The Riverhead News Review was on hand at our 5th Annual Maker Fair Saturday, April 13th to document our students’ work with Cindy Pease Roe and Upsculpt to create a 6 foot tall whale tail sculpture out of marine debris collected from local beaches. Read more here: “Students Repurpose Litter to Create Work of Art with Cindy Pease Roe,” Riverhead News Review, April 25, 2024.
Peconic Community School has been recognized as an official Phone-Free School by the Phone-Free School Movement. The Phone-Free Schools Movement is a collaborative effort by parents, educators, administrators, students and community members whose mission is to provide youth the freedom to excel academically and develop socially without the distractions, pressures and harms of phones and social media during the school day. PCS has been phone free since it opened its door twelve years ago, and is proud to be a part of this collaborative effort to spread the word and benefits of a phone-free school environment to a greater audience.
East End Beacon covered our 5th Annual Peconic Community School Maker Fair at the school’s new downtown Cutchogue campus. The Maker Fair was a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness in celebration of the Maker movement. The Fair featured over 30 makers from the community, ranging from artists and farmers to astronomers and inventors, as well as performances from East End Jazz, PuppetED, Zach Alexander magician and Peggy Dickerson, author, and full scale cardboard arcade built by PCS students. Read more here: Advice from the Makers, East End Beacon, April 12, 2024.
East End Beacon writes about Peconic Community School’s history, mission and vision, and future on the North Fork on the occasion of our Ribbon Cutting and official opening of the school’s new permanent home campus in Cutchogue January 6th.
Read more: "A School Grows in Cutchogue," East End Beacon, January 9, 2024
The Suffolk Times covers our January 6th Ribbon Cutting and Community Open House marking the official opening of our new permanent home campus in Cutchogue!
Read more: "Peconic Community School Officially Opens in Cutchogue," The Suffolk Times, January 8, 2024
The Suffolk Times announces PCS’s acquisition of a new permanent home campus in Cutchogue as of October 1st, 2023!
Read more: https://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2023/11/peconic-community-school-moves-to-cutchogue/
Peconic Community School was thrilled to march in the North Fork’s Inaugural Pride Parade and Festival in Greenport, Saturday, June 24th. Before school let out, PCS created a three part rainbow banner emblazoned with phrases of support for the LGBTQ+ community (“We Say Gay,” “We’re proud of who you are,” “You are loved,”) to carry in the parade. Naturally, it was a big hit that Saturday and got lots of press, including being featured prominently by the Suffolk Times both on their website and in print! Students also made handmade signs that passed out to marchers as they lined up for the parade.
We’re so grateful to have been invited to participate by organizers, LGBT Network of Long Island and Lori Panarello of Craft Hair. The day brought a huge outpouring of support and energy from a crowd of hundreds of friends, neighbors, business owners and community members, and it was a beautiful event to be a part of. We’re already looking forward to next year!
Read more: “Greenport’s North Fork Pride Parade honors LGBTQ Community,” The Suffolk Times, June 26, 2023.
Peconic Community School was honored to be invited to present at this year’s 2023 National Small Schools Conference in Philadelphia, June 21-24 at The Crefeld School.
NSSC is a small conference for leaders, educators, and consultants of small schools. Each year, 60-80 people from around the country convene in Philadelphia to experience renowned speakers and presenters, and share their unique experiences and perspectives from a small school.
Co-Executive Director, Kathryn Casey Quigley, and Director of Teaching and Learning, Shannon Timoney, presented on PCS’s much revered end-of-trimester Celebrations of Learning. Their presentation, “Celebrating Learning: A Culminating Community Experience,” was met by an enthusiastic, packed audience of educators and leaders and was even referenced in other presentations throughout the conference!
PCS is grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside other small school leaders and educators and make connections with other progressive schools in the Northeast.
After 15 months of preparation, reflection, and rigorous assessment, PCS has been granted a full 10-year accreditation from the New York State Association of Independent Schools! This is a monumental achievement for PCS, and we could not be more thrilled or more proud of our community for their hard work and dedication to this effort and the school.
Achieving accreditation as a young, growing school is a powerful validation of the meaningful, rigorous child-centered learning that happens at PCS and a testament to the impact of our mission and vision. We're so grateful to our entire staff who worked tirelessly on the accreditation process this year and, in particular, to Shannon Timoney, Director of Teaching and Learning, who led the effort with clarity, precision and care.
And, of course, this is achievement was only possible because of the trust, support and spirit so generously shared with PCS by our community of families, friends and supporters over the past twelve years.
