News & Media

The 2019-20 school year began on September 9 on a celebratory note as The Windward School welcomed a record-high enrollment of 936 students across its three campuses at Westchester Lower School, Westchester Middle School, and the Manhattan Lower and Middle Schools. 

At the “Literate Brain Linking Researchers with Practitioners” conference, hosted at Haskins Laboratories from July 21-25, Dr. John J. Russell, Executive Director of The Windward Institute (which officially launches in January 2020) presented on how the partnership between The Windward School and Haskins developed to form the Windward/Haskins Collaborative Project. As he explained to the educators attending the conference, the project will entail in-school research, conducted by Haskins scientists and Windward teachers, with the hope that the study will yield greater understanding on which instructional strategies work best for students with language-based learning disabilities, like dyslexia, and why. 

On July 1, 2019, Jamie Williamson assumed the role as head of The Windward School. Please join us in welcoming Mr. Williamson, his wife Krista, and their two children, Isaac and Etta, to our community.

Dear Windward Community Members,

On June 30 after 13 years as Head of The Windward School, I will be retiring from that position to become Executive Director of The Windward Institute. 

Over the course of my tenure as Head of School, the Board of Trustees, faculty and administration, with support from the entire Windward School community, have accomplished what many said was impossible. Inspired by our credo “Save more children and protect the sacred,” The Windward School is now educating over 900 deserving students while remaining one school with one mission, delivering a research-based program expertly and consistently across 3 campuses.

On the evening of June 13, more than 1,200 people gathered under the white tent on Garry Field at Westchester Middle School in White Plains, NY, to celebrate the graduation and recognition of The Windward School’s Westchester Middle School and Manhattan Middle School eighth- and ninth-grade students. Family members, friends, faculty and staff members, administrators, members of the board of trustees, and Mayor of White Plains Thomas Roach honored this important milestone of the 19 members of the ninth-grade class and the 114 members of the eighth-grade class. 

State-of-the-art, custom electroencephalography, or EEG labs, are now installed at the Manhattan and Westchester campuses of The Windward School in preparation for the start of the first research study of the Windward/Haskins Collaborative Project. As a key educational partner of the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, an international and interdisciplinary collaborative that brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, and education technology specialists, Windward’s participation has the potential to improve language and literacy outcomes for children at risk for reading difficulties locally and globally.

The Windward School’s Head of School John J. Russell was named one of seven Distinguished Leaders in Education in 2019 by Education Update. He received his award on June 19, 2019, at the Harvard Club in New York City, as Education Update recognizes Outstanding Educators of the Year at its 17^th annual awards program.