Our Portledge Lower School Purpose Portledge will be an inclusive community that inspires students to realize their individual potential, learn critical academic skills, develop moral courage and prepare for further learning and global citizenship.

Our Portledge Lower School Promise Portledge Lower School will prepare our students to navigate a complex and dynamic world with self confidence and determination; we will embrace challenges with creativity coupled with focused analysis and engage others with respect, empathy and integrity.

Our Portledge Lower School Principles * We know and love our students as individuals, students and curious learners. * We foster the desire for lifelong learning. * We foster personal reflection, growth, creativity, confidence and courage within our students. * We create a safe environment to learn and grow where there is more than one right answer. * We recognize and celebrate our students' strengths, as well as their areas for improvement. * Individually and collectively, we hold ourselves to embrace and live and work by the values which are the cornerstone for our school; academic excellence, trust, integrity, respect, authenticity, and accountability. * We are on task, as teachers, with our observations, differentiated instruction, assessments, and communication with students to ensure focused learning. * We reinforce 'student as teacher' through our interactions.  We place the student at the center of learning. * We maintain a curious, creative approach to all problem solving opportunities, and focus on depth versus breadth in our learning. * We focus on 21st Century skills beyond the acquisition of knowledge.  * We teach our students to make choices, manage their time, think critically and creatively and take ownership for their own learning. * We believe students find energy and passion through engagement. * We foster freedom to share, express, and explore with all our students. * We expect and encourage students to participate and contribute in an array of activities inside and outside the classroom. * We stand up for what is right.  We encourage and reward the same moral courage in our students. * We appreciate and celebrate the differences and individuality of our staff members and our students.  We embrace diversity. * We embrace our community, and build and integrate programs to engage our surrounding environment and the world as extensions to our classroom.