Twinfield Union is a small school that does big things. Housed in one building on an 88-acre campus, we offer both elementary (PK–6) and secondary (7–12) education. Our teachers are all designated as “highly qualified” by the Vermont Department of Education.
One of the great challenges facing small schools is the need to provide a wide array of educational experiences with limited resources. Twinfield Union meets this challenge with innovative solutions. We are fortunate to be part of two vibrant rural communities, Marshfield and Plainfield, whose members are supportive and active participants in the school. At all grade levels, community volunteers bring their expertise to the classroom, and they have helped us build a Quebec bread oven, develop hiking trails, build a state-of-the-art playground, make upgrades to our athletic fields, build new dugouts, paint signs and hallway murals, and landscape our grounds. We also make the most of our extensive campus—including forest, ponds, fields, brooks and river—for art, P.E., science and play, and to integrate nature-based learning into traditional curricula. Valuing what is unique in every student, we strive to adapt all teaching for individual learners and, in upper grades, to encourage self-directed study.
One of the great values of small schools is strength of community. In a school like ours, which serves preschoolers through high school seniors, interactions among people can range from helping a three-year-old tie her shoes to matching eighth grade math tutors to fourth graders, from middle schoolers holding doors for kindergarteners to adults helping a high school student change a flat tire. Many of our students know each other not just as classmates but as siblings, cousins, babysitters and neighbors. Each student is also known personally by many, if not all, faculty and staff who work at Twinfield, making it easy to individualize instruction and difficult for students to “fall through the cracks.” Our size also means that students can be involved in all aspects of school life—as artists, athletes, actors, scholars, musicians, activists and more—and that they are recognized and cherished as whole people as they grow up.
Central to the success of the Twinfield Union School mission is a respectful learning environment. We create this environment by nurturing a culture of personal responsibility. Students understand the expectations for their behavior and the consequences of the choices they make.
The inherent benefits of a small school are manifold: we offer a personalized setting in which all children are known and supported in their pursuit of academic excellence.
