Our Community

Countryside is a strong, vibrant community of students, parents, faculty, alumni, and families

We offer many opportunities during the year for parents and grandparents to attend functions or for our students to engage in community-building activities. We also host events like our Fall Picnic/Homecoming where our alumni and alumni families come back to see current and former faculty and students.

What sets us apart?

Buddy Family Program

To help guide our new families through their first year at Countryside, we pair a current family to each new family. This program provides new families with an additional resource for asking questions and helps them to get to know more families

Family Groups

We value a sense of family among our students. To foster this relationship, each new student is assigned to a Family Group. This is a multi-grade group of about a dozen students with a faculty “parent”. Each family group remains intact as the students go through their years at Countryside with kindergartners and new students coming into each group as the 8th graders in that group graduate. The group sits together at our all-school Comet Fest assemblies and participates in bonding activities.

Comet Fest

Our all-school assemblies are called Comet Fest. The students attend in their Family Groups (groups of about a dozen students from all grades - Kindergarten through 8th grade with a faculty "parent").

Comet Fest is a time of celebration and learning something as a whole school (for instance, spending a few minutes practicing mindfulness with box breathing to help kids learn to calm themselves when stressed). We celebrate achievements of students. And sometimes our mascot, Kirby the Comet, attends. Parents are welcome to attend too.

We also break into our Family Group bonding activity – for example, participating in a digital scavenger hunt, making up a “handshake” to perform, or designing collaborative chalk artwork for our front sidewalk.

Countryside School Association (CSA)

The Countryside School Association (CSA) is the parent association that works to support the school and helps to further a sense of community. They sponsor several family events including our Fall Picnic/Homecoming, Winter Ice Skating Party, and sometimes a party in the park on the last day of school. They support teachers through hosting wonderful lunches on parent-teacher conference days and lovely surprises during Teacher Appreciation Week. Our school could not operate without the wonderful volunteers who organize these events and build community.