Mission & Purpose

Mission

Our mission is captured with a simple expression - UHA! Every teacher Understands, Honors, and Accommodates your child’s unique educational needs...and it's done with passion!

To achieve this mission, our educational team carefully analyzes the unique learning style of every child. Our teachers then incorporate strategies into the classroom that are specifically adapted to each child’s approach to learning. In fact, prior to admission, we work with you and your child to fully understand how he or she learns. So from day one, we embrace the child as an individual and tailor our instruction accordingly.

Purpose

"School is what kids do for a living; they need to experience success on the job." - Lois Delaney, Head of School, Tampa Day School

At Tampa Day School, we educate children one child at a time. It is our responsibility to provide a learning environment that promotes the individual feeling of success for each child, and to find the unique key that opens the door to optimize his or her learning potential. The purpose of our school is to meet each child's needs.

We believe that in order to achieve these goals, we must begin by focusing on the strengths of each child and his or her personal learning style, using this as a foundation for future learning and to overcome, cope with, or compensate for any areas of weakness or feelings of inadequacy. We believe that each child must be involved in setting personal goals, and then taking responsibility for individual academic achievement. It is our responsibility to help each student reach those goals through offering personalized assignments, breaking down concepts into small achievable steps, providing immediate feedback and encouragement, and making a variety of resources available. We expect our students to meet high academic standards, and we strive for mastery of skills.

We believe a key to a strong school is a unified staff that shares a common philosophy, yet where each member's individual teaching style and strengths are honored. We believe that all members of the staff must serve as positive role models who encourage each other, and who consistently convey to each child their belief in his/her ability to succeed academically, socially and emotionally. It is the responsibility of all staff members to promote a social atmosphere where children learn to respect the differences in others, where they appreciate and applaud the strengths of their peers, and where children are given the tools to resolve conflicts in a respectful, positive manner.

We promote and welcome parent involvement in all aspects of the child's education, and believe that when we work as a team with the main focus on the child, great things can and do happen! Daily communication, an open door policy, having parents share their time and talents with the students, setting goals and evaluating progress both at home and at school, and just getting to know each other all result in an encouraging, productive learning environment.

Laughter is strongly promoted in our school! We believe that children should have something to look forward to each day, and try to promote an atmosphere of joy - the joy of learning, the joy of reaching a new goal, the joy of a job well done, the joy of a shared project, the joy of a new friend, the joy of an encouraging word!

When parents report that for the first time their child looks forward to coming to school, when we see a child no longer hiding his or her face when asked a question or when making a presentation to others, and when we see a child proud of the "personal best", we know we have done our job well! Our goal is to have each child who leaves Tampa Day School aware of personal strengths, feeling like a successful learner, and knowing they are equipped with the tools they need to take on new challenges, to be a socially responsible child who respects others, and to walk out of Tampa Day School saying "I feel good! Yes!!"