A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Angela Tanner, Ph.D.
Founder & Director

The Knox School of Santa Barbara welcomes you and is pleased for the opportunity to introduce our educational and curricular philosophy to you! The journey that has led to the opening of this school began as a very personal one, born of the frustrations and heartbreak of advocating for my own children. My experiences have fueled an enduring passion for creating an educational environment that honors both the intellectual and academic needs of gifted students, as well as the equally important, and often overlooked, social and emotional needs of this unique population. With the support of dedicated community members and an expert advisory team that comprises some of the best minds in gifted education, the ideal has become a reality.

Our goal at The Knox School is to develop children not solely in academic content areas but in the operational and affective skills necessary to succeed and excel in real-world settings. Being smart is not enough – to be successful, people are required to be adept at a myriad of skills, such as time management, task initiation, and perseverance, respectful communication, collaboration, self-assessment, and self-correction. They need to possess emotional resilience, self-understanding, and intellectual dexterity. In order for these processes to be developed in the next generation of innovators, artists, and intellectuals, abstract reasoning, high-level thinking skills, and rich language experiences must be available to them. Imagination and fantasy need to be encouraged, with attention paid to creative solutions and ideas. There must be opportunities to fail, self-assess, problem-solve, and then try again within a safe, non-judging, and supportive environment.

These objectives need to be balanced with deep compassion for each child's individual challenges, an understanding of developmental issues, and a recognition of and profound appreciation for the beauty within each child. The Knox School recognizes the uniqueness of each child and is committed to the preservation and development of that individuality. The staff compassionately fosters self-awareness and self-understanding in all of our students so that they learn to self-advocate and orchestrate their lives.

We invite you to reach out to us about your unique child and how they might fit into our community.