Toddy Pond School

Toddy Pond School is located in a wooded setting in Swanville, Maine, five miles north of downtown Belfast. Classes are multi-aged, spanning grades K-8. Each class has no more than twelve students, and total enrollment is usually less than thirty. We take tremendous pride in creating an educational atmosphere that allows children to blossom. Children are given opportunities throughout the day to cooperate and resolve problems in respectful ways. At Toddy Pond School we believe children are curious and eager to learn. Children need security to feel confident to take risks, and they desire a sense of mastery in those things important to them. Toddy Pond addresses these core principles through a unique, field studies curriculum that is easily modified to match the age, abilities and interests of each child. With the guidance of their teachers and mentors, students construct their own knowledge through research projects conducted during adventure-based expeditions to Maine's islands, lakes, rivers and mountains. Each trimester culminates with public presentations of the students' research in formats comfortable for each child.