North Shore Views

Harper Elementary School

Harper School is one of four elementary schools in Wilmette’s District 39 (the others are Central, McKenzie and Romona). It is located at 1101 Dartmouth Street on the corner of  Thornwood Avenue (and catty-corner to Thornwood Park). It is a K-4 school that serves children from Kenilworth Gardens, Indian Hill Estates and nearby homes. After elementary school Wilmette children attend Highcrest Middle School (5-6) and then Wilmette Junior High (7-8) before going on to New Trier High School.

The principal of Harper is Dr. Susan Kick. There are around 440 students and 31 teachers on staff, making the student teacher ratio 14.2. Test scores are consistently high and there are lots of enrichment and after-school activities like chorus, chess club, sports, drama, science and art programs to supplement the excellent curriculum.

Harper is a real gem of a neighborhood school and parents and children alike rave about it. It is walkable from anywhere in the area it serves and kids typically walk to and from school unless the weather is bad. Starting at the end of 2nd grade they are allowed to ride their bikes, after taking a bike safety class. The parents are very involved in the PTO and other programs and the kids make lifelong friends there.

You can watch a slide show of the recent Earth Week Fun Fest held after school.

Tags: Harper Elementary School, Wilmette

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 11:42 am and is filed under Living here, Schools, Wilmette. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply