Welcome to the 2017-18 school year at Rainbow Community School and Omega Middle School. This is a very special year; it is Rainbow’s 40th anniversary.
In 1977, three visionary, highly educated women, who believed that education had the power to enlighten the world, decided to open a school founded on love.
Teach Love
Love — what a revolutionary theme for a school! It was so radical that these women spent a year educating parents about what a holistic school founded on love truly means.
Our founders began every school day – just as we do today– with centering, a mindful and heartful time used to create a compassionate classroom and support children in building a relationship with their higher selves.
Grow Love
Love is such a necessary part of being human that when love is nourished, children feel they can be themselves, freeing up their intellectual and creative abilities to become geniuses.
Children thrive when surrounded by love!
Because our children have thrived, our school has flourished.
Little did our founders know that 40 years later, the little school they had opened in a Sunday School room at All Souls Church, would have 222 students enrolled and be located on five and a half acres of central, verdant land.
Inspire Love
Love is contagious!
Not only does it spread from person to person, but when children feel loved, they in turn fall in love with learning.
What these founding women knew intuitively has since been empirically proven.
Thanks to MRI and other neurological technology that didn’t exist in 1977, we now know that emotions are deeply embedded into the brain’s learning processes.
Motivation is fueled by positive emotions, and when children are motivated to learn they can embody their whole selves, expressing their unique passions and sharing their diverse gifts.
Spread Love
Still today – 40 years later – we believe, just as our founders did, that an education based on love builds a solid foundation for strong communities.
Recently RCS founded Rainbow Institute with the purpose of spreading the Rainbow model of education.
This October 6 and 7 we hold our second annual More Than Mindfulness Conference.
This being our Fortieth Anniversary, one of our founders, Nura Laird (aka Ashrita Laird) is traveling from the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism in California where she chairs the Department of Peacemaking, to give a keynote address on founding a heart-based school.
We are inviting all friends of Rainbow – including all of our former parents, students, and faculty – to attend the conference.
Alumni will also have a special opportunity to share stories about the fascinating and successful lives they now lead.
You are invited too! Register for our conference today.
Learn Love
Love is not to be taken for granted.
Like all good things, it must be learned, cherished, and practiced – at all ages – in order to strengthen it.
This year we begin our new parent enrichment program (PEP).
PEP will give parents and teachers the opportunity to learn from one another.
We will be exploring the science of childhood development and supporting one another in building compassionate understanding for our children and for ourselves.
Celebrate Love
This year, we celebrate 40 years of love.
We celebrate a vision of love that came true through forty years of service.
For forty years, teachers who chose Rainbow have dedicated themselves to enriching the lives of the children and families who chose love.
Serve Love
Ten years ago, I myself chose Rainbow.
And I chose Rainbow, like many of you, in large part because of our legacy of love.
I’ve seen our community grow and change dramatically over the last ten years, and always come back to that foundation of love.
I have learned that love often looks like service, and service is the best way to spread love.
I welcome your visits, insights, and questions as we continue to build on our foundation.
Let us each serve, in our own unique ways, so as to better extend ourselves into a socially just, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually fulfilling future.
Choose Love
I am so glad your family chose to be a part of our 40 year legacy of love.
A school based on love becomes an extension of home. We are honored to be a part of your loved one’s home, and by extension, part of your family.
To a year filled with love, inspired by learning, and committed to service.
In 2013, Rainbow Community School was the first school in North Carolina to be honored as a Green School of Excellence. Recently, we have been awarded this designation for the 4th consecutive year. The NC Green School of Excellence designation honors a school that shows the highest level of commitment to a sustainable campus and environmental education curriculum. Go to the Center for the Environment website by clicking here to learn more about the designation and to read how RCS is featured on the site.
After a renewal application process, Katie Ferrell of the Center for the Environment toured the school and presented us with our certificate of designation. She thanked us for our continued dedication “to teaching students about the interconnectedness of humans and nature and showing the students how to take care for the environment all school year long and especially for empowering students to take on leadership roles in the school, for actively creating community engagement and partnerships, and nurturing the students’ natural curiosity to dive deep into their experiences in the outdoor learning environment.”
As you are probably aware, the natural world serves as an important teacher in the lives of all our students. For example, connection to the natural world is celebrated in our mission to “develop accomplished, confident, and creative learners who are prepared to be compassionate leaders in building a socially just, spiritually connected, and environmentally sustainable world” and as one of our guiding principles “through understanding nature we understand ourselves therefore the learning environment extends into the natural world, the greater community and children spend as much time outside as possible. Children who have a relationship with nature will take care of it.” Additionally, environmental sustainability and stewardship and nature appreciation and education are part of our daily rituals and routines. The Natural Domain is emphasized as one of Seven RCS Learning Domains. From eco-conscious and green building practices, time spent in learning in the out of doors, to earth based celebrations, to Citizen Science, to recycling, composting, water conservation and gardening, to participation in Strive not to Drive Week, Screen Free Week and Blackouts, RCS actively strives to build a compassionate and environmentally sustainable school. Moreover, RCS is recognized by Ashoka to be a Changemaker School. The Changemaker Schools Network is a community of schools that as part of their mission and method support children in developing skills that aim to solve challenging problems and effect positive local, national and global change. To that end, elements of every grade’s curriculum integrates these changemaking skills and efforts and often children have opportunities to discuss, research, and design innovative solutions to many environmental problems. Indeed, Rainbow’s mission and vision incorporate learning that has, at its heart, a desire to instill a love for self and a love for the planet in a changing world.
