The Randolph School
The Randolph School sits on 5 acres in the hamlet of Hughsonville, NY in the Town of Wappinger. Hunter Brook runs through the woods that line the west edge of campus, with Reese Park on the other bank.
In 1965, the Randolph School moved from its first home on Randolph Avenue in Poughkeepsie. Built in the late 19th-century, the Main Building and the Carriage House were once the home of the locally-prominent Brewster family and prior to becoming the school, the property was a doctor’s office. The bricks used to build the Main Building and Carriage House came from the Faulkner Brothers Brickyard right across the road, that was in operation in the late 1800’s. Our school’s founders worked tirelessly to identify and secure a permanent home for us, and we are grateful to have such a special home today.
The Main Building
The Main Building houses the administrative offices, the Downstairs (3-4-5) & the Upstairs Neighborhood (5-6-7) and our Kitchen classroom. Freedom of movement between the small rooms that teachers have curated is a hallmark of independence and autonomy-building in this age group.
The Carriage House
The Carriage House is where you’ll find the River Room (7-8-9) & Crow’s Nest (9-10-11). On the first floor of the Carriage House, the River Room is hard at work solving the world’s problems. With the old carriage doors open, the classroom extends into the whole campus. On the top floor of the Carriage House, the Crow’s Nest looks out over everything, as our elders help keep an eye on their younger friends here. Bright light and the sounds of the stream down the hill create a unique environment for our students to feel a sense of peace while exploring the world around them.
The Studios
The Studios Building is the newest addition to our campus, featuring an art studio, library space and outdoor amphitheater.
The Art Studio at Randolph School is a space for exploration, inspiration, learning, and collaboration. We welcome mess, discussion, laughter, and open-ended creation. Materials are always available and accessible to students. Inspiration is abundant, in both the forest outside of our windows and the flow of ideas and creation happening in our bright, beautiful space. In the studio, students are given the opportunity to explore countless art forms, techniques, and materials, with teachers scaffolding their learning to go deeper and create more meaningful work.
Our Library doubles as Pete & Toshi’s Tap-a-long Shack, honoring our old friends Pete & Toshi Seeger by filling this space with music and movement.
Randolph’s Amphitheater is more than a beautiful feature of our campus—it is the heart of it. It is an outdoor classroom, performance venue, and all-school gathering space. Here, we learn to build fires and gather around them, we examine specimens collected from the woods, we perform plays and sing together, we turn sap into syrup and we come together to celebrate our traditions.
The Outdoor classroom
At the Randolph School, we nurture a sense of wonder. This is the natural state of children and there is no better place to support this curiosity than school, where children spend most of their day. Learning is the process of having a question and seeking its answers, and at Randolph, we learn about the world by engaging with our special, wooded campus.
Every day, and in all weather, Randolph kids are outside for at least an hour, on the playgrounds, down by the creek, or in the forest. People are innately drawn to connect and commune with nature, especially here in the Hudson Valley. Being in a natural environment gives us a sense of peace, reducing stress and anxiety. A learning environment that supports children emotionally lends itself to more effective learning. And the learning that comes from nature’s laboratory stimulates the senses and a child’s natural sense of wonder. The more children engage their senses, the more they expand their ability to take in new information. What they wonder about and what they discover comes inside the classroom and informs the teachers’ approach to concrete, intellectual skill-building for students of all developmental stages. At Randolph, play is learning and nature is our classroom and our teacher.
Our friends at Community Playthings make it a point to visit us often, to capture moments of our children living and learning outdoors. See for yourself how maple sugaring traditions at Randolph connect so many rich opportunities for our kids.
There are two Playgrounds on campus, designed for the developmental needs of children at different ages and the built environment is reflective of the natural environment. Children take an active role in designing and stewarding their play spaces, taking ownership and solving problems. Outdoor time is a central element of the Randolph experience and of our curricular strategy. In response to their natural surroundings, children’s play in nature is inherently more imaginative, more child-directed, and more free. Free play fosters social and emotional development, while the interests of kids emerge through their imaginative worlds. The skill of our teachers is in their ability to not only hear, but listen to children. What children reveal of their interests or their worries outside is brought inside the classroom by the teachers, and helps establish an entry point, into all content, for all children.
We’re quite proud of our home here and we’d be happy to show you around, whether you went to school here way-back-when or you’ve never been here before.
Call us at 845-297-5600 to set up a tour.
Learn more about the Architectural Origins of Randolph School and the Carriage House
If you have stories to share about our campus or knowledge of local history, we’d love to hear from you. We can be reached at office@randolphschool.org.
