A Welcome from Mike Orlando, Our Head of School
We are the Marin School for Gifted Education. We GET Gifted Kids.
Sometimes I get asked "Why a school designed especially for gifted children?" It's easy to answer. Academically gifted children are hungry to learn. They need an individualized educational environment that allows them to thrive and achieve. Research confirms that gifted kids reach their potential when they are clustered in small groups, with cognitively similar children. Experience and studies tell educators, time and time again, that gifted children blossom academically when they are allowed to move at their own accelerated pace. At Dunham Academy, gifted children are set up to soar academically, socially, and emotionally. We are the Marin School for Gifted Education because we get gifted kids!
Sometimes our kids say it best: “I asked my parents if we could look for a school where kids could move at a faster pace, where there was no busy work or constant review of things we'd already learned, and where maybe my teachers wouldn't think I was a bad kid for staring out the window.”
Luke, middle school student
Walk in our doors, and you will see students creating, envisioning, solving, and collaborating. In a school that understands that gifted children learn differently, sometimes rapidly, sometimes asynchronously, students are challenged and nurtured academically. Under the watchful coaching of a faculty whom they know and trust, Dunham students explore knowledge at their own appropriate speed, unfettered by the lockstep curricular constraints of many more traditional schools.
Our parents see the difference that a specialized school makes for their children. “We have watched the ‘light’ come on in his eyes as he grows in confidence and has re-learned what education is truly all about.” Parents of Cian, fifth-grader
Hardest to explain, but most poignantly experienced is the unique feel of our school. Joy and creativity resonate through our classrooms. Students are not just academically challenged, but personally comfortable. At Dunham, gifted children can take risks in a community that celebrates their successes and has compassion for their humanness. They are cared for by their teachers. They are understood by their peers.
A school designed for gifted children is academically and emotionally transformative. I invite you to experience how we live the answer here at Dunham. Our students graduate as empathetic, confident, mature young people who are prepared to make a difference in the world. Please call, e-mail or visit to learn more about what Dunham Academy creates and provides for our students and families.
Warmly,
Mike Orlando
Head of School
415 491-4700
Sometimes our kids say it best: “I asked my parents if we could look for a school where kids could move at a faster pace, where there was no busy work or constant review of things we'd already learned, and where maybe my teachers wouldn't think I was a bad kid for staring out the window.”
Luke, middle school student
Walk in our doors, and you will see students creating, envisioning, solving, and collaborating. In a school that understands that gifted children learn differently, sometimes rapidly, sometimes asynchronously, students are challenged and nurtured academically. Under the watchful coaching of a faculty whom they know and trust, Dunham students explore knowledge at their own appropriate speed, unfettered by the lockstep curricular constraints of many more traditional schools.
Our parents see the difference that a specialized school makes for their children. “We have watched the ‘light’ come on in his eyes as he grows in confidence and has re-learned what education is truly all about.” Parents of Cian, fifth-grader
Hardest to explain, but most poignantly experienced is the unique feel of our school. Joy and creativity resonate through our classrooms. Students are not just academically challenged, but personally comfortable. At Dunham, gifted children can take risks in a community that celebrates their successes and has compassion for their humanness. They are cared for by their teachers. They are understood by their peers.
A school designed for gifted children is academically and emotionally transformative. I invite you to experience how we live the answer here at Dunham. Our students graduate as empathetic, confident, mature young people who are prepared to make a difference in the world. Please call, e-mail or visit to learn more about what Dunham Academy creates and provides for our students and families.
Warmly,
Mike Orlando
Head of School
415 491-4700
