Toni Radcliffe ’14
Starting July 1, 2011, Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School will combine their neighboring schools into one institution, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. This merger will provide the students of the new school access to over 100 courses, doubled academic, athletic, and arts facilities, and the largest combined independent school library collection in the area.
In the official statement concerning the merge, Chestnut Hill Academy said, “At Springside Chestnut Hill Academy we educate students to be innovative leaders, breakthrough thinkers, and imaginative problem solvers…Through a rigorous college-preparatory program grounded in project and passion-based learning, we prepare our students for their future as active learners and responsible global citizens. Blending the best of single-sex education and coeducation, we empower and prepare our young men and women to meet challenges with courage, integrity, and respect.”
The Lower and Middle School will continue to be filled with single-sex classrooms “tailored to the different learning needs of boys and girls.” In Middle School, the students will share dances, field trips, community service projects, and drama productions. Students in the ninth and tenth grades will move between campuses, sharing faculty and facilities for art and language classes. By eleventh grade, all academic subjects will be taught in coeducational classrooms on both campuses.
Kitty Morissey ’13 of Springside said “Nothing has appeared to change because eleventh and twelfth grade [classes] have always been integrated. Although, [coeducation] is new for ninth and tenth graders…Girls do not know how to handle having boys in class, which causes them to become quiet because of intimidation.”
This system of gradual co-ed learning seeks to balance the benefits of both co-ed and single sex learning. By initially tailoring the program to different sexes and then integrating boys and girls, the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy contains elements of both education styles. Geoffrey Wagg, Head of Upper School, said, “The transition from eight grade into ninth grade will be difficult because it is a completely new classroom environment for the student. What you need to do is to have boys and girls become accustomed to being in the classroom together.”
In reference to the impact of the new school on Episcopal and the Inter-Ac, Wagg said, “I do not believe it will change anything involving Episcopal or the Inter-Ac. Springside Chestnut Hill Academy will be very similar to Penn Charter, Germantown, and Episcopal in terms of number of students and their ability to compete in the Inter-Ac.”