Truly Individualized Education

 

An individualized education is at the essence of what Pacific Academy Encinitas offers. We make it our mission to meet each student at their current level of academic aptitude, providing them with the tools and support necessary for their academic, personal and social success.

 

Pacific Academy works directly with families to make sure that the student, teachers, and administration are all in accord with one another to ensure the success of their student.

 

PAE recognizes that each learner progresses through academic material at different speeds, according to his or her own learning needs and abilities. Our low teacher to student ratios (1:10 K-5, 1:12 6-12) allow us to directly address the individual learning styles, and ALWAYS meet the student where they need support.

 

The Way School Should Be

 

Every morning teachers at Pacific Academy Encinitas see every students’ face; be they happy, tired, eager, or anxious. We know from the minute students walk in the door, how the students will feel, and how we can help and encourage them for the rest of their day. It’s a rare opportunity as a teacher to have the ability to really see how the various stresses of life and being young affect the students. Whether it's in, or out of the classroom, assessing how we can best serve Pacific Academy students is our top goal.

 

Pacific Academy Encinitas is a school that exists because of the passion the teachers and administrators have to be a school that lives up to what we imagined being a teacher would be like when we were in college. In many ways it is rare in the current educational system to work at and attend a school that is more concerned with critical thinking and individuality than how a student looks on paper.

 

The PAE school motto is, “the opportunity to be me.” Reading this quickly With a cursory glance, this may just sound like another slogan, but if you really look at the words, and the deeper meaning inherent in those words, it speaks to a longing that every person has, a need to be seen and recognized for who they are, and not judged for what they are not. In this regard Pacific Academy Encinitas exists as a school that embodies the true root of the word “education”, which comes from the latin word “educere” or “to bring out and lead forth”; To bring someone’s true nature and skills forth, and to give them confidence in living honestly and organically. What could be more educational than that?

 

Why it matters that your child is happy

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Happy children learn better and everything in our philosophy and approach stems from this idea. It starts with the well researched idea that children learn best when they are content, relaxed, and engaged – when they are actually interested in what they are doing.

 

So how do we, at Pacific Academy Encinitas make this happen? What does it mean to be happy? How do we help our children be happy, and thus learn well?

 

For starters, Pacific Academy Encinitas allows our primary grades K-6 children to “have a childhood” – allowing lots of time for play, curiosity, and allowing them to take measured risks and understand consequences. We allow children to have “down time”, when they’re not interested in learning, and we maximise the “up time” while they’re keen, excited, and engaged. PAE teachers are amazingly good at capitalizing on children’s ever-changing interests and are always supportive of social engagement both within age groups and whole school activities.

Social Development

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As kids grow up, there are three main areas in which they grow – physically, socially and academically. While mainstream-schooling focuses on only the academic growth, Pacific Academy Encinitas also prioritizes social and personal growth. Thus, time is spent around these areas – assisting the students in conflict resolution, learning to be part of a collaborative community and to live "well" together. But, it doesn't stop with primary school. As an integral part of our educational philosophy, we focus on the continued social development of our Middle and High Schoolers through volunteer work, as we believe it is an essential element in their academic experience.

Creative Learning

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At Pacific Academy Encinitas, we teach kids to think for themselves in a world where we can’t even imagine what kind of jobs there will be 10 years from now. “Traditional learning” is becoming less and less relevant in a world where almost all information is at your fingertips – it’s no longer about having the information in your head, it’s about knowing how to find it when you need it. The kinds of skills that will help our children through in this “brave new world” are creativity, self-confidence, flexibility and a love of learning.

 

Your child's safety, health, happiness and academics are essential elements in a successful academic program. Pacific Academy believes that these four elements are the cornerstones of our school.

 

When a child walks out of our school and enters the world, it is essential to us that they are able to reflect on how Pacific Academy has helped them become much more than academically successful. The child must be able to look within and know that they are stronger, successful, mindful and better equipped to take on the next chapter in their lives.