Dunham Academy--Welcome--



	Dunham Academy is an independent, co-educational year round school exclusively dedicated to gifted education, providing inquiry based instruction in a challenging, nurturing, and supportive environment in small multi-age classes for grades K through Eight. Our Mission To provide a stimulating, challenging, individualized curriculum that respects and acknowledges the unique educational needs of gifted students. Dunham graduates are productive citizens and leaders with ethical and social values that support productive lives of service, mutual respect, and lifelong learning. Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire. W.B. Yeats Welcome from the Head of School "Why a school designed especially for gifted children?" Academically gifted children need an innovative educational environment to thrive and achieve. Research confirms that gifted kids thrive and reach their potential when they are clustered in small groups with cognitively similar children. Experience and studies tell educators, time and time again, that gifted children blossom in a learning environment that allows them to move at their own accelerated pace. At Dunham Academy, gifted children are set up to soar academically, socially, and emotionally. “I asked my parents if we could look for a school where kids could move at a faster pace, where there was no busy work or constant review of things we'd already learned, and where maybe my teachers wouldn't think I was a bad kid for staring out the window.” Luke, middle school student Walk in our doors, and you will see students creating, envisioning, solving, and collaborating. In a school that understands that gifted children learn differently, sometimes rapidly, sometimes asynchronously, students are challenged and nurtured academically. Under the watchful coaching of a faculty who they know and trust, Dunham students explore knowledge at their own appropriate speed, unfettered by the lockstep curricular constraints of many more traditional schools. “We have watched the ‘light’ come on in his eyes as he grows in confidence and has re-learned what education is truly all about.” Parents of Cian, fifth-grader Hardest to explain, but most poignantly experienced is the unique feel of our school. Joy and creativity resonate through our classrooms. Students are not just academically challenged, but personally comfortable. At Dunham, gifted children can take risks in a community that celebrates their successes and has compassion for their humanness. They are cared for by their teachers. They are understood by their peers. “At last, I don’t feel like an outsider.” Joshua, middle school student A school designed for gifted children is academically and emotionally transformative. I invite you to experience how we live the answer here at Dunham. Our students graduate as empathetic, confident, mature young people who are prepared to make a difference in the world. Please call, e-mail or visit to learn more about what Dunham Academy creates and provides for our students and families. Warmly, Mike Orlando Head of School Copyright © 1998-2010 by Dunham Academy All Rights Reserved

Dunham Academy is an independent, co-educational year round school exclusively dedicated to gifted education, providing inquiry based instruction in a challenging, nurturing, and supportive environment in small multi-age classes for grades K through Eight.

Welcome from the Head of School

"Why a school designed especially for gifted children?"

Academically gifted children need an innovative educational environment to thrive and achieve. Research confirms that gifted kids thrive and reach their potential when they are clustered in small groups with cognitively similar children. Experience and studies tell educators, time and time again, that gifted children blossom in a learning environment that allows them to move at their own accelerated pace. At Dunham Academy, gifted children are set up to soar academically, socially, and emotionally.

“I asked my parents if we could look for a school where kids could move at a faster pace, where there was no busy work or constant review of things we'd already learned, and where maybe my teachers wouldn't think I was a bad kid for staring out the window.”
Luke, middle school student

Walk in our doors, and you will see students creating, envisioning, solving, and collaborating. In a school that understands that gifted children learn differently, sometimes rapidly, sometimes asynchronously, students are challenged and nurtured academically. Under the watchful coaching of a faculty who they know and trust, Dunham students explore knowledge at their own appropriate speed, unfettered by the lockstep curricular constraints of many more traditional schools.

“We have watched the ‘light’ come on in his eyes as he grows in confidence and has re-learned what education is truly all about.”
Parents of Cian, fifth-grader

Hardest to explain, but most poignantly experienced is the unique feel of our school. Joy and creativity resonate through our classrooms. Students are not just academically challenged, but personally comfortable. At Dunham, gifted children can take risks in a community that celebrates their successes and has compassion for their humanness. They are cared for by their teachers. They are understood by their peers.

“At last, I don’t feel like an outsider.”
Joshua, middle school student

A school designed for gifted children is academically and emotionally transformative. I invite you to experience how we live the answer here at Dunham. Our students graduate as empathetic, confident, mature young people who are prepared to make a difference in the world. Please call, e-mail or visit to learn more about what Dunham Academy creates and provides for our students and families.

Warmly,

Mike Orlando
Head of School