Mission
The mission of the Village School of Louisville is threefold: To offer joyful learning, teach equity, and provide a true community of support for the whole family. Expand the headings below to learn more.
Click on the headings below to expand text.
+ Offer a Joyful Education
To provide children with a joyful, equitable learning environment inspired by the Finnish model which exposes them to the wide range of resources and activities available in Louisville, demonstrates the relevance of the information presented in the classroom to their communities and daily lives, teaches the skills and awareness necessary to seek and act justly and with equity in their personal lives, leaves ample time for play at all ages and stages of their education, and prepares them to live and work in the global community with compassion, knowledge, critical thinking, and cultural understanding.
+ Teach Equity
To teach children to recognize systemic barriers to equitable participation of women and minorities in workplaces, homes, and communities by providing an education inclusive of the perspectives of marginalized peoples; to prepare children to work for a more equitable world; and to give children the tools to function and succeed in a world where gender and racial equity is achieved.
+ Take a Whole Family Approach
To support parents (including VSL educators and staff), particularly the primary caregiver, by providing the structures and resources necessary to meaningfully engage in their child(ren)’s education and to relieve some of the daily stressors and obligations which interfere with family time, relationships, and health.
Vision
The Village School of Louisville offers joyful, equity-based learning using the whole family approach. VSL is a place that supports children and their parents so they may successfully navigate the global community in which we live, without sacrificing the joy of childhood and parenthood, the closeness of families, or the respite home should provide—where we create an environment of academic and professional success while reducing the stress, hecticness and competitiveness so present in the lives of families today. We are a community of support where children of all abilities and economic backgrounds and their parents learn and work joyfully together.
Equitable.
Our world is changing rapidly, and we must prepare our children for a new one—a knowledge-based economy steeped in gender, racial, and economic equity.
Values
Create an educational opportunity that is a whole-child approach and inspired by the tried and successful Finnish model of education
Create both school and work environments which are inclusive of and value the entire range of human diversity by demonstrating inclusion, providing the perspectives of marginalized communities in education, and discussing systemic barriers to equal participation of marginalized communities in appropriate classes
Emphasize the global community and the role of gender equity in that community
Utilize local resources to support the education plan and underscore the importance of community
Incorporate proven research regarding optimizing students’ receptivity and performance
Provide plenty of time for play and joyful, hands-on learning
Diminish family stress by providing diverse extracurricular activities within the confines of the school; affording the parents auxiliary resources and supporting parents in working while being an important part of their children’s education
Create a community, a village, of support for parents and children
Philosophy
Inspired by the Finnish educational model, we acknowledge the necessity that the learning environment be joyful and playful to develop lifelong learners, and is rooted in a whole-child, research-based education. We recognize that children will not succeed if their caregivers are not supported and thus, our educational philosophy is linked to our community philosophy. VSL supports our parents and families so that they can focus more on their children and succeed in all their roles.
Supportive.
"I looked at my kids, their friends, my fellow mom friends - everyone seemed stretched so thin, and there was not enough room for joy. I knew there had to be a better way and we all know it takes a village.” ~ Heather Harrell, VSL Founder