Mission

Sabot School is a school designed to sustain children’s quest for meaning and understanding, harness the power of their theories and ideas, and guide their inquiry and research. In an environment that supports co-construction, collaboration, and respectful exchange, we challenge our students to become effective communicators and disciplined thinkers, capable of solving problems in our increasingly complex world.

History

Sabot at Stony Point was created in 2007 through the merger of Sabot School, an innovative early childhood program, and Stony Point School’s pre-kindergarten through 8th grade offerings. Both schools were founded by parents working with educators to bring change to Richmond’s education landscape. On July 1, 2023, Sabot at Stony Point reclaimed its original name and became Sabot School.

In 1995, the Sabot School's early childhood program began to work under the inspiration of the Reggio Emilia Approach. This approach has been influencing education internationally for more than 50 years. In the Reggio approach, children are seen as capable thinkers and theorists who, working together, research and come to understand themselves and their world. Our experience with Reggio-inspired practice was so powerful that parents advocated to have that philosophy as the basis for further education, thus our kindergarten – 8th grade curricula, anchored by the Five Rs, were born. As a result of our long history with this work, Sabot has had the privilege of serving, along with other early adopters, as a model and voice for the dissemination of the Reggio Emilia Approach in the United States.

Our Commitment

As a school, we are committed to creating a setting where children and teachers have the resources and support to research, represent, and reflect in relationship. It is our goal to respect the intention of each individual in the community while encouraging certain dispositions and habits of mind.

• The willingness and ability to find interesting and challenging problems by acting on one’s own curiosity, engaging in inquiry, and thinking creatively using invention and imagination
• The ability to express ideas and problems effectively by representing them through available media (print, clay, painting, music, etc.) and symbol systems (mathematics, verbal language, scientific modes of analysis, etc.).
• Confidence in one’s own ability to express ideas through diverse media and symbol systems
• The ability to find solutions through inquiry, invention, and imagination.

We seek to foster intrinsically motivated learning, awareness of learning strengths, the courage to share limits, and a belief in the value of contributing to the learning of the group.

Sabot School also provides a welcoming and respectful environment for the students and families in our community, who represent a range of racial, ethnic, religious, occupational, and socio-economic backgrounds.