Academics
Lower School

Junior Kindergarten Program

Currey Ingram Academy will begin a Junior Kindergarten program in 2024 to serve students with learning differences, adding to the existing K-12 program.
In August 2024, the Lower School will expand with a Junior Kindergarten program. Research demonstrates that high-quality early childhood programs benefit at-risk students academically and socially, and these outcomes persist into adulthood.
 
This program will focus on building foundational student behaviors, executive function, and social-emotional skills required for future academic and social success. In addition, pre-academic skills will be targeted through explicit, direct, and multi-sensory instruction, as well as collaboration with a variety of specialists, including an occupational therapist, speech-language therapists, and a school counselor. 
 
This program serves students at-risk for or those with early identified learning differences that display the following foundational skills:
  • Ability to be successful in a 5:1 setting
  • Some functional language
  • Ability to hold joint attention
  • Ability to work independently (for a brief period of time)
Students may struggle with attention, language, motor and executive function skills.

    • Danielle Barton

      Lower School Division Head

The following core components are essential to the Junior Kindergarten program and experience. Click on each skill to read more.

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  • Low Student-Teacher Ratio

    Junior Kindergarten homeroom classes will maintain a 5:1 teacher to student ratio and be taught by a highly-qualified teacher with training and/or experience in special education or a related field.

  • Executive Function Skills

    Support for executive function skills will be integrated throughout the school day. These skills, essential for future school success and academic learning, will be targeted through whole class, small group, and play-based activities.

    Specific areas of focus include:
    • Task initiation
    • Joint and sustained attention
    • Following directions
    • Stress tolerance
    • Impulse control
    • Emotional/behavioral regulation
    • Adaptability
    • Prosocial behavior
    • Self-advoacy

  • Social-Emotional Skills

    Students will have frequent opportunities to develop social-emotional skills both through structured and unstructured activities, including: 
    • Weekly "Feelings" class with the school counselor that teaches emotion vocabulary using strategies from the RULER program, developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
    • Weekly "Connections" class with a speech-language pathologist focused on using language and behavior to make connections with others
    • Free play at recess with embedded social coaching
    • Structured centers and learning stations requiring collaborative efforts
    • Imaginative play and games

  • Pre-Academic Skills

    While the focus of instruction will begin with developing executive functioning and social-emotional skills, pre-academic skills will be integrated through explicit, direct, and multi-sensory instruction as the year progresses. 
    • Reading:
      • Phonological awareness
      • Letter/sound correspondences
      • Listening comprehension
      • Vocabulary
      • Oral language development
      • Pre-writing skills
    • Math:
      • Counting
      • Numeral recognition
      • 1:1 correspondence
      • Shapes
      • Classifying
      • Calendar skills

  • Integrated Therapy

    Instructional and therapeutic blocks will have a reduced ration of 3:1 and integrate the services of licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists within small group and individual sessions.

The EARLY Intervention Approach

The EARLY Intervention Approach at Currey Ingram is a reading intervention program that is rooted in research that intervention during the elementary school years is essential for students who struggle with reading, writing, language, and/or executive functioning skills. 

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Currey Ingram Academy is an exemplary JK-12 day and boarding school that empowers students with learning differences to achieve their fullest potential. Since 2002, the school has been located on an 83-acre campus in Brentwood, Tennessee, just miles from Nashville and Franklin. Families from 33 states and eight countries cite the school as their primary reason for moving to Middle Tennessee.

Currey Ingram Academy is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and AdvancEd/Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).