WELCOME LETTER
Dear Families:
We recognize that there’s no way to truly convey the beating heart of a school community electronically. A visit to Black Pine Circle School will quicken your pulse and allow you to see the twin pillars of Knowledge and Goodness in everything we do! Since we pride ourselves on experiential learning, we want you to experience students creating questions, playing the cello, speaking Spanish, playing math games, skipping rope, recording in our pod-casting studio and enjoying one another’s company.
With that said, as you read our web pages, we want you to feel welcome and inspired by our “virtual snapshots” of Black Pine Circle School life. Our goal for this website is simple: We want to connect with you! We hope that your new knowledge will lead you to more questions about Black Pine Circle School. After all, questions are at the center of all we do at our School of Thought.
For close to 40 years, Black Pine Circle School has stood alone in its unwavering commitment to Socratic, experiential, and exceptional arts and academic education. At Black Pine Circle School, we actively pursue applicants who are curious rather than conformist, as we continue our rich tradition in critical thinking and community building. Our intimate community of 237 students (K-8) and 56 faculty members look forward, each day, to the exploration of authentic understanding. As a way of underlining our intimacy, I often joke with the students “with that many caring and talented adults around, you can hardly get away with anything!”
Black Pine Circle School is a school where all students feel ownership and belonging, regardless of their socio-economic status, ethnicity, learning style, family structure, gender, or special needs. We are proud to offer financial aid to approximately 33% of our population each year. We continue to build meaningful community partnerships with A Better Chance, Making Waves and the Multicultural Institute. We are active members in the People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS) Association, East Bay Independent School Association (EBISA), California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and recently received certification as a “Green School” (certified by the Environmental Schools Initiative).
Of course what’s most important in any school is the connection between our faculty and our students. I’m always proud to extol the virtues of our tremendously intelligent, professional and compassionate faculty and staff! We know that it’s in this relationship that lives and minds are changed forever. Black Pine Circle School continues to prepare young people in the East Bay to become life-long learners by nurturing their innate curiosity through exploration and discovery by caring, engaged educators. We believe that a successful student is one who can bring a sense of curiosity to every academic endeavor and a sense of self-identity to voice their creative expression.
Please make an appointment to meet with us and tour our campus. We truly enjoy showing people around our unique learning environment! If you have any immediate questions we might answer, please send an email to Faye Wu, Director of Admissions and Outreach at fwu@blackpinecircle.org.
Sincerely,
John Carlstroem
Head of School
Black Pine Circle School
510-529-2712
jcarlstroem@blackpinecircle.org