Regents School of Oxford Brings Classical Education to the 21st Century

With a growing student body, Regents School of Oxford (RSO) is still welcoming new applicants to their classical education environment.

RSO is a private educational institution that is accredited by the Association Classical Christian Schools (ACCS). And as the curriculum for classical education seems to differ from more common education programs, head of the school Jason Wood wants the community to be aware of any misconceptions they may have. 
According to director of marketing for the school, Jill Bell, classical education is teaching the child according to the grain of their development, and Regents is simply another option for parents to choose from when deciding where to educate their children.
There are three main factors that go into classical education, allowing children to be more engaged in their learning environments. Grammar, logic and rhetoric are the three main factors at Regents.
Grammar begins at the lower elementary level where kids become immersed with skills involving memorization, facts and scientific methods, to name a few. The next level, logic, is introduced in middle school as students at this level are ready to argue, ask questions and be more involved in the material. 
Once students move on to the high school level, rhetoric becomes the main focus of the three stages.
“We actually ask [students] to start standing up and speaking about what they learned and what they thought,” Bell said.
Classical education offers questioning, research, literature and creative writing. There is not a ‘trend’ in how Regents teaches its students, Bell said. It is a proven method that works for how students and children learn best.
“If some new philosophy comes along, we are probably not going to be the ones to jump on that,” Bell said. “We are teaching them the way that has been proven over hundreds of years to work.”
According to both Bell and Wood, the classical educational format is what schools over 200 years ago taught students and children.
“I think what we are trying to use is tried-and-true methods but apply it to the 21st-century student,” Wood said. “I have seen classical schools kind of get stuck in the past. I have basically seen schools be so countercultural that they become irrelevant.”
Embracing 21st-century tools is a big factor that Regents is implementing into their education in order to remain current with the times. The school offers a science lab and a math lab in efforts to morph classical education and modern technology.
One of the major selling points for the school is the small classrooms it offers, Bell said. Small classrooms allow students to be heard among peers along with one-on-one attention with teachers and classmates.
“Because of the style of education, we are really trying to draw the student out into conversations,” Wood said. “You have to have small classrooms in order to do that adequately.”
In order to allow free thinking to occur, small classrooms are vital in the learning process, Wood said. It allows students to be drawn into the discussion environment and let their voices and opinions be heard.

Along with small classrooms, which provide a small-knit community, Regents also has a community program called “houses” that are offered when a student enters the sixth grade. The two houses are Columba and Ignatius, and once placed into one of the two houses, the student remains there until graduation.
“It is a healthy competition that gives [students] leadership opportunities,” Bell said.
The houses compete in essay competitions, nerf wars, scavenger hunts and many other opportunities that lead up to winning what is known as the “Founder’s Cup,” Bell said. The cup is either kept or passed at the annual Olympic Games. The Olympic Games is a take on the actual Olympics where students compete in a variety of events that range from meter dashes to javelin throws.
Students also have an opportunity to join a range of different athletic teams. Currently, the school offers lacrosse, archery and girl’s volleyball to name a few.
The application to become a student at Regents is quite simple, Bell said. It first begins with signing up for a tour of the school grounds which includes four separate buildings. The next step is an application that is found on the school’s website followed by a meeting with Wood which is then followed by a grade assessment.
If interested in scheduling a tour with Regents School of Oxford, click the following link https://www.regentsschoolofoxford.com/.

---

By Talbert Toole, associate editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at talbert.toole@hottytoddy.com.