Smarties, we bring you an in-depth interview with our friends at Cannon School for our 2014-15 Open House Season blog series.
Cannon School: Preparing Students for a World that Promises to be Unpredictable
At Cannon School, you will hear our teachers, coaches, students, and parents talking about our educational philosophy—adaptive expertise. As a community, it is the way we teach and learn.
Adaptive expertise combines habits of mind and habits of spirit to provide our students with a strategy to know themselves, seek truth, communicate, and relate with others.
But how do we live it?
Our teachers are models of adaptive expertise first – flexible, creative, strategic, and reflective. We teach our students, as early as possible, to think about how they learn and take ownership of their education. Along the way, our students cultivate the ability to reflect, take risks, and decide for themselves how they will meet challenges in academic settings, in their careers, and in their lives.
“For me, the traits of adaptive expertise are stepping stones that steer me through realizing what is going on around me, fixing situations, finding out more about myself, and coping with any situation.”
– Adaptive Expert, Class of 2015
Established in 1969, Cannon School is a junior kindergarten through grade 12 independent college preparatory school. More than 900 students and 100 full-time faculty members make up our learning community. Our core values of courage, teamwork, respect, integrity, passion, and kindness inform how we create a safe, supportive, and stimulating environment for students at every grade level. “Go Beyond,” our school motto, articulates our enduring pursuit of excellence and lifelong learning.
The Lower School experience is pivotal in the educational journey of our students. From junior kindergarten through grade 4, we are committed to knowing, understanding, and celebrating every child in a learning environment that is hands-on, engaging, and full of energy. Because their voices are valued, our students embrace their curiosity, creativity, and confidence as learners.
The pre-adolescent years are a time of intellectual, social, and emotional change, and our Middle School creates a sense of family and fun that brings out the best this dynamic age group has to offer. We encourage our students—from fifth graders who are being introduced to the basics of Middle School to eighth graders who are anticipating the rigors of Upper School—to take risks and learn who they are.
Beyond preparing our ninth- through twelfth-grade students for college, the Upper School experience challenges them to discover their own paths to successful lives. We help students balance rigorous programs of study with extracurricular activities so that they develop their interests, passions, and talents in transformational ways. Our graduates are independent learners and impact-makers who understand how they will make a difference in an increasingly diverse world.
Beginning in ninth grade, our College Counseling team provides students and parents with a four-year program to understand the college admission process. Students learn that this decision-making process—building self-awareness, conducting research, and evaluating their decisions—is one they will use throughout their lives.
Collaboration, growth, and passion define the Arts at Cannon School. Students are inspired to create art that really matters to them and share it with our entire school community for the academic and personal value it brings. With the option to choose from more than thirty courses encompassing the visual arts, dance, theater, instrumental ensembles, and choral ensembles, the possibilities, like their imaginations, are endless.
Cannon Athletics is about developing student-athletes of character who compete together in the spirit of dedication, perseverance, and hard work, and who strive for success both on and off the playing field.
Cannon School offers more than forty teams in a variety of sports. As a member of the Charlotte Independent Schools Athletic Association, Cannon’s Cougars compete annually in the strongest independent schools athletic conference in North Carolina, and our graduates go on to thrive as both scholars and athletes at the collegiate level.
The best way to learn more about Cannon School is to visit our campus:
Join us for an Open House or Information Session.
Stop by any Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to noon for a Walk-In Wednesday visit – no appointment needed!
Contact our Admission Office at 704-721-7199 or admission@cannonschool.org to schedule a campus tour.
“After our tour and our son’s day of shadowing, we ‘got it.’ Cannon’s administrators and teachers care about children. It is so much more than a school. It becomes an extended family and a support community. It becomes a life changer.”
– Middle School Parent
Cannon School
Cannon School Admission Calendar
Information about Cannon School open houses and open house registration can be found at www.cannonschool.org/openhouse.
Open House Schedule
Admission Open House Events – JrK-12
-Thursday, October 9, at 7:00 p.m.
-Saturday, November 8, at 1:00 p.m.
-Saturday, January 10, at 1:00 p.m.
Admission Information Sessions
-Friday, November 21, at 10:00 a.m. (JrK-K)
-Tuesday, January 20, at 11:00 a.m. (Grades 5-12)
-Tuesday, February 17, at 11:00 a.m. (Grades 5-12)
Cannon School
5801 Poplar Tent Road
Concord, NC 28027
(704) 786-8171
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twitter: @CannonSchool
