Lower School (K-6)

A Briarwood education is designed to instruct while addressing the learning needs of each student.  The psycho-educational evaluation received during the application process, along with its diagnoses and recommendations, enables us to design an educational experience that provides what each student needs.

All Briarwood teachers attend intensive training in LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling).  Developed by literacy expert Louisa Moats, Ed.D., LETRS equips teachers for the challenging task of teaching structured literacy to students of all ages with language-based learning disabilities.  Additionally, teachers participate in conferences and trainings throughout the year both on and off campus.

In addition to private sessions, a Lower School speech and language pathologist pushes into select classes to team-teach and collaborate with classroom teachers.  This collaboration provides students with an enhanced experience within the classroom, regardless of their enrollment in individual therapy.  By working closely with the speech department, teachers learn best-practice strategies and help all students reach their maximum potential.

Briarwood offers smaller class sizes with groups of 10 or fewer students in academic classes.  Through a diagnostic-prescriptive approach, we make academic groupings based on where students are ready to be challenged.  This structure allows teachers to customize the learning for each student, weaving together grade-level expectations and skills needing remediation.  Teachers pace instruction as quickly as they can but as slowly as they must to ensure students can apply the skills, strategies, and concepts they are learning in class.

Briarwood's goal is to cultivate independent and confident learners.  Not only do we teach students what to learn, we teach them how to learn.  We select certain powerful learning strategies to teach from the earliest grades through high school.  The end result over time is independence in utilizing these strategies at Briarwood and beyond.

Teachers promote character-building activities in the classroom, and students are encouraged to make right choices and participate in purposeful acts of kindness.  Through a unique class called Teaching Opportunities in Pragmatic Skills (T.O.P.S.), TOPS students in grades K-6 are explicitly taught perseverance, grit, growth mindset, and how to cultivate healthy peer relationships.  The cumulative effect is a confident, independent learner who can prosper in and out of Briarwood.  Learn more about our character education program.  Character Education & Right Choice Awards