What is Postmodernism and What Skills will our Children Need in the New Era?
Looking back over history, the transition from one era to another seems like it happened overnight, but in reality, each transition takes lifetimes, and the people who lived during those times of transitions couldn’t fully understand what was happening. It is becoming clear, however, that we are living in such a time of transition. The Modern Era is behind us and a new era is ahead. In this Heart of the Matter, I’d like to examine closely both the Modern Era from which we’ve come as well as the values and skills our students will need in order to thrive in the Postmodern Era through which we are currently emerging.
Thanks for your interest in the More Than Mindfulness Conference. Registration is now closed but save the date for October 6 and/or 7 2017.
Rainbow Community School has a 40-year history in contemplative and holistic education and has been recognized as a national leader in these areas. Our Seven Domains holistic approach leverages the tools of mindfulness while moving beyond them into the secular realm spirituality. The staff and faculty at RCS invite you to the inaugural More than Mindfulness (MTM) Conference which is a unique and dynamic event that will explore many ways of inviting the “soul” into your schools.
When: October 12, 2016
8:30-5:00 (Centering observations and reflection, break out sessions and workshops)
Cost: $35 for the full day. Participants receive a certificate of completion to be used towards professional development, a Seven Domains and Centering manual that includes informational materials and reproducibles. Breakfast and snacks will also be included and a food truck lunch will be available for purchase. Click here for the menu.
Intended Audience: Educators, parents, school administrators and mental health as well as other education related professionals.
About the Event: School based mindfulness programs are becoming increasingly more widespread in private and public schools throughout our country and research suggests that these programs bolster mental health and well being and have the capacity to improve academic achievement. At MTM we will highlight ways to integrate mindful practices into your school culture but will emphasize MORE than mindfulness by expanding these practices to include holistic and secular methods that nurture the personal and collective spiritual identities of your students, staff and community members.
Participants will engage in and reflect on RCS’s unique Centering curriculum and practice, gain holistic strategies to adapt your own curriculum and/or school culture, and collaborate through rich discussion about these important themes: inviting the soul in to the classroom, cultivating awareness and spiritual identities, exploring education as a sacred art. The conference will also feature break out sessions in which RCS presenters will bring topics of interest to parents, teachers, school administrators, and other education related professionals.
Sponsor Opportunities: If you are interested in being a supporting organization at the 2016 More Than Mindfulness Conference, please contact West Willmore
For more information: Please contact West Willmore at west.willmore@rainbowlearning.org or call 931 808 3722.
You are cordially invited to attend our Omega Middle School’s Open House! There will be two sessions, one from 8:30 to 10:00am and another from 6:30 to 8pm.
We are so excited to host you and your familiy! We are eager to show you what makes Omega Middle School the innovative and thriving holistic middle school that it is. The morning session will allow you to shadow 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math classes while the evening session will provide you with an opportunity to meet the teachers as well as some of our newest alumni.
Morning Session: 8:30am – 10:00am
“Experience the Classrooms”
Meet and Greet, Overview, Tour the Math Classes
Evening Session: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
“Meet the Teachers”
Meet and Greet, Overview, Tour of the Classrooms,
Q&A with Omega Teachers and three of our Omega Alumni!
Thank you for your interest! Check out our newly launched website http://omegamiddleschool.org/ to explore the ins and outs of our middle school. Email Admissions Director, Sheila Mraz, at sheila.mraz@omegamiddleschool.org for more information.
On Saturday, May 21st, Rainbow Community School will host our 1st Annual Rainbow Flea, a community marketplace to upcycle household items, clothing, art and all! Let this be the start of something great!
Expect cool stuff to buy, spaces to sell your old stuff, food trucks, and a busking performance stage. We will also have a Kids Market Area on the hillside for kids to sell their old toys.
Reserve your space in the office today. Flea Market spaces are $20 and Kids Market spaces are $5. 1st come, 1st served. This old school flea market will serve as a benefit, with profits from space reservations going towards the Rainbow Bus Campaign in their efforts to secure an adventure activity bus for our Rainbow students. All personal profit is yours to keep!
Please help us get the word out by sharing this event!
For more information contact ali.banchiere@rainbowlearning.org or denisa.rullmoss@rainbowlearning.org