East End Beacon covers PCS’s presentation of the school’s plans for the new downtown Cutchogue campus, slated to open Fall 2023. The school’s founders, sisters Liz Casey Searl and Kathryn Casey Quigley, gave an overview of their plans to the Cutchogue Civic Association at the Civic Association’s inaugural meeting, before a packed house at the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library Nov. 28.
Read more: “Peconic Community School Plans to Grow in Cutchogue,” East End Beacon, December 3, 2022.
The Suffolk Times covers PCS co-founders’ and co-directors’ Liz Casey Searl’s and Kathryn Casey Quigley’s recent presentation to the Cutchogue Civic Association regarding the school’s plans for the soon-to-be-acquired Sacred Heart campus on Main Road in Cutchogue. The sisters were warmly received with excitement and enthusiasm by the nearly fifty person crowd at Cutchogue New Suffolk Library.
Check out PCS’s feature in Independent School Magazine, published by the National Association of Independent Schools. PCS is profiled in the article about small school sustainability. Co-director Kathryn Casey Quigley discusses PCS’s strategies for maintaining accessibility, securing quality faculty and promoting growth. Read more: “The Sustainability of Small Schools,” Independent School, Fall 2022.
Video feature about PCS’s Wellness Facilitator, Jovan Booker, and his path to the 2022 Amputee Soccer World Cup tournament in Turkey.
Cofounder and co-director Liz Casey Searl was live in conversation with local bloggers Sunita of @nofostyle, Kelly of @nofoendlesssummer and Tracy of @ms.tracykessler about the history, approach and future of Peconic Community School, as well as living and learning on the East End of Long Island. Friday, September 30, 2022.
Watch the replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6ihdzGkqk
“Peconic Community School is in contract to purchase the 10.2 acre Sacred Heart R.C. Church campus in Cutchogue, the school announced. The private school which educates more than 100 students in pre-K through 8th grade, intends to make the new property its permanent home beginning in fall 2023.“ Read more at: Suffolk Times: “Peconic Community School to Purchase Sacred Heart Campus in Cutchogue.”
PCS Upper Primary journalists are back at it again! For their second feature in The Northforker, UP writers offer support and suggestions to other kids coping with social distancing on the North Fork. Check it out below:
read more at: The Northforker: “Kids’ Advice for Making the Most of Social Distancing,” May 2, 2020.
PCS co-director Liz Casey Searl authored a Guest Column in The Suffolk Times in which she talks about the challenges of raising "Screenagers," and our imperative responsibility as parents and educators to teach children online citizenry.
"Technology is here to stay," Liz writes, "and is a tool with many benefits and advantages for adults and young people alike. But its very power is what makes our responsibility to prepare and supervise our children that much more urgent."
Liz introduces PCS's digital citizenry initiative and invites the community to join us at PCS for a viewing of "SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age," March 27th at 7pm.
"We spend our children’s early years helping them learn how to share, how to be kind, how to use good manners and how to help others," Liz writes. "We now need to teach our kids how to apply these very same ideas to their digital life. We owe it to them to help them learn these skills and we owe it to society at large."
read more at: The Suffolk Times, “The Challenge of Raising "‘Screenagers,’” February 23, 2020.
Have you been looking for a great place to eat on the North Fork that both you and your kids can love?
Who better to ask for a review about family-friendly restaurants than kids themselves?
There are many great restaurants to eat at on the North Fork, but students at Peconic Community School in Aquebogue rounded up four favorites that are hits with both grownups and kids.
Here’s what they had to say, in their own words.
read more: The northforker: “Kids Share Their Favorite North Fork Restaurants,” January 15, 2020.
Around age 5, Lea Rodger of Greenport, now 11, would tell anyone she ran into that she would be an entomologist when she grew up. People would be like, ‘How does she know that word?’ ” her mother, Danielle Rodger, recalled. “Lea has always been very connected with the environment — with nature, animals.” The environmentally conscious sixth-grader has organized “Fight for the Climate,” a Riverhead protest to raise awareness and promote climate action. It will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, outside the Long Island Aquarium.
read more at: The Suffolk Times: “Sixth Grader Organizes ‘Fight for the Climate’ Rally in Riverhead, January 9, 2020.
PCS facilitator Shannon Timoney authors a guest column in The Suffolk Times about the response she has seen in her Upper Primary students after their recent challenging work confronting Long Island’s history with enslavement.
Read more at: “Learning and caring go hand in had,” The Suffolk Times November 9, 2019.
