Transformative education at Touchstone Community School

CONTACT: Sarah Kipp, Touchstone Community School, 508-839-0038, smkipp@gmail.com

Media: Jim Farrell, PR first, 781-681-6616,jfarrell@prfirst.com

Dr. Shlomo Maital from Israel, and teaching at China’s Shantou University, speaks with Touchstone School audience in Grafton

GRAFTON - What if there were a school where skill mastery and expressive creativity could be embraced by teachers, students and parents? What if there were a school where children and adults approached each day as an opportunity to joyfully create, experiment, make mistakes, play and learn? What if that school existed right here in Grafton, Massachusetts?

Recently, Doctor Shlomo Maital, professor of executive leadership development at Technion Univestity in Israel and currently teaching in China at Shantou University, delivered the inaugural Talk on Transformative Education at Touchstone Community School. He, and his team of Chinese graduate students, spent a week at Touchstone Community School, discovering what makes Touchstone a model of creative, transformative, innovative education?

Professor Maital spoke with over 50 attendees including Touchstone School parents and faculty, child psychologists, academics from local universities, and parents and educators from other private and public schools. He shared his extensive research and his observations of the classroom culture at Touchstone. “In my short, but intense visit to Touchstone, I’ve learned a lot, and without exaggerating, been transformed by the experience, despite 48 years as an educator,” said Professor Maital. “I’ve learned that creativity flourishes when people, young and old, are given hard challenges and the freedom to tackle them.”

Professor Maital and his student Lin Kun Jin from Shantou, China, are planning to open a school in China, based on Touchstone Community School’s mission and educational philosophy. Lin Kin Jin Touchstone commented, “I want to fuse aspects of the Chinese educational system, particularly Confucious’ philosophy of skill mastery, with the kind of creative and passionate teaching and learning that happens at Touchstone. I want my daughter to have the kind of learning experience that Touchstone students have every day.”

Touchstone Community School is an independent school, founded by parents in 1982 and serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through Grade 8. Its mission is to cultivate a joy of lifelong learning through transformative, intellectual, social & emotional growth. Susan Diller, Head of School notes “TCS is built upon a strong partnership between school, parents and students. We are all part of the learning community and having Professor Maital and Lin Kin Jin here to learn and observe our classes has expanded our students global connections as well as our appreciation of what we do each day at TCS.”

About the Touchstone Community School

The Touchstone Community School is a Touchstone is an independent school serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through Grade 8, cultivating a joy of lifelong learning through transformative, intellectual, social & emotional growth. The school opened its doors in 1982 and today serves approximately 100 students. The school is built upon a partnership between the school, parents and students. Located on a wooded, eight-acre campus with playing fields, playground, gardens, nature trails, woods and streams, the school’s three building campus is open, relaxed and inviting. There are six classrooms, and children are placed in multi-age groups rather than grouping by grade. Touchstone is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Association for Independent Schools in New England, and is accredited by the Association for Independent Schools of New England. Susan Diller serves as the Head of School. For additional information about Touchstone Community School, or to request a tour of the facilities, please call 508-839-0038. The school is located at 54 Leland Street Grafton, MA 01519.