Lighthouse School To Open New Middle School Campus With Acquisition Of Fairgrounds Road Property

The Nantucket Lighthouse School announced an expansion this week with the acquisition of a new property at 49 Fairgrounds Road that will be the home of its middle school campus.

Over the past few years, the Lighthouse School has added sixth- and seventh-grade classrooms, and the new addition marked "a significant milestone in the school’s continued expansion through eighth grade."

The property, which the Lighthouse School acquired on Sept. 30 for $3.6 million, is located across the street from the school’s main campus at 1 Rugged Road.

"The dedicated space allows the school to extend its whole-child, project-based approach to education through the middle school years while creating a campus designed specifically for this formative stage of childhood," the Lighthouse School stated in its announcement.

“Adolescence is such an important time in a child’s life,” said Head of School Emily Miller. “Young people are discovering who they are, what they care about, and where they belong. They need challenge and growing independence, but they also need strong relationships and the time and space to become themselves. In many ways, these may be the years when a Lighthouse education matters most.”

The Lighthouse School has adopted a so-called "No-to-Slow" approach to technology for the middle school in which digital tools are introduced gradually and purposefully to help students develop the judgment to use technology thoughtfully and responsibly.

For Board Co-Chairs Susan Fitzpatrick and Kara Titone, the opening represents an important step in the school’s larger vision for its future and an opportunity to offer Nantucket families another choice for the middle school years.

“This is about much more than adding classrooms or grade levels,” Fitzpatrick and Titone said in a statement. “It is about giving Nantucket families the opportunity to choose a different kind of middle school experience, one where adolescents can be challenged academically while remaining deeply known, connected, and engaged in the island community. Opening this campus is an important step for Lighthouse’s future, and we are incredibly proud to see our middle school students beginning this next chapter at 49 Fairgrounds Road.”