Where Vital Academics
Meet a Deep Respect for Childhood

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Lower School

Welcome from Division Head Sarah Beck

I’m excited and proud to tell you about Langley’s vibrant Lower School. Our program gradually and intentionally defines and shapes the critical years between Primary School and Middle School. Through our inquiry-based curriculum, students in grades 1-5 develop academic skills that allow them to ask important, probing questions and apply their learning to real-world problems.

In first grade, children begin reading books independently, then move from learning to read to reading to learn through nonfiction texts. By third grade they’re writing, publishing, and sharing their own “how-to” books. The math curriculum spirals throughout the Lower School years to build foundational skills in number sense, operations, fractions, decimals, and other concepts. Students work cooperatively and independently to apply strategies to real-life problems as they develop meta-cognitive thinking. In science, students grow from seeking to understand states of matter as first-graders to performing lab exercises to demonstrate and evaluate Newton’s three laws of motion as fifth-graders. And Lower School scientists visit our state-of-the art science labs several times a week as part of our inquiry-based instructional program.

By integrating the curriculum with children’s developmental stages, our expert teachers ensure that your child’s emotional intelligence and academic achievement continually strengthen each other. Inside and beyond the classroom, our supportive community helps children take meaningful risks as they develop their creativity, perseverance, and self-awareness. By the end of fifth grade, your child is ready for a mini-rotation of classes and eager to move on to our Middle School.

Please take a few moments to review important features of our program. I invite you to contact me with any questions, and to visit our Lower School in person. We would all love to meet you and your family.

Sarah Beck
Head of Lower School/Director of Curriculum & Instruction



Our program

To continue building your child’s curiosity, empathy, intelligence, creativity, and well-being, our Lower School program engages and encourages your child at every level: Interdisciplinary, inquiry-based lessons—combining the core disciplines with music, art, drama, library skills, technology, and physical education—inspire your child to notice previously unexplored connections, ask probing questions, and seek hands-on, creative solutions.

Inside Our Lower School

Lower School Technology


Lower School Hours

Grades 1-5:
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Optional Extended Day:
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.