Headmaster's Message

September 2010

Greetings, and welcome to Kildonan.  Chances are, you are visiting our site because something has not worked in your traditional school setting.  Over 40 years ago, Diana Hanbury King and Kurt Goldman gathered their resources to build a school for students whose educational needs were not being met.  Today, Kildonan continues to rise to that challenge by offering an innovative curriculum and technologies coupled with our sound Orton-Gillingham approach.  Our passion and commitment to empowering students with dyslexia continues as strongly today as it did when Diana and Kurt opened the school's doors in 1969.

As we enter the 2010-2011 school year, there is a lot to be excited about on campus.  We recently completed one of the most productive years in the school's history, with advancements and updates in almost every aspect of the school, and we partnered with many organizations, including Intel®, to help create the best learning opportunities for our students.  This year, I am most excited about two new opportunities, which include our new Project Eye-to-Eye chapter and the significant increase in the size of our Assitive Technology program.

With all of this change and forward momentum, it’s also reassuring to have such a secure educational foundation underfoot, with the knowledge and ability to remain so clearly mission driven.  As pedagogies and approaches wax and wane, Kildonan is as committed to its mission today as it was more than 40 years ago.  Our core one-to-one Orton-Gillingham tutorials, small class sizes, multisensory instruction, and programming that elicits student strengths and builds self-esteem, are all important ingredients of empowering students with dyslexia to reach their academic potential and equip them for future success.

So I welcome you to join us on campus to see what we do.  Whether you are joining us for the first time or haven’t visited in years, I am confident your experience will leave not only a lasting impression but also a personal understanding of how we help everyone learn to love school again.

Benjamin N. Powers, Headmaster