Student Success
Westchester Day School is committed to having a comprehensive understanding of each child in our school and to supporting all students in reaching their academic potential. Our dedicated classroom teachers collaborate with our Learning Center specialists, who are supported by the WDS Learning Center Coordinator, WDS Psychologist, WDS Social Worker, and Mamaroneck School District (district of location) professionals.
Social-Emotional Support
WDS is committed to fostering a growth-oriented, psychologically minded environment for our students, faculty, and families. Our psychologist and social worker consult with students, educators, administrators, and parents to optimize students’ social emotional development and support a psychologically healthy school environment.
We are available to talk about any concerns you may have about your children and work with you to develop a plan to address your concerns. We help families navigate the process from identifying a concern to obtaining relevant interventions and supports, both in and out of school. We connect families with various private practice professionals outside of school, including mental health professionals, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, educational specialists, and social skills groups.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
WDS believes that explicit teaching of social-emotional competencies such as self-regulation, problem solving, and resiliency strategies are as important as teaching students to read. Our SEL curriculum is strongly embedded in our classrooms and throughout our school. Our newly appointed SEL coordinators are rolling out a new curriculum this year in Ganon through 8th grade. The Fly Five curriculum is a product of the Center for Responsive Schools, the organization that developed Responsive Classroom.
Health and Wellness Program
The WDS Health and Wellness Program is provided to students in Grades 5-8. All sessions include didactic curriculum as well as guided discussions. There is variability in what each group learns, based on their interests, prior knowledge, and developmental level, but in general, topics include:
- Health and wellness promotion (includes healthy eating and physical activity, body image issues, and managing difficult emotions)
- Being a mensch in social relationships (includes bullying prevention)
- Puberty - the facts and the feelings
- Positive decision making (includes age appropriate information about alcohol/substance abuse and internet/social media risks)
Psychoeducational Support
Westchester Day School is committed to having a comprehensive understanding of each child in our school and to supporting all students in reaching their academic potential. Our dedicated classroom teachers collaborate with our Learning Center specialists, who are supported by the WDS Psychologist and Mamaroneck School District (district of location) professionals.
Learning Center and Enrichment
In addition to a wide range of differentiation in classrooms supporting our community of diverse learners (Tier 1 strategies), WDS Learning Center specialists support students from Kindergarten through 8th grade in General and Judaic Studies and Hebrew. At various grades, we use a push-in and/or pull-out model of support. The need for Learning Center is assessed through classroom observation and assessment, together with collaboration between parents, teachers, administrators, WDS Psychologist, and any relevant professionals outside of WDS. We also provide enrichment opportunities for those students who would benefit from deepening their learning in this way.
IESPs and WDS Educational Plans:
We are fortunate to have a highly skilled team of professionals from the Mamaroneck School District that provides services to select children who attend WDS. They include a School Psychologist, Speech/Language therapist, Resource Room teacher, and Occupational Therapist, who provide services in the WDS building at designated times for those students who meet criteria for an Individualized Educational Service Plan (IESP). Some students require classroom accommodations and/or modifications that have been delineated in psychoeducational testing or neuropsychological testing evaluations. If these students do not qualify for IESP services, we may develop a WDS Educational Plan, which provides for the required student accommodations.
Executive Functioning Support
We believe that executive functioning skills are an essential component of development and learning and since our collaboration with NYU Child Study Center over ten years ago we have been developing our curriculum in this realm. In addition to grade level skills that are taught and implemented in the classroom, we offer several programs that augment that focus for select students who require additional support.
GoodStart Program
The Goodstart Program (Tier 2 support) provides organizational, study skills, and learning support to select 4th and 5th grade students with specific needs in these areas. Goals of the program are explicit teaching of organizational and study skills; test preparation; pre-teaching and re-teaching material; and managing emotional reactions to academic demands.
NextStep Program
The NextStep Program (Tier 2 support) provides organizational and study skills support to select 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students with specific needs in these areas. Placement in this program is based on teacher and/or parent referral with administrative approval.
After School Homework Club
After school homework help with a focus on teaching executive functioning skills is available three days per week with separate groups for 3rd-5th graders and 6th-8th graders. The goal of this program is to help students learn skills such as initiating work, planning, following through, and test preparation using actual homework and assigned tests and projects. We hope that participants will be able to go home with all or most of their work completed and benefit from enjoying relaxing time with family in the evenings.