Message from the Head of School

Ben Chant, Head of School

Welcome to our school! Helios is deliberately designed to promote success for gifted children. We are a proud, not for profit, independent school, accredited by CAIS, and part of a long tradition of committed educators and families creating schools that serve the needs of the students, rather than fitting students into the needs of the schools. 

Right from the founding of the school, guiding and nurturing the emotional life of the children has been a priority. We set aside regular time to teach and practice the social emotional skills all students need, setting them on the right track in the early years, rather than attempting to add them as an afterthought in high school. And these skills are woven into a challenging curriculum that is both project based and experiential. It incorporates overnight camping and hikes (even for kindergarteners!) and focused fieldwork that connects what is learned in the classroom with the real world. 

Helios students are passionate about justice, about their own learning, about their friends’ feelings and about our school. They want to know, “why?” And they incorporate the answer into their next question. Equipped with the facts they know and learn, students are empowered at Helios to use that knowledge to draw wider conclusions, deepening their understanding and building a foundation that our first graduates tell us serves them well in college.

And Helios is a wonderful place for families, too. Current parents describe the feeling of belonging that comes from joining a community where people understand the joys, and sometimes frustrations, of having a gifted child. We hold parent education sessions so you can learn about what we do at school and learn more about what it means to have a gifted child. And we get together and have fun, a lot of it.

Check out our website. Ask about us in the community. And then reach out to our Admissions Director, Teri Raffel, to learn more! I hope to see you on campus, soon.

Yours,
Ben Chant
Head of School