School Design & Learning

Critical thinking starts with literacy and needs to be built on purpose from the very first years of school. Children cannot think critically about what they can't read, understand, or talk about. When reading skills are taught clearly and systematically, children do not need to spend mental energy on decoding and can focus on meaning, ideas, and understanding. This creates the conditions for deeper thinking.

At Cornerstone, we believe school structures should reflect how children actually grow and develop. In the primary grades especially, children do not grow in neat, linear ways. Their academic, social, and emotional development unfolds at different rates and in different rhythms. Traditional grade-level systems assume that children of the same age are ready for the same expectations, pace, and routines at the same time. In reality, that structure can unintentionally leave some