I am privileged to serve as North Park Elementary School’s Head of School, a role I assumed in 2021 following more than three decades working in independent schools in the greater Chicago area. I am delighted you are exploring NPES for your child and family. Although our website is rich with information about our small school with a big impact, there is nothing more revealing about who we are than a campus visit, whether a personal tour with Director of Admissions Anne Zagotta or attending one of our scheduled Admissions Coffees with student-led tours. You can register for both opportunities on our Admissions Events page. We would love to see you!

The advantages students enjoy in small independent schools like NPES are well-documented. Among the compelling findings is that more personalized school settings like ours–with a positive and healthy social-emotional climate, a strong student-to-teacher ratio, clarity in mission and philosophy, and shared values across the community–results in more enthusiastic and motivated student engagement in learning and higher academic achievement. NPES excels at developing an authentic sense of belonging within children, an appreciation for how diversity and multicultural education enriches everyone’s experience, and as a result our students also develop higher levels of personal contentment, strong communication, self-advocacy, and creative problem-solving skills, and an enduring self-confidence.

NPES graduates thrive in even the largest secondary institutions. Our alumni are known for their earnest and impactful engagement and their leadership in the best public and private high schools across the city and near suburbs. We are proud that 99% of our recent graduates received offers from their first-choice high schools, including selective enrollment and international baccalaureate schools, college-prep parochial schools, and independent schools like ours.

Small independent schools are also more responsive to the needs of families, offering a unique combination of transparency, nimbleness, and stability in a broader societal context that can be unpredictable, volatile, and unsettling. As Stuart Grauer has noted, small independent schools move faster than big systems, pivoting for the good of students with minimal bureaucracy. We know our students personally, possess greater agility in meeting their needs, and we pursue our mission, values, and philosophy authentically, with consistency, rather than chase after passing fads. We adapt and strengthen our programs with purpose, with our Core Educational Beliefs and Portrait of a Graduate in mind. NPES’ Signature Experiences, from Play with Purpose in Early Childhood and place-based learning beyond our walls at every grade level through our Middle School Redefined experience–the capstone of an eleven-grade journey through NPES full of inquiry, connection, joy, critical thinking, creation, problem-solving, and lasting 21st Century skill-building– reflect just how special our school and school community are.

NPES is also enriched by connection with a diverse community of exceptional independent school educators across the Chicago area, the Midwest, and the country through our active engagement and leadership in organizations like the Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, and the National Association of Independent Schools. We also belong to the national Small Schools Coalition, as we embrace how our intimate human scale, exceptional faculty and staff, and diverse and inclusive school community rooted in shared values that benefit all students as they learn and grow are exactly what children deserve and need, perhaps today more than ever. We hope you enjoy your exploration of NPES for your child as much as we enjoy sharing our school with you.

Best wishes,

John Novick, Jr.

Head of School