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Peak Expeditionary School at Pennington is purposefully different. We are here to change learning and change lives. We believe learning should be challenging, meaningful, and adventurous! Peak is a PreK-5 school that has a Colorado environment theme at each grade level (Pre K - Shortgrass, K-Foothills, 1-Montane Forest, 2nd-Alpine, 3rd-Riparian (river), 4th-Canyonlands, 5th-Alpine). Our students will go on outdoor adventures into each environment with the support of Colorado Mountain Club, Snowboard Outreach Society, and other community sponsors. Students will have a chance to hike, bike, climb, and even snowboard in the Rocky Mountains that we call home.

As an Expeditionary School we offer hands on learning expeditions connected to our curriculum for all students, taking learning outside our classrooms and into our community. Our approach to literacy integrates Science & Social Studies topics that we connect with field experiences as students think like: scientists, mathematicians, journalists, engineers, and explorers. We believe in a 3 dimensional view of student achievement that includes: Knowledge & Skills, Character, and Quality Work. Our character education is called CREW, which stands for Courage, Respect, Empathy, and quality Work. Students engage in project based learning experiences connected with our CREW character traits throughout the school year and display their amazing work throughout our building.

We offer expanded learning time each day through integrated Science experiences at every grade level & enrichment opportunities that range from Karate, to Chess, to Engineering with NREL. Our new school day runs from 8:30 am-4:30 pm, which allows for students to engage in these rich community based experiences. Optional breakfast service starts at 8:00 am and concludes prior to the start of school.

Peak offers meals and snacks for all students as part of our expanded learning day, before and after school care, and full day kindergarten, Band and Orchestra for all 5th graders, monthly community engagement nights and outreach and in-reach programs for our families.

UPCOMING EVENTS

*Online Registration Week of August 3rd*

Registration Dates
Choice Enrollment Dates
Enrollment for the 2020-21 school year is here.
Read More About Choice Enrollment Dates
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2020-2021 School Restart Update:

Peak Families,
I want to update you about next year as we close our school office from June 11th through July 15th for summer cleaning.  Sadly due to current guidelines, we are not allowed to have summer programming or summer fun days at Peak. If that changes at any time I will update you right away!

Regarding next year, we are now in the test phase of the JeffCO restart plan and I am helping as an elementary principal committee member on some of the logistics for opening school next year. I want to emphasize that this is a draft plan for our large 85,000 student district and our options at Peak may be different when this is finalized in July. We are a small school without a bus schedule, with extra classroom space, and a belief in the value of outdoor learning experiences for students. We want to serve our students and have them engage in learning as safely as possible next year and as frequently as possible next year. 

It is very important to hear about your remote learning experience and your needs for next year as we start to plan over the summer. If you haven't already done so, please take a few minutes and complete a brief survey by clicking on the link below or copy and pasting it into a web browser:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdN0rH98uE74A7m0E2RmLGdsBna--a9VEbTeCAiHW1eUtFnmQ/viewform

This week we hosted our new Kindergarten families on a zoom call to answer questions about our school and share more about what we know regarding planning for next year. Here are some of the things that we discussed:

1) We are trying to equitably serve all families and have students at school for as many days as possible. It is a question of need vs. want and at registration you will be able to put down your need for the number of days of in person school time. Families have very different needs that will impact the number of days of in person learning from 0 and totally remote learning, to 2 days a week, to possibly 5 days a week. We believe in our CREW core values of Courage to overcome challenges, Respect for our community, Empathy for other people, and creating high quality Work, and we are already trying to show each part of CREW every day as the adult leaders of Peak as we prepare for a challenging and unique school year. 

2) We will have health and safety guidelines to follow that are standard around JeffCO that could include continued 6 ft social distancing, face masks when in close contact, temperature and health checks in the morning, directional signs regarding movement throughout the building, and no large group gatherings. Students will stay with the same smaller group in a "cohort" approach as much as possible to minimize the impact of any infection and spread of COVID.

3) We will utilize outdoor learning spaces frequently to allow for a more comfortable and engaging learning environment. With our school vision of making learning challenging, meaningful, and adventurous, we were already planning to create more engaging outdoor learning spaces for this upcoming school year.

4) As of right now, we believe there will be before and after care options with our YMCA partnership. The numbers and staffing will be finalized over the summer and more information will be available at registration.

5) Registration will be online and linked to our main website. If you are already enrolled, the registration is more of a form collection and information collection for the upcoming school year. We hope to have it available the week of August 3rd.

6) We will most likely utilize our classroom doors on the exterior of the building for drop off and pick up instead of having students go through the main entrance. This may allow for a more comfortable and smaller group health check process each day.

7) We will continue to have Art, Music, and PE, however they may utilize classroom spaces or outside spaces and travel to students instead of having students travel through the building.

8) When talking with your student about school and COVID, the main message of support would be that school is a safe place and to follow directions of teachers and staff to stay as safe as possible.

9) We ask families to keep us informed of any changes to enrollment decisions for this upcoming school year since we have a waitlist of students looking for a spot. We also discussed how Peak Expeditionary School is committed to sustaining a diverse and equitable school community and that we are advocating for equitable enrollment practices that would support increased opportunity for minority and low socioeconomic students to gain access to our school. We are currently 50% white & 50% minority and 68% free and reduced lunch, which is a uniquely balanced and diverse community that we want to sustain over time as our school has become quickly popular in the past 2 years.

10) We will continue to expeditionize learning and have adventures! We have buses and many community connections to continue to engage students in real world learning experiences next year, however we will need to follow all safety and health guidelines in the process.


Again, our school office will be closed from June 11th through July 15th. Thanks again for an amazing school year, I am proud of everyone in the Peak community and wish you the absolute best over summer break!

Make it a great day!

Sincerely,
Mr. Tim Carlin
Principal of Fun
Peak Expeditionary School
at Pennington
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