By Cheryl Ward
Head of School
Calvary Schools of Holland
A February 2025 Gallup poll revealed that 73% of Americans are dissatisfied with the public school system. Reports like these tend to garner responses in the press full of unchallenged platitudes about what defines a valuable education: what’s working and what’s not working.
But what actually defines a valuable education?
I would like to start a conversation with you around this question.
Families come to Calvary because they believe what we do is valuable, though each family’s value system is by no means identical. I believe one unifying force among our community is that of intentionality. Calvary families want to be intentional about their children’s education.
So as we wrap up another school year, I want to walk out what undergirds our intentionality in four important areas of a Calvary education.
#1 – Intentionality in Science
#2 – Intentionality in Music
#3 – Intentionality in Athletics
#4 – Intentionality in Parenting
These four parts do not form the whole of education, of course, but they provide important examples of how the whole works together.
In order to converse about these four parts, I want to be operating from the same basic premise — that a valuable education is not found in “public school +/- (something else).”
A valuable education is found in the cumulative experience of intentional development for every student — body, mind, and spirit — beyond the baseline of natural abilities. Add to that the intentional development of a person’s appetite for growth through both struggle (things that are difficult) and joy (delight in working hard and facing difficulties).
This is what it means to receive a life-giving education at Calvary.
In the coming weeks, I will be walking out how Calvary intentionally pursues a valuable education through science, music, athletics, and parenting.
And I would ask you to consider this as well: What is it that makes your children’s education at Calvary so valuable?
Send me an email or give me a call with your thoughts. I would love to hear.
Cheryl Ward is the Head of School & Executive Director at Calvary Schools of Holland. She has served the Calvary community since 2015, stepping into her current role in 2021. Cheryl’s passion is transforming educational settings through the underlying philosophy, relationships, structures, and processes that support them. She has a bachelor’s degree in education and a second degree in Biblical studies, as well as a master’s of education degree. She has been an advocate for Charlotte Mason education, and an Ambleside affiliate, since 2009.