Guiding Principles

Guiding Principles

Mission

We encourage our diverse community of gifted students to engage in academic challenges, nurture their love of learning, and cultivate their humanity so they can serve, inspire, and create impact.

Vision

The Sage School is New England’s recognized leader in gifted education, with a proven history of preparing graduates to confidently navigate and succeed in a dynamic world.

Philosophy Statement

Our Students

The Sage School creates and serves a diverse community of gifted students who exhibit the following qualities: intense curiosity, remarkable creativity, rapid processing speed, a strong passion for learning, and the ability to make empathic connections with others toward the preservation of a productive learning environment. Sage looks for these traits in our incoming students and fosters them throughout their educational experience. When assessing a student’s potential for success at Sage, we also consider the student’s performance on standardized testing.

Our students are eager participants in the learning process. They are willing to ask questions, hypothesize answers, and experiment and innovate. With curiosity and courage, Sage students take intellectual risks that push their own boundaries, sometimes surprising themselves with their accomplishments. They are given the tools to turn their intelligence and knowledge into wisdom. Our students experience the joy of learning and the pride that comes when they strive to do their best.

Sage graduates are well-balanced individuals who are capable problem solvers, creative and critical thinkers, and strong communicators with diverse skill sets that enable them to embrace life’s opportunities and become productive citizens of the world. Our students complete their Sage education as confident advocates for themselves and others with an intrinsic love of learning. They are passionate, lifelong learners with the potential to shape our world in meaningful ways.

Our Program

Sage has been successfully educating gifted children for over 30 years through a comprehensive approach designed to enrich and inspire curious minds. Sage graduates have a reputation for being extremely well-prepared for success at the best secondary schools and beyond.

  • We offer an academic program rich in content, intellectual rigor and skills acquisition, complementing academics with our Random Act of Kindness program and providing further opportunities for social-emotional growth. Our program successfully educates the whole child by balancing the unique needs of our students, who not only crave advanced intellectual development but also require an age-appropriate social setting.
  • Our classroom model includes instruction in the traditional subjects of humanities (English language arts and social studies), world languages (Spanish and Latin), math, science, computer science, technology, engineering, the arts (visual, music, and dance), and health and physical education. The depth of content in each subject area, combined with a full STEAM program, provides a forum in which students synthesize knowledge and make connections across disciplines and fosters the development of collaboration, reasoning, questioning, problem-solving, and communication.
  • Sage has built a home for gifted students to ignite their lifelong love of learning. Within this trusting community, students feel a sense of comfort, belonging, and respect from their teachers and peers. Teachers encourage students to embrace their passions, explore new interests, and take appropriate risks.
  • Teaching resilience is important at Sage. Instead of fearing failure, students are encouraged to view their mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.
  • Our program offers exposure to global issues, providing a global perspective and encouraging students to offer their own solutions to global problems.
  • Our faculty is committed to using a variety of data-driven teaching techniques in the classroom that are proven to encourage gifted students to excel. These include flexible, ability-based groupings and flexible pacing, a problem-based teaching approach, and a learning experience attuned to the needs, passions, and interests of the students.

Our Faculty and staff

Sage’s greatest asset is our exceptional and diverse faculty and staff.

  • The majority of our teachers hold advanced degrees. They come to Sage with varied backgrounds, both within and outside of education, and we value the different experiences they bring to the classroom. They motivate and model their own “lifelong learning.”
  • Sage teachers are experts in the best practices of gifted education and are passionate about delivering our program to our students. They persistently innovate in areas of content and teaching methods to improve both the curriculum content and their teaching methods.
  • Sage teachers show flexibility in their instruction by listening to students’ ideas, and incorporating students’ passions and interests into the curriculum to keep learning fun, engaging, and effective.
  • Sage teachers foster respect, understanding, and a sense of humor in the school community, which leads to open and collaborative dialogue among the faculty and staff and trusting relationships between the teachers and students.
  • Sage teachers strive to make personal connections with each child. Students can trust that teachers will support and facilitate their enthusiastic search for knowledge.
Grade 2

The Sage PERCs

The Sage School is a small, cohesive, nurturing community that values the free expression of ideas, the individual contributions of its members, and all types of diversity. We are committed to the core values of Passion, Excellence, Respect, and Collaboration.

Bullying Policy

The Sage School will not tolerate bullying or retaliation of any kind. We are a small school based on a community of trust, kindness, and mutual respect. Bullying and cyber-bullying are prohibited in our building, on our grounds, and at any Sage-sponsored function or event. When Sage students and staff travel off campus, either on school trips, field trips, on the bus, or at any sponsored event where students are representing Sage, the same rules and expectations apply.

It is important to note that if any Sage student participates in bullying or cyber-bullying off campus, even on their own time, the School reserves the right to pursue and investigate these instances as well. If the bullying creates a hostile environment for the target, infringes on the rights of the target, or in any way substantially disrupts the learning environment, The Sage School will pursue the report.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

For information on how we value DEIB and support our students, visit the DEIB at Sagpage under the Program menu.