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The Branch School Philosophy
At The Branch School, we start with love – deep, genuine love for each student as an unlimited, unique individual. This love creates an accepting, inclusive environment where students feel safe to explore their passions, try hard, take risks, and learn so much more. And over time, this approach shapes our students as leaders in the truest sense – into people who are secure enough in themselves to show up and advocate for others.
Our entire faculty and staff is intentionally attuned to our students and committed to bring out the best in them every day. Our average class size is around 10-16 students allowing teachers to provide individualized instruction and really know each of their students. Our calm, safe, and happy school atmosphere allows children to enjoy being at school and engage in ideas with pure excitement.
The Branch School Way
We know that students learn better when they can be themselves as makers, investigators, and thinkers. We try to make our classes and projects creative, inventive, and active, reaching students across differing styles and strengths with a wide range of approaches. This hands-on, real-world approach engages students’ imaginations and emotions and builds on their interests and passions to create personal investment in learning and more nimble, creative thinking.
Importance of a School Atmosphere
The calm and happy atmosphere of our private school in Houston allows students to enjoy learning and engage in ideas with pure excitement. Within our tucked-away campus, students are safe to deeply connect with the people around them – their peers, their teachers, and community members. Secure in this family-like environment, students feel empowered to ask questions, confident to give presentations in front of their classmates, and to explore and grow their capacities in ways they might not have thought possible. Our loving environment emboldens students to reach higher, preparing them for the best high schools in Houston and beyond.
Amid deep academic exploration, we make time every day for play and recess; we know even middle schoolers benefit greatly from getting out and moving, from engaging in relaxed and supportive peer-to-peer interactions, and having time to reset.
At The Branch School, love truly leads – from a flash of excitement during an experiment to an enduring fascination with knowing; from growing and learning to accept yourself just as you are to valuing others for what makes them different.
Request additional information or schedule a tour to see if The Branch School is the right fit for your family.
Branch Moving Forward
The Branch School is in the midst of much positive growth with recent playground enhancements installed and an additional school building completed September 2022.
Application Process
Our goal is to make the admissions process as simple as possible. Please see the below Admissions Checklist. If you have any questions, please contact a member of our Admissions Team.
Social Emotional Learning
At The Branch School, we value our students’ social and emotional well-being. Our students participate in weekly SEL classes where they learn more about their feelings, character qualities, and peacemaking. In this class, students form strong relationships with one another and discover how kindness and gratitude can shape our world.
We also explore the effects that strong emotions can have on the body and learn the techniques and tools that we can use to manage them. The peacemaking component also give students the tools to bring resolution to everyday misunderstanding and conflicts where everyone wins.
So, why teach Social Emotional Learning? When we begin to understand our emotions, sensations, and feelings, we can better recognize and control how we act and be better, happier, more peaceful students and citizens.
Outdoor Education
The Branch School is a leader in environmental education in Houston, and we’ve been honored to share our curriculum with many other schools. We hold reciprocal relationships with the Houston Audubon Society, Urban Harvest, and the Jane Goodall Institute and have benefited from a series of grants from foundations that recognize our unique and comprehensive approach.
Project work in our Outdoor Classroom fuses science and math exploration in concrete, hands-on ways, building observational skills, measurement and math acuity, and critical thinking expertise to foster a deeper understanding of ecosystems and the natural world. From planting bulbs to document life cycles, to counting birds and butterflies to gauge the effects of climate change on at-risk species, the Outdoor Classroom opens a world of learning to students that just can’t be found in a textbook.
Kids learn when you bring history or science or language arts to life. That's what I'm seeing with this project-based approach. It gets them interested and sparks that love of learning.
Parent