A Public School Academy

Virtual Tour Video

Please join us for a Virtual Video Tour of Chatfield School.  Video LINK

Chatfield School: The Best Choice

The Chatfield School, a public charter school, nestled in the heart of Lapeer, offers the best educational opportunities for students in grades K-8. When parents ask, “How do I choose an excellent school for my child? What do I look for?” The answer is quite simple: excellent schools have exemplary teachers; strong parent, teacher, student relationships; and exceptional learning opportunities.

Exemplary teachers inspire student success. They do not look at their class as a whole. Rather they examine each child to discover the individual, unique strengths and struggles. This individualized instruction and care enables each child to reach his or her full potential and to excel in areas of strength. The Chatfield School employs the finest, highly motivated and qualified teachers to maximize student achievement.

At The Chatfield School parents are welcome, expected to be involved, and are highly valued. Schools that establish a partnership with parents provide children a powerful community of caring, support and encouragement. Chatfield teachers and parents unite in the expectation that each child can be academically challenged and empowered to make good choices about their education and character.

Individualized instruction, investment in technology, and commitment to environmental studies provide the fundamentals of educational opportunity at The Chatfield School. Students are continually encouraged to engage, explore, and rethink as they interact with their environment, their teachers and each other.

The Best Educational Opportunity

“I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.”

-Chinese Proverb

What is best for the child is always at the heart of education at The Chatfield School. Children learn by doing. Chatfield classrooms, campus and grounds are designed to be unique learning spaces for children. Learning spaces allow students not to just take in information; but to experience and internalize information for authentic learning.

A perfect example of an educational opportunity offered to Chatfield students is the second grade community walk. After spending time learning in the classroom about the Lapeer community, students then apply their studies as they venture to historic spots in the Lapeer community. Students interact with shop keepers and local historians. With this opportunity students are able to internalize the concepts taught in the classroom and to develop greater understanding of the community through real-world experience. This is learning for the 21stcentury.

Seventh grade students learn about the role of waterways in the cultural, industrial, and natural history impacts of cities in the Eastern Hemisphere in their textbooks and online studies. They then travel to Detroit to learn about the impact of the Detroit River on Southeastern Michigan. On this trip students delve into the complex economic and social issues facing the city of Detroit and draw comparisons to cities on the Yangzi River in Asia and the Nile River in Africa. Through this integrated instruction students are able to construct new ways of thinking about complex issues and develop their role as global citizens.

Fifth and sixth grade teachers participated in a Toyota Tapestry Grant project for their students. The students participated in several habitat restoration projects including building duck and bird nesting boxes, monitoring wild-life with cameras, investigating pond habitat and water quality using waders and participating in controlled prairie burns. These experiences woven into the historic lessons of the Oakdale grounds have proven to be incredible learning opportunities.

A Cut Above the Rest

Michigan has 232 charter schools and Chatfield ranks consistently in the top 15. Chatfield is ranked in the top 100 of over 3000 charter schools nationwide. MEAP scores are at the top levels when compared to schools county and statewide. Eighth grade students exceed the national average in all four subject area tests of the ACT EXPLORE test with students receiving perfect or near perfect scores.

Virtual Learning in an Experiential School

At Chatfield students learn how to be successful with online virtual learning courses and utilize online courses to learn unique content with the support of Chatfield teachers and small class size. There is no better place for virtual learning than in Chatfield’s warm classroom environments. The student of tomorrow needs to be technologically literate while still having an excellent mastery of academic skills and the ability to effectively work and communicate with others. Chatfield has embraced virtual learning and enriched the opportunity!

Learning Outside of the Box

Fourth and fifth grade students hone Science and Social Studies skills learning for a week at Camp Lael on Skinner Lake with an overnight experience.

Sixth grade students camp at Pictured Rocks in the Upper Peninsula building on their geology and history studies.

Seventh and eighth grade students culminate Science and Social Studies lessons with a yearly rotating schedule of a Pure Michigan trip and a Washington DC trip. This past May students toured Washington DC and enjoyed a service learning project at a Washington DC charter school and a kayaking tour on the Potomac River as highlights of the trip.