In the fall of 1982, Constance Michnay and three young children came together each   school day in donated basement space to discover the joy of learning. Ms. Michnay's educational philosophy was that children learn best when they are treated with love and respect and when academic content is presented in a variety of ways including artistic expression. Also Ms. Michnay taught children to respect themselves, each other, and our fragile Cape Cod environment and her vision continues to serve as the core of The Laurel School's academic program. In 1994, the William Dobson family generously donated the land and the current building. In a beautiful rural setting, the school is located on a two-and-a-half acre campus, with four playgrounds, a Japanese Meditation Garden, a greenhouse, peaceful paths in a wooden setting, and an open field space.  The school is a non-profit and non-sectarian institution offering educational programs for boys and girls from preschool to grade five and our families come from Bourne to Provincetown.

For our students and school community, we: foster self-esteem and confidence and promote a sense of community; Inspire a lifelong love of learning, a cultural appreciation, and environmental sensitivity and awareness; provide a strong academic base, enhanced by the inseparable integration of the arts; provide a loving and respectful environment in which each child develops into a self-starter, an original thinker, and a perpetual learner; emphasize honesty, respect, kindness, cooperation, laughter, thoughtful resolution, positive reinforcement, tolerance, and an acceptance of difference.

The Laurel School provides a loving, supportive environment promoting children with the opportunity, freedom, and trust to explore and learn. With consistent guidelines, structure and positive reinforcement children learn in an atmosphere of mutual respect. In this atmosphere, children develop confidence and a strong self-esteem and adults nurture and encourage children to become independent thinkers. Faculty members have high expectations for each individual child and design a program using a well-rounded curriculum to meet each child's needs. The Laurel School curriculum follows the Massachusetts Frameworks as a foundation but integrates fine arts, music, dance, environmental studies, physical education and Spanish with the basics. By utilizing an eclectic approach, our faculty members are able to teach to the many different learning styles and to enable the children to move at their individual pace. With confidence, children enjoy successes, take risks, and love to learn.