passions of the founders. Winston students are extraordinary young people with a vast range of abilities, skills and interests. Today, The Winston School enrolls over 60 students in grades 3 through 8 who travel to school from over 30 different communities. The school has 25 staff members with a broad range and breadth of experiences, insights and training—serving to maintain and grow the school’s student-centered and individualized approaches to learning and teaching. Winston School forges a partnership with every family and every student enrolled—a partnership that will culminate with a successful graduation from the school—and the “moving on” to success, confidence and happiness in the future beyond Winston. The Winston School is a place where—to use the words of the NJAIS Visiting Team—there is a “strong congruence between the philosophy and the mission and the school’s curriculum and instruction.” The school provides a structured sense of purpose and fosters a community of student “participants” rather than student “spectators.” The Winston School draws out the best in children: the programs support the intellectual and emotional sides of students through providing varied opportunities that nurture their emerging growth and development. As students grow and master various areas of the program, they also learn to reflect: they develop a keen insight into this art of reflection whereby they learn to make “knowledge stick” and they generate in themselves an internal scaffolding for further learning and mastery—as they move on to high school, to college and eventually to the work place. Each child at Winston benefits from a robust and flexible curriculum that builds on individual strengths while effectively addressing areas of difficulty in learning—particularly in language-based areas. Small classes and one-on-one instruction help children develop the skills needed to meet the academic and social challenges of life as well as provide the necessary academic preparation for enrollment after Winston at leading independent schools regionally and out of state, as well as rigorous public school programs. Dyslexic students are trained to decode by using a multi-sensory approach based on the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching. Students are also able to receive “Speech and Language” and “Occupational Therapy” services at the school as part of the overall Winston program. The Winston program is rich and varied and there are specialist programs in Studio Art and Digital Arts; Music, Drama and Performance; Health and Physical Education. Technology is pervasive at Winston and supports all aspects of the academic program. Winston’s “individualized” approach to education calls for each student to work with different learning tools—particularly as related to “assistive technology”-- in order to meet individual goals and objectives. Thus, all students have benefited from new technology that has been rapidly and enthusiastically incorporated into the program in recent years. Additionally, personal computers, used for everything from homework preparation to in-class writing assignments and note-taking, enable students to develop measurably stronger writing, vocabulary and spelling skills. Technology assists prominently and productively in providing an innovative and expansive learning program relevant to all curricular and service areas. At the completion of the 2006-2007 year, all Winston faculty members were certified as “Schools Attuned” instructors. The “Schools Attuned” Program is an innovative, yearlong professional development program that embraces the philosophy and principles of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit institute designed to help students who struggle with learning differences become more successful in the classroom. Students graduating from the school in eighth grade find they are well prepared for new opportunities at the secondary level and beyond. Normally, students enter Winston in grades 3 or 4 and graduate from the school in eighth grade. There are opportunities for students to enter at other grades on a space available basis. Dr. Peter S. Lewis, Ph.D., became the Head of School at Winston on July 1, 2009. An educator for more than 35 years, Dr. Lewis holds a Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis from the School of Education at Stanford University. He previously served as the Head of School at The Kew-Forest School in Forest Hills, New York, and Gateway School in Santa Cruz, California. The Winston School is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools. Winston was recently re-accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and also received formal accreditation from the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS) during the 2007-2008 school year. Back to Top |
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Meeting the needs of children with language-based learning differences since 1981. Contact Head of School: Peter S Lewis, Ph.D.
(973) 379-4114 [Telephone] (973) 379-3984 [FAX]
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