Our Educational Mission

The Valley School believes that all children are created equal in their right to an unfettered start in life through a good education. We honor the proven developmental stages of childhood. Teachers treat the children individually and help every student grow to full capacity in all areas of development: cognitive, creative, social-emotional, and physical. Our educational challenge is to create an exciting intellectual atmosphere while still emphasizing basic skills acquisition. A diverse student body — ethnic, academic, economic — is our goal because we think it is the healthiest setting for young children.

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NAIS National Conference
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The Valley Views Newsletters

Sept 2010 (.pdf will open in a new window)

Nov 2010

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Our School

The Valley School, a non-profit educational institution, was founded in 1985 by Patricia Overy and is approved by the State of Washington. Within 10 years the school expanded from a one-room preschool of 18 children to a complete elementary school of 100 children. The campus, located in an old Madison Valley orchard, has experienced an equally impressive growth and now occupies eight city lots with enlarged classrooms, library, art room, meeting hall, and administrative building and features an outstanding outdoor playspace. During times of construction and land acquisition, care has always been taken to preserve and enhance the outdoor play spaces for the children.

The growth of the campus has not significantly changed the population the school serves or its mission. Enrollment remains at approximately 100 children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, a size that supports its child-centered learning environment. The easy interaction between grades and careful communication between teachers and administrators are essential to the school's practices and principles.

In 2004, founder Patricia Overy retired as head of school. She continues to work at Valley as a consultant.