Where the focus is on the whole child

About Us

about

DOGWOOD CHARTER SCHOOL

Dogwood Charter School is a public, tuition-free K-8 charter school in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, with plans to expand to K-12. Based on the relational education model developed by English educator Charlotte Mason (1842-1932), Dogwood focuses on fostering the love of learning, curiosity, and wonder based on the idea that children are, foremost, persons. Presenting students with a beautiful feast of ideas through great books in a community-centric environment, Dogwood provides students with a place to live, learn, grow, and question in a challenging and engaging setting.

With our integration of languages, music, STEM, karate, and ample time in nature, Dogwood modernizes Charlotte Mason’s philosophies in a unique, data-driven program that always ignites, never quashes, students’ innate and limitless learning potential.

Vision Statement

Dogwood Charter School will be a model of innovation where students will gain the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and experiences needed to thrive in adulthood as contributing members to the local and global community with compassion and respect for the world and its inhabitants.

Shared Values

  • The child is a person and must be respected.
  • Education is a life devoted to examining ideas and growing in understanding.
  • Children are part of families and wider communities and cultures that all have stories.
  • Children relate to story and retelling as their natural process for deeper understanding.
  • It is through gaining a healthy understanding of their natural environment that children are able to grow into conscientious stewards of the world.
  • Children thrive in a safe environment in which their growth of skill and knowledge is assessed through organic and living means; accordingly, they are free to take risks and joyfully pursue their education.
  • Confidence and self-esteem are critical in the development of the “whole” child’s ability to become authors of their own lives.
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Mission Statement​

The mission of Dogwood Charter School is to provide a respectful, student-focused learning environment based on the belief that children are, foremost, persons. Through the practice of the relational education learning model, students are empowered to take ownership of their own learning as their relationships, habits, and ideas are nourished. This not only fosters within them an avid desire for a life of learning but enables them to author their own lives confidently and resiliently as global citizens.

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