Seneca Academy Wins Best Private School, Best Co-ed Private School, Best Place to Work

Seneca Academy is known as the “hidden gem of Montgomery County.” Located in Darnestown, the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program World School is home to about 165 students in preschool through fifth grade.

Students at Seneca Academy play team-building games in physical education, speak Spanish, make art and music and more. Above all, the kids are having fun.

“This is a school that really understands children, child development, what they need to survive and learn,” Dr. Michelle Parker, the head of school, says. “There’s an emphasis on preserving the wonder of childhood because we’re trying to help kids take their natural curiosity and, over time, develop skills that will help them ask questions, find answers, synthesize their findings, communicate their findings and take action.”

That, Parker says, is known as the “inquiry cycle,” something that is central in Seneca Academy classrooms.

“I think our families recognize that their kids are getting what they need, and their kids are being inspired to be lifelong learners, and we stand out in a time when school can sometimes look like kids are just being compliant and following directions,” Parker adds.

The play-based preschool allows students spend a lot of time outdoors in Seneca Academy’s national wildlife-certified schoolyard habitat, Parker says. Lower elementary students engage in hands-on learning—science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics projects, investigations and phonics-based reading.

Parker says Seneca Academy is more than a place of instruction: “We have an incredibly strong community.”

“We talk a lot about being a village and building villages together, and that is about building the kinds of communities that not only support children, but support families,” Parker says.

Seneca Academy also provides programming for parents—their parenting talks help families understand child development and what to expect from each age and stage.
In addition to being head of school since 2016, Parker has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and has worked as a school counselor before joining Seneca Academy.

“As a child psychologist and child educator, if I had to design a school from scratch that met kids where they are, Seneca Academy would be exactly what I’d design,” Parker says.