Chelsea Academy

In this last whirlwind month, we have seen the efforts and prayers of many dedicated people transform Chelsea Academy from an idea into a vibrant place in which to work and learn. Beginning with the first day of school, great things have been happening in our classrooms.

In their religion classes, students are learning more about the tremendous riches and profundity of our Catholic Faith. With Lingua Latina as his principal text, our Latin teacher conducts his classes almost entirely in Latin, and his students’ enthusiastic response – literally speaking Latin themselves – points to the early success of this full-immersion approach even with beginners. In French classes, we also have an immersion program of conversation, song, poetry, and prayer. With time outside the classroom and in the field, students in Life Science have launched a hunt for spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, and other small crawling creatures, a collection of which is fast growing in the back of Mr. Sladky’s classroom, where we hope it will stay. Back inside, our advanced eighth-grade math students have been introduced to functions and reviewed algebraic expressions, equations, and properties of real numbers. In ninth-grade English, students are well on their way through the adventure of Homer’s Odyssey, and the sixth-grade English class has had a steady diet of vocabulary and grammar while reading a wonderful retelling of Beowulf. Last but not least, our Chelsea Choir is learning Maurice Duruflé’s beautiful Ubi Caritas among other works in French and Latin.

Indeed, our classrooms are stimulating places, and our students are responding with enthusiasm. In fact, if I could use just three words to describe our student body, I would choose inquisitive, exuberant, and cheerful. They study hard and like to learn. They are polite and happy. And they approach all that they do with tremendous energy. To get a sense of the positive, lively atmosphere that our students have helped to create at Chelsea, one need only watch them play soccer together after lunch and before returning to their classes. I cannot imagine more spirited or fun-filled play.

We remain committed as ever to building a school that prepares young people for the responsibilities of adulthood without missing out on the singular joys of childhood and adolescence. It has been exciting to work with students who intuitively recognize the importance of both of these goals.

I hope that you will mark your calendars and attend our Open House on November 9. You and your families are invited, and I encourage you to invite friends who may be interested in learning more about Chelsea Academy.

Sincerely,

Jonathan D. Brand
Headmaster

Chelsea Academy
Front Royal, Virginia
www.chelseaacademy.org